Birds, Bugs and Beauty of Boquete

March 3, 2015

Our guest house host offered us a free breakfast today. We assume because we are staying here for two weeks and this is a real boost to her income. Most guests stay one or two nights. So at 8:30 she and her helpers appeared with a larger fruit salad of melon, bananas and almonds, fried eggs to order, coffee and toast with butter. It was very generous of her and very sweet. We usually have granola with a banana for breakfast and prepare eggs on the weekend. We have the option of her preparing breakfast daily but we prefer a lighter breakfast most days and prefer to save the expense for travel treats like yesterday’s hike or tomorrow’s tentative volcano trip.

The wind continues to rip through the valley but we have sunshine again today and a bird outside our door is singing a beautiful song, one of the simple pleasures of life. We walked to the Tuesday market, chatted with a woman there whom we met yesterday on our nature hike. She is a former Peace Corps volunteer and true to form she has traveled the world extensively. We bought a lovely colorful woven straw ‘tray’ from a local woman who had made it and her husband who was the salesman. We decided it wouldn’t take much room and it was light weight and it would squeeze in somewhere in our luggage.

March 4

I haven’t said much about the local indigenous people in the highlands. They are the Ngobe-Bugle, composed of two separate ethno-linguistic categories. They are Panama’s largest indigenous population, numbering around 200,000. They retain their own autonomous region with their own system of governance and economy, while maintaining their language, representation in the Panamanian legislature and full voting rights. In the villages they survive on subsistence agriculture. They live in grass huts with dirt floors. The men practice slash and burn agriculture in order to raise crops such as plantains, bananas, corn, cassava, and rice. During the coffee harvest the younger men work as laborers in the fields around Boquete which generates a lot of income for the villages. The women are primarily responsible for raising the children and some work as skilled artisans, especially since their craft commands a high price. The two most common items are the colorful dresses with hand sown appliqué which is worn by the women and girls. The dresses are unfitted, have a dropped waist and cover the body from neck to ankle. The dresses have short sleeves. See photo. (Some of this information is from Lonely Planet).

We got up early. I had another bad night of sleep. Fernando picked us up at 7:00 and off we went to see the volcano Baru. Our first stop was just a few miles down the road in a housing development. There was a great overlook of the canyon and a good view of Baru from here.

Fernando is very knowledgeable about the tropical birds and early on we stopped to observe birds. Ron got shots of a Crimson Backed Tanager

Yellow headed caracara hawk

We stopped to use the restroom at a tiny eatery. Ron and Fernando had a drink made of sweetened milk with corn. They had a tree there that grew a fruit that is perfectly round. Although the fruit isn’t edible, its peel can be dried to make a perfect bowl or spoon. Every time Fernando saw a bird we stopped so Ron could get a photo. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous and we came to appreciate even more what is here and what draws people here to stay. 

wild parrot

American Vulture

Fly catcher

Great White Egrits

Fly catcher

American Vulture

Forked-tail fly catcher

We stopped at a small estate where an archaeological dig had taken place. The owner gave us a wonderful tour of her collection of pre Columbian artifacts that had been found on her property. Many were fascinating. According to her there is evidence that both Asian people and African people migrated from those regions over the Bering Straits. 

One of the more interesting pieces she had was a statue (replica as the original is in a museum in Panama City) was of a man with another man sitting on his shoulders. The man on the bottom has African features such as hair more typical of Africans and the man on top is wearing a conical hat and has classic Asian eye folds. The archaeologists’ interpretation was that the two cultures supported one another and got along well. It is not thought that the Asians had African slaves. 

After seeing her collection she showed us the archaeological dig site and we walked throughout her wonderful piece of property that had lots of paths through many interesting trees, vines, scrubs, and flowering plants. Near the end of our walk we came across a ancient burial site. The funeral jars were left intact in the soil because once they are removed they dired out and crumble completely. 

Our host was born here but attended school in Panama City and lived for a number of years in Santa Barbara CA. After the tour she showed us a Thai lemon tree with lemons the size of melons. See photo.  She said the juice is very sour but they make marmalade with the fruit. Later she treated us to some homemade cheese with three marmalades: guava, lemon, and blackberry.

Next Fernando took us by an agricultural region with some farms that grew produce on very steep inclines and all done by hand not machines. Fernando is very respectful of how hard these people work and never fails to acknowledge how hard working they are. He never spoke ill of the local Indians or anyone else. We saw a horse farm with horses that are shown around the world. They were beautiful animals. 

