Here is a map of Boquete

For those of you that enjoy these maps, here is Boquete, you can play with this and zoom in and out and all that fun jazz!!


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A Place to Retire - Boquete

After a week I finally left the archipelago of Bocas as the locals call it, for the highlands of Boquete. I was meeting a friend in the city of David at the bus stop so I wanted to get an early start. By early I mean around 9, hey it was island time! Anyway, I waited and waited for my friend Travis at the bus stop that I directed him to over the e-mails. Once he was 3 hours late I started to think of all the possible disasters he may have encountered on his journey from Indianapolis, Indiana to David, Panama. These ranged from missing his flight, to his bus from Panama City crashing on the Pan-American. Of all the scenarios I came up with it never once crossed my mind that there may be two bus stations in David. Well there was, and lucky for Travis, he had enough foresight to explore the city for my location. Finally we bumped into on another, and were ready for the next journey, our trip to one of the world’s top retirement destination, and a climb up Volcan Baru.

(A modest breakfast! Actually that's all they brought!!)


(Yes, this are what coffee beans look like before they are brought to America.)

Lucky for us we happened to be in Boquete during the annual Festival de Flores y Café. This yearly celebration of flowers and coffee was rated the top festival in Panama by Lonely Planet, and we happened to stumble into town as it was taking place. Luckily we found a room, although it only had one double bed. This was when I had my first hot shower of the trip, something I didn’t savor long enough thinking there would be more to come, you’ll find out later that I was wrong in my assumption. The next morning Travis and I set off for our climb up Volcan Baru, standing at 11,398 feet tall it is Panama’s tallest mountain. It’s a dormant volcano that sits on the continental divide and towers some 8000 plus feet over the town of Boquete. Most people take a cab from town the first 9km to the ranger station at the entrance to the national park, however we figured we would get the whole experience and walk from town, making the grueling walk just that much longer. Travis and I have made this mistake before, on a trip to Pico de Orizaba where it is recommended to hire a ride for most of the approach, we instead made a long day of walking down a dust choked road in the blaring sunlight, leading to a significant dehydration issue and a nasty sunburn.

(Who knew there was bamboo in Panama?)

Anyway, we decided to make this mistake again, and turned an already hefty hike into an epic journey. We hiked and hiked, and finally made it to the top just before sunset. We were hoping to see a nice sunset since all day the skies were blue, but of course as we set foot atop the summit the clouds rolled in. We had about a 48 second view from the top! We descended a bit and set camp in an abandoned structure, fearing the possibility of rain. We both set up our traveling hammocks hoping for a peaceful night after our trying hike. Unfortunately hammocks don’t keep you too warm, and with the temperatures dropping into the 30’s and 40’s over night, neither Travis or I got a wink of sleep. By 5 am I was ready to climb out of my icy nest, and try to warm myself up. Travis and I walked back to the summit for a hope of clear skies, it’s rumored that one can see both the Pacific and Atlantic from the summit, but we were socked in again with heavy cloud cover, so we decided to retreat back to Boquete.

Once back in town we were treated to the loud ever present noise Panamanians call music, which really just sounds more like people yelling off pitch and out of key in Spanish, until around 5 am when the flowers and coffee festival calms down. We kept it short and sweet, the next morning we had some fried bread for breakfast, packed up, departed from a place I am surprised is the number 3 places in the world to retire, and headed to the beach!

(We had to get out share of street meat at the festival!)


(There is our cozy double!!)

There is more Panama to come, two different beach towns, and all sorts of excitement, so come back soon and hopefully I’ll have the rest of the trip’s story and pictures posted!! Also if you want more information on Panama, click on the title to this post and it will link you to Lonely Planet’s Panama page.

The Bull's Mouth!

Right off the bat I made an amateur travelers mistake, booking a ticket that landed late at night. This meant I would be spending the night at the bus station waiting for the first bus the next morning. I have traveled quite a bit and I am pretty used to spending nights in bus stations, airports, or wherever I can to avoid paying to get just a few hours of sleep in a nice bed, and I use that term loosely when talking about Latin American hostels and their beds. Nevertheless it still is the part of traveling on a "shoestring" that could be better, at least I saved 7 bucks! Here are a few Norwegians joining me at Hostel Albrook Bus Station.

They were on day one of a year’s trip, and already they were doing the dance of trying to sleep in public and avoid being accosted by the ever present security forces that presides over these types of places.

Anyway I made it through the night and caught the 6:30 bus to David, a town in western Panama on the route to Bocas Del Toro, the archipelago of islands that I was headed for. From there I had to take a collectivo, which is a van of sorts that acts like a small bus, to the town of Almirante. Finally, from there I was ushered by Panama's youth into a miniature motor boat for the 45 minute ride out to Isla Colon, the main island of Bocas Del Toro. Finally after 2 planes, a taxi, 2 buses, another taxi, a boat ride, and over 36 hours I was where I wanted to be!! I checked into the first hostel I could find, grabbed a bottle of Nicaraguan rum from a nearby store, and kicked back to enjoy a few Cuba Libre’s.

The next morning I woke up and headed out to the beach. Boca Del Drago was the destination, and after a 45 minute bus ride across the islands only real road I was there and ready to relax. The ride was really not too far, but the condition of the roads on Isla Colon are, well, less than great. Here, the pictures can do better than my words.

Isla Colon is on the Gringo Trail, and after 1 day and 2 nights I was ready to find another island that looked less like the boardwalk in Ventura, and more like Panama. So the next morning, day 3 now, I left Isla Colon and headed to Isla Bastimentos. This was much more laid back, more of a local flavor, and not a single road or car on the island. I relaxed there for the next 3 or 4 days, I cannot really remember, but I played on the beach, drank coconut milk, navigated the ocean in a dug out canoe I found, got muddy exploring the rain soaked jungle looking for dart frogs and sloth, and found ample time to lay around and read a book. All together it was an amazing first week. Have a look at the pictures!!

(These are my friends Margot and DP, they are on the road for the next 4 years! Good Luck you guys!!)