A 3O-YEAR-OLD Panamanian science teacher became,  the first Panamanian woman to climb to Mt Everest base camp at 5,630 meters above sea level on Tuesday, December 19.

[caption id="attachment_79341" align="alignleft" width="300"] Displaying the flag[/caption]

Desirée Denise Del Rosario, who teaches at Panama’s Oxford School and hails from Rio Grande, Cocle, arrived at 6 a.m  Panama time, after an eight-day arduous 60 km trek through the Himalayan mountain range to reach the highest mountain on earth.

She left  Panama City on Dec,8 for  Kathmandu, capital of Nepal via Brazil, and  Dubai and then by small plane to Lukla, a small town in the Himalayas

On Dec. 11 she began the final leg her odyssey.

"It took me 10 days, climbing mountains,  where the cold oscillates between 5 ° and -15C  and the rivers freeze," she told La Prensa via WhatsApp.

Her 55-litre backpack carried bottles of water,  mountain food, windbreakers, chocolate bars, medicine cabinet,  ropes … and the Panama flag.

Carbohydrates a staple for mountaineers (bread, rice, noodles, and liquids like soups and energy drinks were in shelters  on the route)

De Rosario has been mountaineering since she was  16 years old when she represented Panama on the Ruta Quetzal and has climbed volcanoes in Mexico; the Sierra Morena and the Camino de Santiago in Spain, and climbs mountains and explore trails, inside and outside of  Panama. “The trek through the Himalayas to the base camp of Everest is a dream for mountaineers… The mountains teach and inspire,” she said