Panama – Boquete

Boquete sits at elevation at the foot of Volcan Baru and promises a cooler, drier climate than we had been living with in Panama City.  They also grow some of the world’s best coffee, one of which many recent world champion baristas use in competition.  Geisha coffee.  Being fans of the bean and looking for a cooler climate, we thought we’d give Boquete a long weekend visit.

Backing up a little:  one of the things my family did a lot of while growing up in Wisconsin was canoeing.  We belonged to a club and it seemed that every summer weekend we were out on the water.  This, on occasion, involved white-water canoeing.  Now, many years later, here we were on the Panama-Costa Rica border, going white-water rafting.  First we got our group instructions on what to do in case someone falls out of the boat.  With my eyes silently rolling, I watched on, and took my measure of the other folks who’d be joining our boat.  Dismissing the personal value of this briefing, I figured the others should take note.  With that wrapped up, we set off on our river boat trip inside the safety of our large inflatable with another couple making up the four adventure seekers in our boat.  Off we went, our merry band.  We were promised a lot of rapids on this river, and so it was not three minutes into the float when we approached our first set of rocks.  I, unfortunately as it turned out, was on the side of the boat that bumped into our first and mostly submerged rock (think the iceberg that made the Titanic famous).  We kind of bumped and glided over it, but that was all I apparently needed.  Kerplunk.  In nearly slow motion and not overly graceful, I was the first to fall into the river.  Once I resurfaced, I was still in disbelief that this had actually happened to me. I disregarded all that we learned from our just minutes earlier lecture, and foolishly let go of the boat and set myself adrift.  I could hear an eruption of pandemonium aboard the vessel, interspersed with instructions shouted at me from all corners while the boat spun through the rapids, bouncing off a rock wall, as the guide was focused on me.  Swimming in earnest to catch up with the boat, I peered upward at what looked like the Hand of God, but was actually the handle of a paddle reaching out in my direction.  I grabbed hold and was instantly catapulted back into the raft by our guide.  Safe.  Safe and wet.  Shamefully wet.

Carrying that public embarrassment and shame, indeed, my family’s shame, I paddled in relative silence for the remaining trip.  On the plus side, we saw a lot of birds!  We spotted an Amazon kingfisher, a few beautiful blue herons, much smaller than ours and so graceful in the air.  A toucan and several small rainbow boa constrictor snakes hanging perilously at the end of small tree branches. I wondered how they didn’t fall in the water, and why I was the only one in our boat to fall in.  If you’re extra curious, here’s a link to the gps track.

This trip, like all lengthy getaways, is about discovery.  I’ve discovered that I am not a birder.  I am a fellow who likes to walk along and see birds, occasionally stopping long enough to photograph the thing.  Stopping for what seems like hours to point at yet another little brown bird?  Nope.  I needed to rest my knees a little bit after the previous day’s misadventure on and in the water so we went birdwatching as Boquete, being near cloud forest, is somewhat famous for its birds.   Our guide, a woman from the Netherlands who has lived and worked in Boquete going on 25 years, was great at naming and spotting the many birds.  Despite my self-discovery, it was good to take it easy and watch a master at work pointing out the flying critters.

Lesser Violetear hummingbird

Done with birds, the next day we did a coffee tour and tasting of the famous Boquete-area coffee.  We’d been on a tour before and so didn’t want to…you know…do the beginner thing with twenty other folks who had a passing interest in all things coffee, and were possibly there more for the entertainment.  We were luckily able to take a semi-private tour with a former Belgium national barista champion who had recently moved to Boquete.  The farm was beautiful, but the most memorable part for us was that she gave us a class in making the perfect pourover coffee, the best way to drink the famous (and delicious) Geisha coffee.

Jittery from the coffee tasting, we decided to check out the much promoted Flower and Coffee Fair that was going on in Boquete and causing nightmarish traffic the entire time we were there.  It cost $2 to enter, and that seemed rightly priced, despite the overwhelming popularity with people from the surrounding area.  There were many common flowers displayed, spiraled hot dogs on a stick in every food booth, and no coffee in sight.  We left after 30 minutes to retreat to the peace and quiet of the coffee farm where we were lodging. Later that evening, while minding my own business, I was walking through a patio to our kitchen when I spotted a blue scorpion. Yeah, they come in blue. Who knew? The recollection of that little bug kept me sleeping fitfully throughout that night, double checking each wakeful moment that my feet were still tucked in.

Flower and Coffee(less) Fair

No quetzals

On our final day, we opted for a long drive in an attempt to see the one bird we really wanted to but hadn’t:  the aptly named Resplendent Quetzal.  It was too early in the year in Boquete to see them, but our birding guide mentioned they had been spotted on the other side of the volcano.  We didn’t see the bird ourselves, but one was reported there earlier in the morning by the guy whose yard contains the fruit tree the quetzals like to dine on.  Despite being thwarted in our main quest, we had to acknowledge that the four-hour drive was mostly beautiful.  After our goose chase, it was time to leave the hills and return to Panama City for our final week.

Lunch on the river

Surrounding area

We didn’t realize scorpions lived here

male Scintillant Hummingbird

male Scintillant Hummingbird

male Lesser Violetear hummingbird

Categories: Central America, Travel