Our hotel had a check out at 2pm, much more civilised than New Zealand's 10am although it does tend to make you more lazy. We finally got out the room at 1pm and made our way back to the bus station with our packs. We were taking a small coaster bus to Cerro Punta up in the mountains of the Chiriquí province. It is deemed to have a magical quality of eternal spring with bright flowers by the roadside and the peaceful vistas of terraced farmland below the majestic peaks.

We were one of first to arrive for the bus and our backpacks were stuffed in the boot taking up virtually all the space. Normally bags will be put up on the roof of the buses but we were much happier this way, less chance of it falling off. As the bus climbed up into the mountains, the rain started and quickly became torrential, thankfully our bags were not on the roof. After 45 minutes we were wondering whether we should stay on the bus and head back to David - we could barely see the mountains, never mind going out walking on them.

Half an hour short of our destination, we must have driven up through the rain clouds because it was dry and we could finally see the beautiful agricultural land on the hills that the area is known for. In season, there would be fields and fields of strawberries but we were just a bit late and were teased by the signs offering freshly picked strawberries with cream.

Three minutes short of our destination, the bus came to a shuddering halt...it had ran out of diesel. We were going to walk but there was another bus a few minutes behind us and our bags were thrown into it for the final 500 meters or so up to the village of Cerro Punta.

We were booked in at Hotel Cerro Punta, it was more like a motel run by a really sweet old couple. The rooms were nothing fancy but they were fine and half the price of everything else in the area. The small terrace in front of the room had chairs where you could sit and be mesmerised by the peacefulness of the mountain landscape.

It was a lot cooler compared to the heat of low-lying David, so we needed to get to the bottom of our packs to find some long sleeves and a rain jackets. We had a quick walk around the village, it wasn't very big, just a few shops and a police station. There was a very agricultural feel to the place - men sitting around, waiting to go home, after a day in the field with gumboots on and rakes or hoes in their hands.

We had dinner at the hotel and were surprised when the plates were delivered, the portions were huge and very tasty. David had 2 enormous smoked pork chops whilst Maria had a slightly more healthy fish option.