Santa Fe-jungle paradise and extreme floating

February 23-24, 2016

After a couple less fun days in Chitre, I was looking forward to a change of scenery. It was back up into the mountains, to the small town of Santa Fe.

Upon arrival, I got directions from locals to my hostel, following roads through green trees that in no way resembled a grid. I got to La Qhia Hostel and fell in love.

Gardens with lush tropical plants surrounded the dorm house, another building with private rooms a sofa lounge area, and there was a covered eating area between them. Hammocks were strung up in the shade And there was an outdoor kitchen. Of course I forgot to take pictures.

I did take a picture of this guy though, for sale in the common room.  I want to learn how to make him.

I got some lunch in town, and explored a little. I found grapefruits in the gutter that had recently fallen from the tree. I juiced them to have with dinner.

While brushing my teeth looking at the full moon shining in a clear sky, I decided the light next to it looked just a little too big and bright to be a star. A quick Google search confirmed it was Jupiter, the brightest it will be all year. I was rather proud of my planet identifying skills, and sat for a when marveling at the slightly red-tinged dot that is a giant gas ball so many billions of miles away.

I fell asleep to crickets.

The next day I went with two Dutch guests, Eva and Noah, to float the river. We started with a lesson in patience and going with it.

The walk down to the tube rental house had lovely views

And a picturesque bridge

And then we were there.

At the rafting place we were told by an old guy that William (who runs the operation) was in the town an hour and a half away, and might get back at 1 or 2. It was 11. Then he said we could do it alone, but 2 minutes later said we couldn't. But then another guy was coming later, maybe, and he could take us, and there was something about a lady supposed to arrive too. (He was a bit hard to understand)

We eventually just decided to wait by the river, maybe for 3 hours, hopefully less.

I didn't really have anything else I wanted to do that day, and decided there were worse things to do than hang out on a big rock in the shade next to a river. We had water and snacks too.

Looking up the river from the big rock I chose to lay on

And down the river

Maybe a half hour later the lady arrived. Eva talked to her, said she was super nice. Had much the same info, William was waiting for the bus, and might be back in a couple hours. His brother might be back too from whatever he was working on that day. Back to waiting.

20 minutes later his brother arrived and we were in business!

We each got a black tube, and set off floating.

It was wonderful. Cool water temperature but not cold, clouds so I wasn't as terrified of burning. And it quickly turned into as much adrenaline rush as full white water rafting.

The little rapids we went down had waves big enough to swamp the little tubes, and matched any waterpark ride. I hadn't quite been expecting that much excitement, and decided it was Class III floating.

Not that the rapids were really big mind you, but you were really close to the action, being in a little floaty ring and all.

There were some lazy flat stretches between the excitement, and some great views.

Group selfie! I had to take about 5 photos to get one where my head wasn't in the way.

This is what a selfie looks like when you forget the zoom is zoomed in.

Beautiful mountain views along the way

One last rapid, and we reached our takeout point.

We all agreed for $9 including taxi transport to return the tubes and a lift back to the hostel, it was totally worth it. Definitely one of my Panama highlights so far.

I enjoyed one more cool evening in a hammock with breezes and crickets, and set off the next day feeling much better about Panama than I had been after Panama City and Chitre.