Quality burgers, popcorn and dives

Leaving sea level behind, we quickly gained altitude entering the highlands. The clear blue sky of the seas turned grey as the clouds gathered by the mountains, as they are wont to do. The rain and the streams make for creeks and rivers, and, with a helping hand from engineers, lakes, such as that of La Fortuna hydro dam.
High up in the mountains, the temperature drops to manageable numbers. Of course, some of the non-northern passengers found it cold rather than nice, and conjured up jumpers, knitted sweaters and blankets from their obviously overpacked luggage. In fairness, Boquete gives off a slightly alpine vibe, cloudforests and monkeys notwithstanding, and the resort we stayed at, 4 km straight up from town, was more or less a ski lodge.
Of course, this is still the tropics, and at only 1500-1900 metres the snow is forever lacking. Rock climbing can be done, as well as horseback riding, coffee tasting, ziplining and hiking. I had done plenty of some, I'm not accomplished enough for others and I'm not too keen on some. However, a hike in the cloud forest to some supposedly hidden waterfalls sounded nice, and since the mercury hardly had passed 17 in the morning I had high hopes that I could do this admittedly up-and-downey trek without melting away. And I actually did! The waterfalls were not really hidden, though. Even if you missed the signs pointing the way, the falls were plainly there to see, and indeed photograph. Along the way, humming birds, lizards and butterflies scurried about.
After a goldilocksily strenous hike, the hynger and thirst drove us to town. Unfortunately the local brewery wouldn't open until after the last shuttle to our ski lodge had left, byt at least we could buy some samples in bottles. They were litre bottles, though, and with a recycling fee of 10 dollars each, we only settled for two kinds: the single-malt/single-hops and the coffee stout.
At Señor Gyros, an inconspicuous looking little diner on a side street, they serve the best burger in town. Well, in Panama. Well, in Central America. In fact, they probably serve the best burger in the Americas, and exactly to your liking. It's often a marker of quality when the burger comes without chips, as it indicates that the focus is on the actual main rather than on the sides.
The mountain slopes of the area are covered in either coffee plantation, cloud forest or mixed vegetation for grazing cattle, which explains the fine beef. In fact, the steak with mash I had for dinner at the ski lodge were the best I've had in the New World outside of Argentina.
As the Caribbean gave way to the mountainous highlands, the alpine area gave way to the Pacific coast. We loaded the private bus and set course for Santa Catalina. A long day's drive ahead, we stopped for some snack shopping at a surprisingly well stocked supermarket. I was just perusing the crisp stalls for some nice Salt & vinegar when my eyes fell upon a sight I had not seen since my trip to USA and Canada seven years ago: The best popcorn in the world, or in fact in the known universes. White Cheddar Popcorn from Smartfoods. Oh what a joy and a surprise!
Santa Catalina itself is not a town, and hardly even a village. A hamlet, perhaps, with basically just two streets. Surfing is up, for those so inclined, or horseback riding. The main activity, though, is taking the boat to the island of Coiba and its surroundings and get into the water to see the aquatic wildlife.
Diving at Coiba is expensive, mainly due to the fuel costs to get there (it's about an hour's boat ride) and the fact that it's a national park, with a not insignificant park fee. But after the two dives I had, it turned out to be money well spent.
The Pacific is in many ways different from the Caribbean. There are few corals, fewer colours and the visibility is often lower due to the high levels of plankton in the water. On the other hand, those plankton provide the basic food source for a variety of animals, and as such the fish tend to be larger and the schools as well.
We had hardly finished descending to the rocky bottom below before the first sharks could be seen. A couple of white-tipped reef sharks glided gently across the bottom, and in midwater hung the biggest grouper you ever did see. A local celebrity, that one, and Mr Bigg-ass-grouper followed us for a while, completely fearless.
Schools of fish were all around, and the feeling of hanging weightless, completely surrounded by a dense school of big-eyed jacks (of the tuna family) was otherworldly. Moorish idols (made famous by Willem Dafoe in Finding Nemo), moray eels, parrot fish, and more were everywhere to be found.
The second dive was in parts similar to the first. Fewer sharks, no big-ass grouper and no dense school of jacks, but on the other hand: dolphins! I have swum with dolphins before, by chance in Monkey Mia and by tour in New Zealand, but this was my first time diving with the cheerful cetaceans. My camera was still no-go, but fortunately teh interwebs had pictures of both the sharks and the dolphins, exactly as I saw them.
More than pleased with my two dives, we waved goodbye to a subset of our group who had opted for a snorkeling tour, and headed back to the mainland. No sooner had we arrived at the hostel before the heaven's gates poured open, and the snorkelers arrived a bit later, completely soaked.
Early seafood dinner followed by early bedtime, for the plan was to have wheels rolling at 5:00 the next morning in order to reach Panama City at a reasonable hour. Rumour has it that there's some sort of ditch or suchlike there that's worth having a look at.