OUTDOORS

Panama to host "ruta Quetzal bbva" again

Panama will host Ruta Quetzal Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) 2008, the annual student wilderness trek , for the third year in a row.

The Spanish founder and director of the expedition Miguel de la Quadra Salcedo organized this year´s route around the Canal, the Camino de Cruces and within the territory known as "The Crocodile River Jungle," on the banks of the Río Chagres.

According to the organization´s web site, upwards of 400 teenage students from over 50 different countries have signed up for the trip.

Since La Quadra founded Ruta Quetzal BBVA in 1979 with the hope of uniting Spanish-speaking youth, nearly eight thousand students from Europe and the Americas to Morocco, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines and China have participated.

This year´s expedition lasts from June 17 to July 7, and traces the footsteps of many notable figures in the history of the New World.