Queso Blanco and yucca bread—Breakfast of Champions.
The most important feature of Boquete for us is the cool mountain air. It’s about 70 degrees and windy right now and the stars are so close you could hang pictures on them. We found a nice little hostel here in town where we are in the back of the building, facing a garden, with a hammock right outside the door. I’ve made good use of that hammock, sitting in it for about three hours while doing research for my novel.
My office.
It’s very beautiful here, and all the more so because the town is gearing up for its massive flower and coffee festival. We got in at the right time. The crowds haven’t shown yet, but the place is packed full of flower designs and the fairgrounds are hopping with last minute preparations.
Flowers everywhere.
There’s not a lot to report right now. It’s quiet here and the coffee is extraordinary. We keep making new friends, having meals with them, then going on about our journeys. And we keep seeing people we saw somewhere before. We walked into La Jungla de Panama, and there are two people we took a tour with in Bocas del Toro. We walk to dinner, and there’s the German couple that sat behind us on the bus to David. The traveler’s circuit really isn’t that big, and it’s easy to keep crossing paths.
Boquete is a big retirement destination, and there are a lot of Americans who’ve found their version of paradise down here. We ran into one by the name of Daniel at a French crepe café on the edge of town. The café was run by a Frenchman who wanted to spend his twilight years in the mother country, and Daniel stepped into the place almost by accident. The entire operation was running, the keys just needed to change hands. Until recently, he was a son of Colorado. Now, he’s a Panamanian restaurant owner.
We’re settling in well here. The scenery and the climate lend themselves to sticking around for a spell. There are communities all around Volcan Baru, including Indian villages along the trails that appear on no maps.
We spent the day lounging. The trip has assumed a far slower pace of late, and that might make for less interesting updates. Or more interesting ones. We shall see.