We passed through two larger towns, Volcan and Cerro Punta. Both looked very prosperous with very nice grocery stores, etc. I was taken with how green everything is and this is the dry season. Many of the farms, if not all, have irrigation but the countryside outside of the farms was still green. I think the interaction of the Pacific and Atlantic air currents must create enough mist to keep the area green but who knows. I one day will settle down (when I am too old to travel) and take that meteorological class.

We ate late at a small place with a great view. We had little corn meal pastries, one with what tasted like mozzarella cheese and one with chicken. We arrived home around 3:00. I fell asleep on the way home. We rested, then went out to dinner at a hotel restaurant that got good reviews and that was located next to the Caldera River and shared a salad and a fabulous rack of pork with polenta, caramelized carrots and asparagus. OMG good.

Spanish spear and dagger

 

Coffee bean masher bird

Dragonfly

The best of Boquete

Feb 26

The days here in Boquete are quite lovely. We wake up to tropical birds singing. I wish it were easier to see them. We did catch a glimpse of two parrots flying by us on a walk to town one day. The sun is shining all day most days. Sometimes in the early morning there are big white clouds hanging on the mountain tops and there might be a very slight mist. The first day we arrived I thought I was walking through a sprinkler at first, then realized what it actually was. The area around Boquete is spectacular with mountains all around, lush green forests and it is the windy season until March so we have daily winds. They are refreshing; the sky is bright blue with no sign of pollution. The temperature is usually in the mid 70’s. It is now 11:00 a.m. and it is 77 with a low of 64 tonight.

There are many reasons to like Boquete and most of them I have described here. Dining out is much cheaper than Panama City, almost half the price. But we have yet to find a fine dining experience here and I doubt that it exists. There is no movie theater here and we have only seen one DVD store and it had mostly Spanish tiles. The few English titles we have seen or they were action or horror films, not our cup of tea. There are three or four grocery stores but only one that is thriving and fully stocked. For soy milk we went to the organic store.  It is small but did have almond milk which we bought and it worked just fine. They didn’t have any soy milk.

The town has one main street with commercial/retail. It consists of real estate offices, banks, a few small grocery stores, souvenir shops and tour companies that can arrange trips throughout the area: visit to the volcano, river rafting, and nature hikes. If you go on either side of the central avenue you will find residential neighborhoods with an occasional business or eatery. About 30 miles to the south is Panama’s second largest city, David, with a population of 104,000. It is an agro hub not a cultural center. Lonely Planet, the travel series we most often use, lists four eateries in David: one is a Chinese food cafeteria (personally I cannot imagine anything worse), a café that specializes in juice and smoothies, a Lebanese restaurant and a grocery store for self catering. That gives you a picture that speaks a thousand words.

So for us, this area does not meet our criteria as a place to hang our hats for a year or two. As I have mentioned, part of the odyssey is to locate a place in Mexico or Central America where we can live while the City of Vancouver decides if it will allow four miles of Bakken oil cars to cross through downtown daily to the port where a proposed oil transfer terminal is to be built. We also have since discovered that there is an oil refinery on the drawing board as well. Additionally there is a proposal for coal terminals on the Washington coast that will bring six miles of coal trains through downtown as well. When we left in June to live in Portland for the summer we would see long trains with Bakken oil and coal trains sitting on the tracks daily waiting to pass through Vancouver. So it is already happening but not to the extent that is proposed.

Frankly, we are pretty disheartened and feel that we will not be able to return to Vancouver. Money talks in the US…heck anywhere that is the case so we expect that some form of these proposals will go through but the permitting process will take at least another year and possibly more. Ron and I have traveled a lot and enjoyed living in other countries so feel that if nothing else, this is our opportunity to have a last fling, as it were, to live outside the US. Given our age we want to take advantage of the chance to do this while we are still very healthy. If we don’t return to Vancouver neither of us knows what we want yet. We love the Portland area but living in Oregon will take a 9% cut in our income due to state income tax. In addition housing is quite a bit more expensive in Portland. But as Ron likes to say ‘it is only money’.

Tonight we had the best meal we have had in Panama, so I have to retract my statement about the lack of fine dining in Boquete. Mango restaurante had a very interesting menu with a chef who works to source local organic ingredients. We are delighted with our meals. I had a roasted red pepper soup with goat cheese and pesto with a watermelon salad that had feta, red onions, mint, radishes, and kalmata olives. OMG it was great. Ron had a pork vindaloo without red dye #24 that is used in most Indian restaurants.

