Panama: The GOOD part

I need to write about the good adventures in Panama so you all don’t think Panama is a country of hissing men and corrupt police. Arriving in Boquete, I felt as though I was transplanted into a very green, affordable, Spanish speaking Swiss Village. I was surrounded by gorgeous mountains, rushing rivers and beautiful gardens. Before finding a hotel for the night I needed to get a caffeine fix as Boquete is the coffee capital of Panama and then book my excursions.

My first day I bought Crocs (I don’t believe it myself but it is a necessity in rainy season!) and then treated myself to an amazing Peruvian dinner of spicy cheese and potato croquette, sea bass and sangria. Three glasses of the best Sangria ever and I had to request the recipe which included Coca Cola (Molly is not as crazy as I thought for her Poor Man’s Sangria of Fanta and Two Buck Chuck!!). The rest of the trip I ate local food which meant no meal was over $2.50, I ate fresh mangos and pineapples every day, bought a huge bag of exotic fruit for a $1.50 and found the best bakery of life!

My first morning I woke up early for a two mile run on paved roads. It is amazing what I consider pavement such a treat after living in jungle and having to run on a slippery gravel driveway for the past two months. After the workout I grabbed my first breakfast of three at the Central Park where you can get 2 pancakes, a huge bowl of fruit and a coffee for $2! Since it is low season in Panama I was off to my private Café Ruiz tour with Carlos. I learned so much about the coffee process and Arabica coffee which needs volcanic ash, high elevations and shade to grow.

After the coffee tour I was off to horseback riding. Given I’m going to live on a 26,000 acre ranch in Montana for the summer I thought that this was going to be my day to get over my fear of galloping. Well, about 30 minutes into the ride the six of us take off galloping through green pastures and this poor Panama City girl whose dream it is to ride a horse starts screaming, falls off her horse and I watch in horror the horse’s foot miss her stomach by about an inch! Luckily she was alive and brave enough to jump back on the horse as I can’t say I would do the same. By this point it started down pouring, thundering, lightening yet I was still having fun chatting but not galloping with the guides thinking regardless of the weather it was an amazing experience to be riding in Panama. Well, the last 10 minutes of horseback riding I changed my mind. It was so miserable as the cold wind started blowing! I was so excited to get off Gordo, my horse and into the Jeep and out of the elements or so I thought. The window flaps didn’t snap and the roads resembled a mud volleyball pit. The river we drove the Jeep through was so deep the water actually crept into the back of the truck touching my shoes. The only thing that kept us tourists sane was the vision of this hot spring. The trek was all worth it, I stripped my clothes off, ran through some dudes lawn and jumped into a 103 degree hot spring!

The rest of the trip was wonderful. I really felt safe and at home in Boquete. The local people and the gringo transplants were extremely friendly. I met some friends of friends that own a B&B in the mountains and I spent a morning exploring their property. The owners invited me to walk their trails, try their coffee, coffee liquor and even came searching for me in their truck when I walked 2 miles past their property straight up a mountain! Later that night, I became friends with an amazing Chilean woman who gave me an hour massage for twenty bucks. I was intending to head back to the Osa after 2 full days but I just couldn’t tear myself away from Panama.

I ended up finding two guys in my hotel, Tom and Jon to hike the Quetzal trail at Volcan Baru National Park for my extra day in Boquete. Now, the owners of the B&B assured me I could do this hike by myself, thank the Lord I was smart enough not to take that chance. Most of the trail had been washed out by November 2008 floods and we ended up having to walk through rivers and flood damaged forest to find the trail. As the three of us embarked on the hike Tom started making small talk by discussing his annoyance with Russian “Find a Bride” Dating Services. At this point I thinking oh shit maybe solo hiking would be better than with this crazy guy! Well Tom turned out to be an ok guy just incredibly awkward hence the need for a non English speaking woman. Now Jon, my Portuguese hiking buddy was awesome. He is a sailboat captain and has been sailing the world for the past 10 years. I asked him how many countries he’s been to in his life and his response was “I fill my passport every year!” My mouth watered! Well 5 hours of hiking and no spotting of a Quetzal, but I was able to hike in cold weather rainforest which was pretty unique.

Getting back to town was a bit of an adventure. As we left the trailhead we saw a sign that read “14 kilometers to Boquete” and not a bus in sight as we were promised. What to do but hitchhike. The first car we flagged down was a bright yellow Jeep with four American’s and a dog. Tom and I took the bumper and Jon hung off the passenger side window. What a sight that just have been. All I could do was concentrate not to bounce off the bumper onto pavement. Four kilometers later this hitch dropped us off, we ended up walking another 2 km before stumbling upon a onion, tomato and cabbage farm in the mountains. Luckily these very nice farmers agreed to give us a ride into town after trying to sell us a Gringo’s a tiny piece of river front property for $30,000. Keep in mind my mention of the floods…there’s no way in hell this property would not flood during rainy season. But every farmer in Boquete thinks he can get rich quick by selling a piece of land to an American. In fact there are so many for sale signs in Boquete one would think the town is named “Se Vende.”

The rest of the day was great. I spent a couple hours in the afternoon hanging out at Sugar & Spice bakery chatting with the muffin man about life and business opportunities in Central America while sipping hot cocoa he made just for me. Then I headed back to the hotel to try all my exotic fruits with my new friends at the hotel. I definitely need to explore more of Panama just with a passport entry stamp this time!