Boquete is a small town situated in the mountains of Panama. Everyone I spoke to said it was lovely, but its key selling point was that it was neither hot nor humid. The journey to get there was rather hellish ... a 9 hour bus journey where the bus driver seemed to stop every 15 seconds to let someone on to sell water, snacks, or at one point, effing jewellery. I arrived in Boquete to find the whole town plunged into darkness - which wouldn't have been a problem except people have a habit of nicking manhole covers in Panama. Oh, and there were THREE hostels with the same name, so by the time I stumbled across the right one in the pitch black, I wasn't singing Boquete's praises quite so much.
People weren't wrong though. Boquete was lovely in the daylight and I ended up staying 9 days - by far the longest of my trip (except with my aunt Jackie!).
During my time here, I met a delightful lassie called Colette and she drove us to a series of waterfalls which were spectacular. Such was my excitement at seeing one waterfall that I fell in the water, much to the amusement of Colette and sadness of my phone which was never the same again. Luckily, as well as being an English teacher, Colette also sold mobile phones so I was back in business in no time. (Just for the avoidance of doubt, she didn't push me into the river to drum up sales).
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| Gutano the Caterpillar |
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| Colette the Human |
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| One of the waterfalls I didn't fall into |
We also tried the culinary delights that Boquete had to offer. Apparently their Geisha coffee is the most expensive coffee in the world (even more so than this horrific sounding offering). It was nice enough although at the risk of sounding like a total Philistine, I'd have been quite happy with a cup of instant. We also had a Stroganoff in a specially baked bread which was lovely, although there was nothing remotely Panamanian about it.
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| Coffee so expensive they serve it in a wine glass for some reason |
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| Bit too much bread and not enough stroganoff, but it was delicious all the same. |
One thing I tried and failed to do in Boquete was to climb the highest mountain/volcano in Panama, Volcán Barú. Apparently, on a clear day, it's one of the only places you can see both the Pacific and Atlantic sides of Panama. A few mentalists in my hostel climbed it in the middle of the night but I wasn't (fool)hardy enough for that. You could also get driven most of the way by 4x4 which seemed like cheating. Anyway, on the first ascent, it was shut due to Hurricane Julia (which was hundreds of miles away but it proceeded to bucket it down for about 3 days so fair enough). However, attempt number 2 was thwarted cos we didn't email them in advance to tell them we were coming. The fact that it was cloudy and I probably wouldn't have seen one ocean, never mind both, plus the fact it was a good 10 hour round trip and I was feeling a bit tired after getting up at sparrow o'clock, meant I wasn't totally disappointed not to be able to climb it.
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The closest I got to the top (miles and miles away)
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Boquete had an "ecopark" that was also shut. Nice work Boquete.
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I finally managed to tear myself away from the cooler climes of Boquete, and Colette took me to where she was born, Bocas - a series of islands on the Caribbean Sea.
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