http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Central America Caribbean , Panama , Boquete en-us Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:38:10 BST Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:38:10 BST After two nights in Panama City we decided to swap the scorching busy metropolis for the cool lush mountains and forests of Boquete. We awoke early and got the 8.15 bus north to Panamas second city David. After nearly missing the bus due to us queuing in the wrong area entirely we were hustled on as the bus was pulling off. Unfortunately the bus was quite busy and we would have to sit separatel http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-329144.html We are now in Boquete which is about 4 and a half hours away from Bocas Del Toro. We decided to make a pit stop on our way to Panama City. It was a very long day of travel. We left Bocas Del Toro at 1230 pm and traveled by boat to Changuinola which took an hour and 7 per person. Then made a bus for David which took 4 and a half hours riding through mountains. That was 8 each. Sometimes w http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-304041.html Here are my first impressions of Panama... First of all do whatever you need to do in the morning unless you want to get VERY wet doing it. I tried and tried again I got soaked every time so now my planning goes with the weather and I make sure Im inside by 1pm Believe me when it rains here it doesnt half do it its the proper 'oh oh I think it's raining season' rain It looks like Pa http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-279448.html Day 208 Panamerican passage to the hills beyondNot wanting to be searching out new lodgings in the dark I had to set off early this morning and having got up before the pervy security guard had poked his nose round the door I got a taxi to the bus terminal and caught the eight o'clock bus to David. Fairly uneventful the journey was fairly restricted to the usually tarmacked roads of the Panam http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-279436.html Irsquove been spending the last 6 days now in Boquete Pamana. Boquete is a small town with gringo influence in the mountains of Panama. There is the main street with some restaurants a few small souvenirtype shops small supermarkets and other assorted stores. Therersquos also the small hotels or hostels around town. Finally for those people ready to buy their second home or reloc http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-272874.html The early morning bus from Ciuded Neily was crowded and it was already hot when we were dropped at the Costa Rican side at around 8am. The whole process was rather chaotic and getting papers dealt with seemed rather random. We also had to wait some time in a bank queue to get our Costa Rican Colones changed into dollars before heading to the Panamanian side which seemed even more disorganised.I tr http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-272528.html From Panama City we flew to David second largest city in Panama and drove around 45 min. to Boquete. Boquete is a relatively small town 6200 people according to Wikipedia in the mountains near the border with Costa Rica. It is growing really quickly due to a large influx of American and Canadian retirees. We saw a lot of gringos around town and were amazed at all of the billboards in Engli http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-266134.html Ok well I will update this soon ended up being almost a month later but that'll have to do i guess. Now i have to remmember all the boquete details. Let's see we left very early in the morning and took 3 buses and a cab during the all day trip to Boquete. The bus station food at one of the stops gave us all a bit of tummy troubles to put it mildly and we found out later that it's been rumo http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-252435.html Up to the Highest Height On the 25th of Feb the Katies some friends and I went to the Chiriqui Province of Panama to climb Volcan Baru. The summit is at about 11400 feet and about a 7 mile upward hike from the base of the volcano. We spent the first two days in Boquete a tiny town nestled in the foothills of the volcano and surrounding mountains. On our journey from Panama City to Boquete w http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-251750.html GreetingsWriting with some very soar muscles were happy to tell you guys we climbed a 3480m Volcano yesterday not active. We arrived in Boquete on Wednesday the 7th after a boatride from Bocas and then a 6 hour bus drive through the center of Panama to the mountains of Boquete. It is very beautiful here with mountains and hill surrounding the valley town. At night it cools down a little but http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-244897.html SO the rain cleared up in Boquete and the weather here is really nice. Its been about 75 during the day and 55 at night. I keep hearing about all of the freezing temps and snow in Montana Colorado and Mass and it makes me feel a little guilty but just a little.So I took a spanish class on Monday afternoon for 3 hours. I got some helpful info out of it but something just isnt right about si http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-241090.html Well we made it to Boquete and found a room right away at hostel Palacios right in the center of town. We were on the bus there with a girl we had met already in Boca Brava and when we arrived met a guy from Saskatchewan and had an instant bond. So the four of us Sara and Eric spent the next few days hanging out together. We cruised the streets and checked out the fair which I was expecting to http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-237480.html I decided to visit a little highland town called Boquete and coincidently arrived on the same day as their annual 10 day 'Flower and Coffee festival' started.The town was very pretty with green mountains surrounding it on all sides. I declined to climb the nearby volcano and instead visited a coffee plantation. I didn't realise there was such a massive process involved in making coffee http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-236056.html con't from BocaAfter picking up a rental car a small Hyundai SUV at David airport 90 day with insurance i headed to Boquete and the area around Volcan Baru' mountain. This area is stunningly beautiful. Boquete sits in a beautiful valley of cloud topped mountains but the road past it towards Volcan Baru through pristine tropical cloud forests