BOQUETE, PANAMA
January 1 – March 31,
2013
This winter we drove
our truck camper to Texas and enjoyed sometime there before flying
from Houston to David, Panama via San Jose, Costa Rica.
 |
| Arriving in David |
We had made
reservations at a residence about 4 km from the town of mountain
village of Boquete. From David we took a local taxi to our
destination (about 50km) Boquete. Our 1 bedroom apartment was ready
for us to move in for the 3 months. Naturally, our first requirement
was to go back into town and to stock up on groceries. They have a
24 hour grocery store and one can buy just about everything there
including wine and beer.
It is a beautiful
location, mountainous, lovely temperature and quite tropical. The
area was lush, green and lots of colorful flowers and large trees
with a pine forest right on the property. This area is also know for
their coffee plantations producing world renown coffee. Almost every
afternoon a bajareque would decend. It is like being in a misty
cloud but you do not get wet and then a spectacular rainbow is
visible. Due to the location of mountains and the Pacific and the
Atlantic Oceans the area is full of micro climates. As one walks
downhill to the village (about 4 km) the country becomes drier and
hotter. David, which is only 50km away) and is a very hot, dry and dusty
city.
We were in an area
where you could have some great walks – up and down hills and visit
with the local residents - some who spoke English and some who only
spoke Spanish. We met some great people in the other two casitas
that was on the property. Birds were also being feed with fruit and
especially watermelon and banana – we had some very colorful birds
visiting and I was able to get a few pictures of them. Besides
birds the animal life included snakes. One came into our apartment
and we take every snake to be poisonous. This one came in very fast
– Irene screamed and Chris pushed over a chair and he changed
direction. It took about 10 minutes for 2 fellows to herd him out
the door and then he went so fast we were not sure of his route.
After the fact we then put up a higher barricade and hoped no more
would enjoy our company.
Chris was invited to
work on a large mural in the swimming pool area for the owners, David
and Cora Kent. The 3 of them spent almost 2 weeks in the morning
working and it turned out quite dramatic – it really changed the
pool area. The owners were very congenial and always asked if we
wanted a ride into town when they went and even took us for a trip
into David for the day. They hosted a few parties for the renters
which were great fun. We missed them for one month as they were away on holidays and the house-sitters in charge of Kent's property kept to themselves.
 |
| The pool mural |
 |
| Valentine party at Kents |
We joined a local
birding group and spent some hikes with them. We went into moutain
trails with streams and bridges or up a 4 wheel drive road in the
Volcan Baru National Park. We did some other hikes and drives with
friends and we were fortunate to see the Resplendent Quetzal and the
Three-wattled Bellbird. Very special birds to see.
 |
| Silver-throated Tanager |
 |
| Blue-grey Tanagers |
 |
| Flame-colored Tanager |
 |
| along Pipeline Trail |
 |
| Pipeline Trail |
 |
| road in Volcan Baru National Park |
The three months went
by very fast and we got into a real routine. Every Tuesday we went
to the local market to buy some special bread – Chris says the best
he has had for years. He also gained some weight because of it –
but it was delicious. After our shopping we would take a taxi back
uphill for $3 and it was well worth it. The question has been –
Would you go back? and our answer is, yes, but there are too many
other places to see in this world - so we may not have time to
return.
 |
| The town of Boquete |
