PART 2. Last month, we left Peter Sterling and his friends preparing for a walk across Panama, in which they contemplate the uncomfortable prospects of slogging through mud, forging raging rivers, and hacking their way through dense tropical jungle.

We planned to enter Santa Fe National Park and follow the Chilagres trail through primary rain forest, up and over the Cordillera, reaching the sea at the mouth of the Río Concepción. Here is where Columbus landed on his last voyage and noticed that the “Indians” wore gold. Before long, the Spaniards had discovered the source—mines way up in the Cordillera—and had imported thousands of African slaves to work them. The product was schlepped up the Chilagres to Santa Fe, founded as a gold town in 1558. From Concepción we planned to go west by launch on the sea to the Rio Calovébora, ascend the navigable stretch by cayuco, and then hike up and over back to Santa Fe. As it happened, the week before our trip there was unseasonable but unceasing rain, so the river separating Santa Fe from the trail was a cataract. “No problem!” says Edgar, we will do the trip in reverse.