For us, 10 days in Boquete (Bo-ket-tay) felt about right and it was a good place to switch out our flip flops for our hiking shoes. This highly livable town of around 25,000 is tucked into the highlands along the mountainous spine of Panama and is known for a cool, fresh climate, rich soil, remarkable coffee, buckets of natural surroundings, and as being an expat haven since it was named a top retirement spot by AARP. There are around 5000 US, Canadian and European expats. Fortunately, it surprised us and didn’t feel overly gringofied* or gentrified and still had an obvious indigenous presence although we’re sure there must be concerns with the exclusive expat community/businesses and the way it has driven up local prices.
*other than one rude white guy in the drug store who literally barked “grassy-ass”’ to the poor pharmacist.
The town actually reminded us a bit of Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka because it was a fresh and rainy respite in an otherwise hot/tropical country, in addition to the abundance of strawberry desserts available. However, the tea fields of Sri Lanka were replaced with coffee fincas in Boquete.
Around Boquete
An abuelita and her granddaughter in traditional Ngobe-Bugle indigenous dresses. They are one of the largest and poorest groups in Panama and in order to survive, many Ngäbe resort to working in the cash economy. They pick coffee, work on large cattle ranches, and on banana plantations to make cash. Also, some Ngäbe sell traditional beaded necklaces on the side of the roads. The Ngäbe women make many traditional crafts, both for their own use and their families’, but also to sell as extra income. (Wikipedia.)
The Rio Caldera which flows through Boquete can get quite high due to the buckets of water that fall from the sky here.
It’s hard to pass by the plethora of strawberry stands without sampling a nibble of a strawberry treat. Despite being everywhere, they’re not cheap though. A small strawberries and cream is $4 and most range from $3-$6.
One of the artesanal markets where you can buy handi-crafts everyday directly from the locals. Mandy settled on a pair of copper earrings. ($7) Also near here is the Tuesday Market which is hosted by the expat community, which obviously doesn’t wanna work too hard. We disappointingly missed it because they are only open from 9 am-Noon.
And one of the best things about Boquete in our opinion? So much gorgeous-looking produce. And quite reasonable! Believe or not, this cornucopia wasn’t the norm in other places we had visited in the country. This trip to the market cost us $9.50. Still quite a bit more than Mexico, but good for what you got.
Thanks to the expats influence, Boquete even has trendy food cart pods, including Cuban, Italian, and Mexican food options.
A local church.
This park along the rivers looks like the perfect place to toss down some Easter eggs and bring in a giant human rabbit.
One of the many themed gardens…featuring oversized birds.
It’s a wonderful place to roam. One day we wandered up this trail, to this lovely mirador overlooking the town.
The town square is quite simple. It’s a very clean, safe and livable town but not a lot of charm, which we’re quite missing from our days in Mexico.
At first, the abundance of black squirrels are easily mistaken as monkeys.
We heard before arriving by that Panamanians are not overly friendly, which we found to be true in the capital. However, the locals in Boquete (as well as most everywhere else!) were very friendly…as long as you made an effort to speak Spanish. And there were several we saw, who did not.
One day we decided to walk to the tiny village of Volcancito. On the way there, we discovered where some of the gringos live. In houses like this one on the hillsides. Seriously, who needs that much house? Apparently, real estate has already been driven quite high in the community so it’s unlikely to find cheap options like 20 years ago. Even more disconcerting were the six foot wide bamboo barriers they had surrounding their homes. Easy to see why some expats have gotten a bad name in the community.
Walking toward Volcancito which ended up being some houses, a church, and a school.
We also passed lots of coffee farms…
…and the entrance to the Volcán Baru trail. We, of course, did briefly discuss doing this trail, which is most known for being the highest point in Panamá and where you can see the Pacific and Atlantic oceans at the same time. Sounds cool. However, the only way you might see this is if you leave at midnight so you arrive at sunrise before the clouds blanket the mountain, which isn’t even guaranteed. In short, it sounds like a grueling 18-mile hike with little reward so we opted out. Plus, we already saw that view from the plane. Haha.
