Volcan Baru

The team just arrivd back in San Jose, dry, clean (warm shower!). We just spent a few days in Panama doing some trekking. The most arduous trek was up Volcan Baru, the highest volcano in Central America at 3475m. It took us a day up and a day down. The first morning was a 5am start ugh... then lots of climbing and lots more climbing. The views were amazing, lots of cloud forest and volcanic rock. Sadly there was a lot of litter both along the route and at the summit. We finished the day in torrential rain and arrivd to find not grass, but an enclosed area of gravel next to a load of huge pylons and aerials and dishes. Fortunately one of our guides was friends with one of the rangers who let us sleep in one of the control rooms next to all the elctrical machines. It was prettty grim, and cold, but better than camping! We met the other World Challenge team at the top. Unfortunately the only water supply up here was from the ranger´s hut so all 29 of us had to get our water for cooking and drinking from here. There was no toilet either... I hate to think what impact all the visitors are having on the environment up there. If all the graffitti and litter is anything to go by then I think they´ll have to put something in place soon to cope with the volume of people climbing this hill. On alighter note, in the morning we were treated to spectacular views of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, the Caribean, Costa Rica and the city of David. Really cool. We also saw a Koati searching for our leftover food.