I’ve heard someone claim that in Costa Rica, there are 10 tourists for every quetzal,” Iván Eskildsen, owner of Ogaya Travel, tells me. “But in Panama, for every tourist there are 10 quetzals,” he says, as we tramp through the mud along the Sendero Los Quetzales in the mountainous Panamanian province of Chiriquí.
The trail’s namesake bird has a shimmering emerald plumage, a punk-like mohawk and extravagant tail feathers that can grow half a metre in length. While there’s no solid data about quetzal numbers in each country, Iván’s point has some truth: if you spot a quetzal in Panama, you’re likely to be the only person watching it.
