Boquete the beautiful

We have fallen in love with the town of Boquete in Panama. I adore everything about this place. Let's start with the scenery - Boquete sits 3477 feet above sea level, and is surrounded by lush green mountains that go as high as 11,397 feet (Volcan Baru). Someone on the bus ride in told us it reminded him of Switzerland in the summer time. Having never been to Switzerland, I can't say for sure, but wow, is it gorgeous!  It also reminds me somewhat of Hawaii because the clouds are very dramatic and it rains frequently. Our first afternoon here we saw a huge double rainbow. When I pointed it out to a local guy, he said, "Oh yeah, we see that everyday," and kept walking! 

The town itself has about 19,000 people, and about 14% of them are expats from the US, Canada & Europe. Jonathan immediately met a man who lives here now who was from Green Bay, WI. He too is a huge Packers fan & has invited us to his home Sunday to watch the game. After that conversation, I knew we weren't going anywhere for a while!  So we've decided to stay here through Monday. 

We are staying at an adorable little hostel on the outskirts of town called Pension Topas. This week & weekend is the Ferria de los Flores y Cafe - a flower & coffee festival. It is also apparently a festival for selling every kind of good you can imagine - clothing, jewelry, leather goods, hats, toys, food, etc. It is also a festival for playing super loud music until about 4am, but we still managed to sleep ok. 

This area does indeed look like te ideal place for a flower and coffee festival. There are beautiful flowers growing absolutely everywhere- on the fences, in the ditches, in the fields, and of course in everyone's gardens. The hillsides are dotted with coffee farms. We met some local guys on a hike today who were harvesting some beans. When we asked where the beans were headed he said, "The US, of course!"

Also staying at our hostel is a sweet couple from CO. They have been doing some volunteer work in Panama for 5 or 6 weeks now and just got engaged at Christmas!  It's been really fun getting to know them. Today we took a hike together that we had found vague mention of online. We followed a road up a steep hill outside of town and then kept curving around on a dirt road. There were amazing views and the weather was absolutely perfect. Because of the altitude, it is much cooler here and not nearly so humid. There's a wonderful breeze all the time, and at night it even get a little chilly. Our hike made a big loop and brought us back down into the city just after lunch. 

Panama is less expensive than CR by far, and they use US dollars, so that makes it even easier!  We got a fabulous pineapple yesterday for $.50 that we all shared and a couple bananas for a dime each. Tonight we're going to try out a restaurant in town that seems to be a favorite with the locals. Today at lunch there was a line out the door and up the street- always a good sign!  

I've posted some photos and videos on Facebook, since I still can't get my iPhone to let me upload anything here. So check out my page there to see some!