Boquete - Mountain Town Escape

Boquete is a quiet town in the mountains, located in the heart of Panama. A huge draw of Boquete is the agreeable climate - it’s between 70 and 75 degrees almost every day of the year! When we arrived in Santiago, it was 85, and Cartagena and the rest of Panama were blistering hot as well, with temps reaching well into the 90’s. Hence we are calling Boquete a lovely little escape. The town itself is a small, agricultural community. The Main Street through town is paved, and a couple side streets are as well, but most of the roads are dirt or gravel. There are more supermarkets and corner stores than there really should be in a town so small, but perhaps its the large expat community in Boquete that drives the economy. 

We arrived fairly late in the evening on March 4th. Getting to Boquete can actually be a huge pain in the butt. We left our hotel in Panama City at about 7am. From there we took a taxi to the bus station in the Allbrook Mall. We had to take a bus from Panama City to the nearby town of David, then from David catch a smaller bus to Boquete. The line at the bus station to David was huge! Way longer than the lines for any other destination. After about an hour we found out why - there was a shortage of buses heading to David. We waited for another hour for the next bus to arrive, and when it did we were ushered out of the line. We got stuck at a set of turnstiles, and people started to shout at us in Spanish. Finally someone used his pass card (no idea what these cards are, or how to get them) to let us through. The bus driver was ready to go, so our luggage was thrown into the storage area and we rushed onto the bus, with people literally pushing and shoving the entire way. Then we sat in bumper to bumper traffic for another couple of hours, trying to leave Panama City. Apparently there was a bicycle race going on, causing a few major roads to close. During all of this, Hannah was sick from a bacterial infection and almost passed out several times during the ordeal. At about 1:30 in the afternoon, the bus stopped for a half hour at what basically amounts to a truck stop. We bought some not very good rice and chicken for lunch/dinner, took a quick bathroom break, and were back on the bus. It arrived in David just before 7pm, where we waited for the Boquete bus. When that arrived, it stopped in the middle of the road just long enough to stow our luggage. There were no seats available, so we had to stand. The trip from David to Boquete should only take about a half-hour, but made many stops along the way so it ended up taking about an hour. The good news is that as people got off, we were finally able to sit. We arrived in Boquete at just after 8pm, checked into our B & B, and were sound asleep just after 9. Long day!

The following day we slept in, and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast prepared by our host. It was here we were finally able to enjoy really good coffee for the first time since leaving the U.S. We spent the entire afternoon exploring the small town, and enjoying a good book outside. The next day we woke up early to go on a coffee tour at Don Pepe Coffee Plantation. Panama has a hard time competing with some of the coffee producing giants of the world, so they focus on making unique and high-end coffee. In particular, we sampled the Geisha coffee, which can sell for more than $50 for an 8oz bag! After the coffee tour, we explored a nearby flower garden. Flowers and coffee are what Boquette is known for, and for good reason!

On Tuesday, March 7th, we decided it was time to see a doctor. Hannah had some stomach problems for more than two weeks, and the pain and discomfort lasted long enough that we thought it might need some medical attention. Going to see a doctor in Panama was one of the best experiences ever! We saw a doctor who was from Canada, had some lab work done, and got three prescriptions, all of which cost us $36 dollars. All of this took us maybe two hours. It was fast, easy, cheap, and most importantly, Hannah was feeling better in no time at all! The only trouble was, we had planned on spending more time at the doctor's office, so we had an afternoon to kill. We took a long walk around town and spent more time reading outside, enjoying the mild climate. On our last full day in Boquette, we took a cab up into the mountains and took a particularly muddy hike. We saw some massive waterfalls along the way. Peter had a full blown panic attack when he was sure he saw a large spider crawl out of a hole and come after him.

From Boquette, we took a shuttle bus to Puerto Veijo, Costa Rica, marking our final border crossing before returning to the United States!