PanAmerica?

It was with a heavy heart that I left the womb Magnolia Inn that had been my home from home over the last ten days, and headed to my next destination of Boquete which was roughly seven hours drive inland West from Panama City.

Boquete is a cozy mountain village that is known as the "Valley of flowers and eternal spring" due to its incredible wildlife, abundant agriculture (coffee, oranges, strawberries thrive here due to the fertile volcanic soil) and lush rain forests. During our stay there it transpired that Boquete is also where a lot of Americans come to retire due to the comfortable year round climate and low cost of living. This came as no surprise as we kept bumping into them everywhere we went and even the streets and stores resembled an American town. It was another reason why I think they need to give Panama a new name - PanAmerica.

Our journey initially took us to the town of David where we caught an America school bus (surprise surprise) to the town of Boquete. The bus ride was bumpy and windswept due to being sat at the back of the bus and not being able to shut the window. Thankfully the journey only took forty five minutes and we were soon settling into our hostel which was so deserted it felt like we had our own apartment!

Our ride to Boquete : )

Having travelled overnight we were all starving so we went to the bakery next door called Sugar and Spice which sold the most delicious fried egg sandwiches and chocolate brownies. Needless to say that we returned here quiet frequently throughout our stay...

That evening we decided to treat ourselves to a meal at a local hotel restaurant called Panamonte which had been named one of the best restaurants in Central America by Condé Nast Traveller. We were following in the footsteps of the ex-US Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon and actors Ingrid Bergman and Sean Connery who had all eaten and stayed at the hotel. Well if its good enough for them...

The decor of the restaurant - like being in someone's house!

My delicious steak. The photo doesn't do it justice unfortunately...

Dessert - coffee creme caramel

The next day we caught a pick up truck taxi (yes that's right, a pick up truck taxi) to an area called Bajo Mono which is just North of Boquete. Here we entered the Parque Nacional Volcán Barú (home to Panama´s only volcano) and hiked along the Sendero Los Quetzales trail in the hope of spotting one of these rare and beautiful green Quetzales birds. 

All taxis in Boquete are like this

Unfortunately luck was not on our side so we didn't get to see one of the birds, but I did manage to take a photo of a picture of one in a local tourist office. Not quite the same but at least you know what the bird looks like! 

A picture of Quetzales bird courtesy of the local tourist office!

Our day wasn't all lost however, we did end up seeing two of the three local waterfalls that can be found on private land (owned by a British family randomly) next to the trail. Despite scrambling up muddy hills and through dense rain forest we didn't find the third waterfall which was disappointing as wed heard you could swim in it. 

Giant tree size mushrooms. Only kidding I zoomed in...

Trekking through the jungle!

wild orchid?

First waterfall...

Second waterfall!

The stream that connected the two waterfalls

Given that Boquete is such an American town and Americans love Mexican food, it wasn't surprising to find a Mexican restaurant (El Casona Mexicana) which also had received good reviews. We ate dinner there and weren't disappointed.  Tacotastic!