Our place, the Agaseke Boquete Hotel, was comfortable, had super fast internet and a shared kitchen. Cost was $30/night so over budget for us. Thankfully our two month housesit counteracted all our added expenses, but we definitely would not consider Panamá a “budget” destination.
The dog at Agaseke was humorously called “Bob” so we’d constantly hear the kids yelling “Bob” with an overly stressed “B” emphasis on the first letter. I don’t think they understood why this was so funny to us but we couldn’t stop snickering.
One of the bridges in Boquete
A trendy expat restaurants and the main church. We couldn’t believe how much the expat places charged. For example, one was selling burgers for a whopping $10. Speaking of burgers, Greg indulged in one at a different place, which was followed by food poisoning that lasted two days of our time in Boquete. His first time having food poisoning since India.….And following the wasp sting. He’s had a rough couple weeks, physically. ?
Once recovered, Greg indulged in a private coffee tasting at The Perfect Pair Coffee & Chocolate for $8. It was an experience to try the locally grown coffee and the world-renowned Geisha variety. It was the most interesting coffee he’s ever tasted and lacked any roast flavor normally found in coffee. Instead it was more fruity and floral. You definitely would not want to add any milk or sugar to this variety, as there’s no need to cover up this dynamic flavor. Geisha is mostly exported to high end coffee shops in Japan, Russia and the US. A half pound of it runs for a whopping $20, even in Boquete.
Greg’s personal barista.
And in case coffee isn’t your thing, there’s lots and lots of locally produced chocolate to pair it with. ?
So many beautiful gardens in this area!
On another day we walked the hour up to Los Ladrillos, which is a really unique basalt wall of rock caused by volcanic activity. Unfortunately, they allow people to rock climb on it which certainly isn’t allowed much preservation of this unique place.
Also while in Boquete, since services are easy, Greg got a $5 haircut and Mandy made a trip to the optometrist because it had been quite a while. Fortunately her vision hadn’t changed so she stocked up on contacts. Cost was free for the appointment and $200 for 5 boxes of contacts (6/each) which, no surprise, seemed substantially cheaper than what she used to pay even with insurance.
And yes, check out the rain in the above photo. A daily way of life.
Hiking near Boquete
Boquete is a flourishing, spring-like, and mountain-laden walker and hiker’s dreamland…as long as it’s morning hours. In the afternoons, due to rainy season, it’s normal to be blitzed with a tumultuous downpour which is a daily excuse to stay in, relax and be productive. We’re loving the cooler temperatures, as well as the melodic Euro-style church bells, tropical birds and peace of the community.
Our first adventure into the surrounding jungle was the 3.4 km out and back “moderate/difficult” hike on the popular trail called Los Tres Cascadas (The three waterfalls.) Not sure who they hired as a translator, but they got screwed over because the English version is…The Lost Waterfalls. Or, perhaps they just named it this way to sound sexy to tourists and encourage them to plop down $8/person.
Despite the price tag, it actually ended up being a pretty sexy trail, which without delay immersed us in the lushest and most verdant jungle we’ve ever hiked in as soon as we crossed this bridge.
The path leading in felt like turning the first page of a storybook.
The first waterfall greets you after about 30 minutes. Unfortunately this one does not have swimming options nor can you really get close to it.
The second waterfall is probably the most alluring because it has peekaboo jungle all around it, a magical swimming hole at its drop and lots of places to sit and enjoy a picnic that hopefully you brought.
Mandy (who is now a brunette) contemplates getting in but decides to wait until a bit later. Greg getting as close to the waterfall as he can without going overboard.
One of our favorite parts of this trail, was the massive canopy mixed with the fronds of tree ferns, which are more tree than fern. In addition to being simply striking, they have some sure fire staying power, as they’ve been around since the time of the dinosaurs.
After the second waterfall, the trail gets a bit steeper, muddier and more entertaining with ropes to help pull yourself up tougher sections.
Making our way to the top of the second waterfall. From this angle you can’t really see how steep the drop was.
The beautiful trail
Pausing for a break
There were blue dragonflies everywhere.
The trail was very well signed and easy to follow leading up to the grand finale.