Feb 27

Today we walked a bit out of town to a private garden. It was all uphill. Of course the good news coming back was that it was all downhill. The gardens are on an estate that seems to be growing over time. The latest addition was a coffee bar. Although the coffee wasn’t very good, the view was great. The other couple there was from The Netherlands although they now live in coastal Panama part of the year and in Canada part of the year. 

The gardens seemed to be near the end of the season. The property was quite large with a lot of different plants but nothing spectacular. It was good to get out and stretch our legs.

On the way back, we stopped by the gelato place and found out they had sorbet, so we told them we would return. We also stopped in a sandwich place and looked at the menu and decided to return there as well. In the afternoon we walked down our street until it ended at the highway and then came back and walked up another street that ended at the local cemetery. There a caretaker spoke with us and showed us where we could take some steps back down the hill. We ate dinner in our room. We had take-out vegetable soup and cornbread that were delicious. It was a nice break from sitting in a restaurant. We watched the News Hour by streaming. Ah the simple pleasures of life.

Feb 28

Today we made a hot breakfast with eggs and bagels.  We went to town to get a few items then came back to the room. Later we went to the sandwich shop we found the day before for lunch and split a great bacon and chicken sandwich and topped it off with a sorbet for me and ice cream for Ron at the gelato shop. Yum!

I spent the afternoon reading all about Costa Rica from a very informative website by a gringo who has lived there for five years and he is determined to tell about the real Costa Rica. He was detailed, frank and most helpful at dispelling myths about the place. My favorite thing he said that made me laugh so hard I was crying was in Costa Rica the Spanish word for pedestrian is ‘target’. Having lived in places where this is the reality I appreciated the humor. While I was reading about CR Ron worked on our taxes. We have a CPA that actually does our taxes but Ron has a lot of prep to do for her. So far so good. Hopefully no information that is needed is locked away in our storage unit in Portland! We had a good dinner tonight at the Art Café.  It wasn’t as good as Mango but it was second best so far for Panama.

March 1

It has rained off and on all day with a ferocious wind. We went out for breakfast at Sugar and Spice where I had my second huevos rancheros which were, once again, to die for delicious! We spent almost all day in the room on our computers or reading. We had leftovers for lunch then went to Big Daddy’s for dinner. We had fish tacos last time so this time I had a salad which wasn’t good and Ron had grilled red snapper with fries and slaw which was good. A quick stop at the grocery store and we came home and watched two episodes of Downton Abbey. Ron has managed to download a software program that now lets us stream programs that we usually can’t access outside the US. We turned in early as we need to get up at 6:00 for our waterfall hike pick up at 7:00.

March 2

I didn’t sleep well at all but that isn’t unusual for me. Fernando picked us up at a little after 7:00 and we hit the trail by 7:30. We were in a rain forest in a national park. The path was wide initially but very rocky with rocks the size of tennis balls and oranges. I had to watch every step or I would trip or twist my ankle. But what a great hike. 

All we heard was rushing water from a creek quite close by and birds of every description. We hiked uphill for two and a half hours, pausing to look for and at birds. 

The thrill of a lifetime: we got to watch a quetzal and Ron got some terrific shots. These are magnificent birds. I am still squealing over the fact we got to see one. 

We also saw lots of butterflies, some chickens, a turkey and geese at a house along the way. Along the trail we saw lots of bromeliads (a parasitic plant native to the tropics that grow on other plants, mostly trees). We also saw a very large tree reported to be over 1500 
years old!

We went back to the car and it was 11:50! No wonder my feet hurt. Fernando drove us around the farms in the highlands and we ended up at a coffee finca which also has hiking trails, a hotel with expensive rooms, a restaurant and a coffee plantation. The estate was built in 1929. We had an Americano which was strong as requested and are still waiting for a coffee from Panama we like. So far most coffee here has a wine like taste to it and it isn’t pleasant to our palettes.

We were tired so we had Fernando drop us off at the Sugar and Spice where we eat frequently because the food is so good. We split a sandwich and picked up chili con carne and cornbread for tonight;s dinner as most restaurants are closed on Monday and what is available is not good. This evening will be viewing two more episodes of Downton Abbey.