past coffee fincas was amazing. Exploring th http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-224957.html We travelled from Panama City to David on the 730am bus. It was a slightly old single decker bus but quite comfy. The driver and his helper were friendly as were the other people on the bus. We definitely got more smiles here than in Venezuela. The scenery was fantastic so lush and green with patches of forest interrupting the paddocks of cattle and the crops. We had two movies during the trip http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-218834.html Where am I check out video attached should be to the left .As Sarah and I sit in George Bush International Airport not a bad place yeehaaa I thought I should capture our Boquete trip before it leaves my aging mind. We hoped a plain from Bocas to David in the province of Chiriqui rented a car Toyota Yaris and headed to Boquete. The drive up took about 45 minutes and was quite a change fr http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-215283.html Hey guys and gals yet another few days have passed and it has been non stop here. Most of the letters are missing from my keyboard so i apologuise now for my spelling.Well our boat trip took us to an island a lot of people would class as paradise palm trees whitish sand crystal water reef and small fish great for snorkling. It was brilliant to just chill out swim and eat cheese and ham sandwi http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-199666.html In my last update I didnt have time to mention my visit to another volunteers site in the mountains in Chirique near the western border of Panama. His site was awesome. The higher altitude created the perfect temperature. Its so nice when its not hot as balls out. A huge volcano in a national park is right next to his house and the whole town is surrounded by forest. Plus I got to see http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-167807.html Back in beautiful Boquete to fulfill one of our trips missions volunteer work After talking to the owner of Spanish by the River in Boquete while out in Bocas we decided to head back in this direction to teach English at an after school program called Casa Esperanza and for Adam to take some Spanish classes. Casa Esperanza is a program that serves the indigenous Ngobe Bugle population of P http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-160848.html We are coming to you live from Boquete Panama. This is one of the worlds up and coming retirement spots for expats. Boquete is about 1hr by bus from Panama's second largest city David. David while hot and humid was a welcome rest spot for a day after 7 hours on a bus from Panama City. We stayed at the Purple House hostel in David. True to its namesake everything is purple The beds were comf http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-155773.html From Bocos del Toro we headed to Boquete which in in the middle of a mountain valley just over 1000m. It had a nice breezy and cool climate and it was a nice change from the heat of the beach. It is a popular place for agriculture growing lots of fruit and vegetables and famous for its coffee growing. We got lucky when we arrived and managed to find a really nice place to stay. The Hostel was http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-135003.html Three of us including myself collapsed into bed by 10 PM the previous night the others went out but they slept in the next morning while the three of us earlybirds went to Mass. This priest was wonderfully clear in his speech so I could actually understand everything he said the Mass was in Spanish. After another stop for coffee and banana pancakes are you noticing a pattern here we http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-133083.html Today we got up at 6 to meet the van at 7 AM outside our hostel. We had signed up the previous day with Panama Rafters to be taken on a white water trip down the Chiriqui Viejo river. After a twohour drive the river runs along the Costa RicaPanama border we arrived at our starting destination. We slide down the hillside to get to the river with our guides two boat leaders one guideint http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-133082.html Having not gotten up early enough for the morning coffee tour ldquothis is where we pluck lsquoem this is where we roast lsquoemrdquo etc. we made our own coffee tour. Boquete as a town is basically laid out as a strip it doesnrsquot radiate outwards from a central location like most towns but lies along one main road that climbs slowly up the mountain. The entire region is know http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-133072.html Relaxing morning buying souvenir tshirts and handwoven bags to carry all of the stuff my backpack no longer wanted to consume. Then off back to Almirante to try and figure out how to catch a bus to the province of Chiriqui specifically Boquete where we were going to meet three other IP friends. After a winding taxi ride through the town unnecessarily long with the driver trying to convin http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-133071.html Hello everyoneWe just left Santa Fe spent the night in David and now we are in Boquete. Santa Fe was a very small mt. town with barely anything in the town. There was probably about 6 public buildings in total and no supermarket internet bank etc. It was a very peaceful 4 days in the mountains. We stayed at a guest house with a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains. At night becaus http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-109646.html ... and suntanned faces and the coming of Christmas with the promise of sand instead of snow. Since we last wrote in San Jaun del Sur Nicaragua well start there. We ended up staying there a week and then we got word that my brother Andre was making plans for a quickie surf trip. Next thing we knew we hopped on a bus crossed the border into Costa Rica and five hours later were sitting on a p http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-108649.html HolaHope everyone's well Unfortunately I've not been too good since we last wrote my pericarditis seems to have flared up again luckily nowhere near as bad as before but I've been to see the doctor who is rather comical he's been on a course on how to make his patient's laugh and he speaks reasonable English although Ed has no idea what he's saying It only costs about 12 each time I go http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Boquete/blog-99102.html