Mandy finally got up the nerve to get in at the top of the second waterfall on the way down. The water was surprisingly freezing ?
You can really picture a brontosaurus sweeping in for a nibble of one of these.
Stopping at the pay stand on the way out. For hiking it was a bit of a pricy day of $26 total with the round trip collectivo ride and $8/person trail fee (it’s on private property). Take the bus toward Alto Quiel and asked to be let out at Tres Cascadas.
And, as with every afternoon, right about the time we passed under all these surprising pines, the sky started tossing drops on us. We passed two Spanish girls who were just heading in and asked us how far the falls were.
We made it to the bus stop just as the daily downpour began. The Spanish girls came squealing out shortly after. Maybe next time they’ll…wake up early. ? P.S. Apologies. Not sure what’s up with the DJT thumbs uppsies that day.
On another morning we tackled the El Pianista Trail, which you get to by taking a $1 collectivo ride toward Palo Alto. Every trail in Panamá always seems to begin by crossing a bridge, often rickety. There was a mother and daughter doing their laundry in the river when we arrived.
Passing through a small river community which consisted of several ramshackled houses, lots of chickens, lots of drying laundry and really beautiful flowers.
Along the Rio Pianista. We never learned why this area is called “The Pianist” as we didn’t hear any piano music wafting through the valley, but there’s gotta be a story.
Unlike the $8 paid for option, this trail was non-existent in its markings and our usually fail-proof Mapy.cz app let us down big time, taking us wildly off course. Fourth time was a charm when we found the real path which veered left at these beat-up unhelpful signs indicating nothing about a trail.
More gorgeous cloud forest. We saw a bright blue quetzal near here, but it was so fleeting there wasn’t a chance of capturing a photo.
The quetzal is a bird that many consider among the world’s most beautiful. Vibrantly coloured, they live only in the mountainous, tropical forests of Central America.
Thematic Gardens of Boquete
One unique thing we loved about Boquete was its marvelously themed gardens. This particular one, called El Explorador ($5/ticket) fit our namesake almost perfectly so we had to check it out. We walked northeast of town about 3 km, and when we stepped inside, it felt like traversing into a five acre Wonderland.
There was no shortage of bursting colorful flora, eccentric displays made of repurposed and recycled materials, and smiling eyeballs, blended with a perfect selection of happy-go-lucky inspirational quotes. They made a terrific Spanish lesson!
Gallivanting in the garden where you will find hundreds of types of exotic flowers.
Everywhere you went, things were smiling at you. Including this female stick? Not sure about the translation!
This mischievous grinner has a different message which we appreciated: “the world changes with your example, not your opinion.”
Beautiful flowers were abundant.
It looks like pink bananas!
Repurposed perfume bottles, and also where we picked up an adorable Cheshire Cat. Of course, all the perfume bottles have faces as well.
A collection of old electronics. One says: “the worst thing to make you older is that when you think you already know everything, you will forget.”
Perhaps the Panamanian version of Strawberry Shortcake.
A flower speaker made out of bleach bottle.
Such a relaxing little haven. Especially when a furry critter comes to join you.
What seems to be a nativity scene with an interesting choice of quote above. It says: “Wealth is a mental state and its source is the thought.”
“The worst sin you can commit in life is not to be happy.” YES. Agreed.
It was like being in a storybook with these abundant little happy gnomes
“Happiness will be constant when you learn to enjoy every moment of your life.” This goose family seem to be enjoying it.
And we even met the happiest toaster ever! Not sure he works, but minor details?
In case you need ideas for old paintbrushes and TVs.
Swings!!! Greg immediately leaps on, sadly realizing his legs are too long to pump them properly. 🙁
And then runs gleefully to the “wavy” slide getting immediately stuck in the middle. Doh!! Being an adult on a playground is hard!!
Loved this: “Take care of your thoughts because they will become words. Take care of your words because they will become acts. Take care of your acts, because they will become customs. Take care of your customs because they will become your character. Take care of your character because it will become your destiny and your destiny will become your life.”
What a beautiful place to spend a couple hours!
