I was lost, but I was found.

Actually whilst staying at the Lost and Found Jungle Lodge, we didn’t get lost once.  They did mark the trails very clearly, which is probably why.  They also left little bits of encouragement, like “Yay!  You’re half way up the hill.”  At which point we both collapsed from exhaustion as we had thought we were nearly to the top of the hill.  The first climb really wasn’t that far, but the hostel is in the jungle, which means the only way to get there is to climb a narrow trail directly up the side of a mountain with all of your things.  Due to the distance from civilisation the small range of food they sell is twice the usual price and fruit and veg non-existent.  For this reason we had stocked up with enough food to last the three days and were trying to juggle a bunch of vegetables as well as everything else.  

The next climb was a lot further.  The hostel has set up a treasure hunt, with clues that you follow amazing race style.  Some were obvious, others not so much, and not knowing the Spanish word for cockroach really slowed us down.  The map of the surrounding area that you have to follow is not to scale in anyway.  So what looked not that far, was a continuous uphill slog that never seemed to end. Then just as we crested the hill, we had to turn out towards the lookout (given the first clue was Look Out! we figured it was a good bet).  Which involved more uphill, and more uphill.  Cursing our poor fitness for hours of stair climbing, we lost our breath completely as the lookout came into view.  It was completely obscured with trees and then a step later we could see for miles and miles!  It was worth the climb.  As we were heading back down we met another group who asked us in-between panted breaths how much further it was.  Just a few steps we told them, and it’s worth it.  Seconds later we heard “Awesome!  Amazing!” and smiled, because we knew that right then the pain of the hike was forgotten, replaced with awe at the world laid out below.

We continued the trek, now heading down the other side of the mountain towards the river.  Each steep hill we descended filling us with a small amount of dread because we knew we would have to go back up at the end.  We spent a long time at Tree Beard, a massive tree which we turned into our private playground, climbing up roots, and climbing up the inside of the tree.   Eventually we reached the river, which we crisscrossed clambering our way over rocks, and wishing we had brought our swimmers.  Although the water was so cold we wouldn’t have stayed in long.  Just before the end of the hunt there was a river crossing that we couldn’t get across without getting wet.  But the cold water was heaven on our sore feet.  The final clue in hand, we headed back to the hostel arriving almost 6 hours after we left and promptly forgot that the treasure hunt wasn’t quite finished.  It wasn’t until the next day when we were hiding from the weather that we actually found the last two clues and figured out the answer.  The reward, if you gave the answer to the right person, was a drink at the bar, the type of drink selected by the roll of a dice.

One of the unexpected highlights came in the form of chocolate.  Not even good chocolate, a Twix bar to be precise.  Panama has wonderfully cheap fresh vegetables, so we’ve been cooking most of the time and enjoying a junk food free lifestyle.  But after a wet blustery day I was craving chocolate, and seeing the obvious desperation in my eyes Jason fulfilled his wedding vow (which was to keep the fridge stocked with chocolate) and bought a bar for us to share.  The bliss!  The joy!  Best Twix I’ve ever eaten.