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Published: April 11th 2011
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Shortly after returning from San Blas I spent one final weekend in Panama City and on Monday February 14th headed to the west of the country to a town called Boquete. I took the express bus ($15/6 Hours) from Panama to David and then another Otto style school bus ($1.50/1 Hour) from there to Boquete.
The town sits in a valley under the shadow of Volcano Baru (3475m) – Panama’s highest point from which you can see both the Caribbean and Pacific side of the country. I was almost tempted to climb it but then I came to my senses and decided to spend my days visiting hot springs ‘n’ stuff instead. One curious thing about Boquete is that it was recently voted one of the top five places in the whole wide world to retire meaning that it’s now full of old fogeys and their various gringo restaurants / coffee shops. It’s also well known for its great home grown coffee but as I don’t drink coffee, that attraction was a little lost on me. Although I liked the place, I wouldn’t say that Boquete offers any real authentic Panamanian experience as it seems like these old gringos are
buying up properties and pushing the locals further afield.
I stayed here until Friday 18th (Hostel Gaia - $11 Dorm bed) and during those days I was able to squeeze in visits to “Mi Jardin es su Jardin” (My garden is your garden), “El Explorador”, “Los Pozos de Caldera” hot springs and finally I managed to get completely lost looking for San Ramón waterfall.
The first day I went in public transport to the local hot springs that are supposed to have healing properties and in fairness all of my little cuts and mosquito bites did seem to heal up a bit. The only problem was that nobody told me just how far away the things were from where the bus drops you off. I think I walked for the best part of an hour down a dirt track in the midday heat before finally reaching my destination. I would’ve loved an ice cold swimming pool to jump into when I arrived but instead I bathed in a few pools of (almost) boiling water which at times were really quite difficult to stay in for a prolonged period of time especially given that the outside temperature was also
well into the 30´s! After a couple of hours of soaking I was fortunate enough to meet a couple of locals who gave me lift in their pick-up back to the main road where I was able to catch the bus meaning I didn’t have to make the torturous walk twice!
The two gardens in town were nice enough to stroll around in the afternoons. Mi Jardin es su Jardin, which was free to enter, had a few cute features including quite a nice little lookout tower with some decent views of the countryside surrounding Boquete. El Explorador, which had an entrance fee of $3, was a little bizarre to say the least. It’s all supposed to be something out of Alice in Wonderland with lots of slightly surreal attractions and quirky sculptures. I can’t say I was that impressed and I felt slightly ripped off with paying someone $3 to basically just fill their garden up with pieces of sh*t off the street. The other downer is that it’s a pretty decent hike to get their on foot – at least 45 minutes and all uphill!
On the final day before setting off for Bocas
Del Toro I tried to catch a glimpse of San Ramón waterfall which I was told was worth a look. I took the bus way out to where the Quetzal Trail to the national park begins, got off and listened intently to the directions the bus driver gave me. To this day I still don’t know where I went wrong but I somehow got pretty damn lost and had to be saved by a couple of locals who took sympathy on me and gave me lift back to Boquete. I never got to see the waterfall but I did see a rather nice little rainbow along the way.
All in all Boquete was a really nice place to kick back and relax for a bit especially if you’re an old fart or if you like a real good cup of coffee. I met a couple of lone travelers from the States here, and together we left for another archipelago in Panamá – Bocas Del Toro.
Remember, photos can be seen at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13183189@N06/
Ciao for now.
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