People with Visual Disabilities from 6 Countries Hike Volcan Baru

[Keith Woolford]

People with Visual Disabilities from 6 Countries Hike Volcan Baru

EFE | 1 jul 2017 05.38pm

Some 60 people with visual disabilities from 6 countries of America and Europe trekked along the paths of the Baru Volcano with the purpose to conquer its summit, the highest point in Panama with 3,475 meters above sea level.

This is the fourth version of the International Walk the Baru Volcano, which this year brought together 140 people that guide the blind 60 from Germany, Colombia, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Panama.

Roger Saavedra, president of the Association Trekking Panama and who has a visual impairment, said that the same seeks to develop in the Baru Volcano, located in the western part of Panama, the sport and the extreme tourism for people with and without this condition.

"They feel the tiredness, the live rock, the rugged and inhospitable terrain, the intense cold, up to 2 degrees celsius, that contact with nature", told Efe Saavedra on his experience of ascent of the colossus in the three previous editions.

Even though their eyes may not appreciate the two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, which can be seen from the top of the volcano, nor the beauty of the flora and fauna along the way, these people want to experience that contact with nature so that your imagination can be transferred to the most sublime experience of his life, he added.

Carlos Felipe Romero Gómez, traveled from Tolima, Colombia, next to his mother, Fabiola Gómez, to make the ascent and live the experience, which is estimated to take between 8 and 9 hours.

Once at the top, the expedition members are there to begin the descent this Sunday and return to the town of Boquete, in the western province of Chiriqui, near the border with Costa Rica.

Viviana Suárez, another Colombian, of the department of Casanare, was accompanied by three blind and two guides. He said that the effort "is great and live the experience interesting",

"The goal is to get to the top, never in my life had done something similar, and it is common to find an activity such as this for people with disabilities", he added.

"If you can do sport, extreme tourism accessible for people with disabilities, because all people with or without visual disabilities that go up and down the Baru Volcano return being better people," said Saavedra to Efe.

The International Hike Volcan Baru is supported by the Institute for Special Empowerment (IPHE), the National Bank, the Presidency of the Republic, National Disability Secretariat (SENADIS) and levels of security of the State.

Edited July 3, 2017 by Keith Woolford