In all our travels around Panama it seems that we keep returning to Boquete. Boquete is located in the highlands of Panama close to the Costa Rican border. It is surrounded by mountains with waterfalls everywhere. Everytime we go here I feel as though I have entered "Shangri-La". When you drive up and over a mountain ridge you are suddenly in this beautiful valley of lush green vegetation and multiple rivers cascading through the town. It's hard to take in all the profusion of color of all the flowering plants. Royal Poinsienna trees are abundant with their flame-colored blossoms covering their crowns. Bouiganvillas bloom with the richest fushia-colored blossoms I have ever seen.
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| Royal Poinsienna Tree in bloom |
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| Closer look at Royal Poinsienna blooms |
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| Lush fuschia Bougainville |
If we never did anything but drive around the mountainsides with all the switch-back roads I would have been perfectly content. Around every corner a breath-taking view, a beautiful waterfall or scenic trail awaited us. I could have spent the rest of our time in Panama exploring every trail to be found in Boquete.
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| Beautiful vistas everywhere |
But, of course, there is much more to see than just the mountains and streams. There are dozens of coffee farms on the mountainsides in Boquete. Some of the finest coffee in the world is made here and I have had the great pleasure of sampling some of it. One of my absolute favorite places to visit when we are in Boquete is "Finca Lerida". It is a coffee farm that offers quaint little cottage-like rooms on a hillside below the coffee plants. The views are incredible. You have a beautiful view going down the mountain and when you turn around, a beautiful view looking up toward the mountaintop covered with dense forest/jungle. In the later part of the day the mists/clouds roll down the mountain giving it a kind of eerie look. The landscaping around the buildings is so well-planned to attract every hummingbird around and many other truly beautiful birds. You can sit in the little restaurant while you eat breakfast, lunch or dinner and watch the hummingbirds whizz from flower to flower a couple of feet away! And, the food there is excellent. And the coffee...well...it's the best!
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| Finca Lerida Coffee Farm and Lodging |
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| Rooms |
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| View out of back window in room |
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| View from front of room |
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| Hummingbird garden outside of restaurant windows |
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| Watching the birds from inside the restaurant |
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| Angel Trumpet Blossoms |
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| Rufous Hummingbird at feeder |
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| Violet-ear Hummingbird |
You can come to Finca Lerida just to walk the trails around the coffee farm and the forest. It is one of the most relaxing, rejuvenating things I have ever experienced. The serenity of the forest there is like an elixir to the soul. And such a variety of ferns, mosses, bromeliads, vines, etc. growing around and on the trees. To hear a "Three-Wattled Bell Bird" with its metallic sounding call reverberate through the forest is exhilarating (much less to actually see one!). We were fortunate enough to see two of these marvelous and strange looking birds. We heard the infamous "Quetzal" bird but did not see it. I sincerely hope to see one before I leave Panama. And then, to walk out on the hillside on wide trails over-looking the coffee plants covering acres and acres of steep mountainsides is quite a sight. You are about 6000 feet up with mountains and clouds in clear view. There is a lot of bird activity going on everywhere you go here!
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| Coffee Plants seen from trails above |
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| Hiking the trails with a guide |
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| Catching up |
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| A wide variety of foliage colors |
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| Into the dense forest |
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| A lot of incredible trees along the way |
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| Wide grassy trails cut through the tiers of coffee plants |
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| And then, you're in the forest |
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| At the entrance to the forest |
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| One of the paths among the coffee plants |
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| I made it this far and still going up! |
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| What a view from up here! |
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| Taking a little breather |
If you stay in Boquete I recommend staying in "Valle Escondido" at the Valle Escondido Hotel (unless you are on a budget.) This place is out of this world in just the sheer amount of beauty that surrounds you, the spanish stucco style buildings and houses, the cascading water everywhere, bridges and trails, flowers and shrubbery, and birds. Paradise is the only word I can think to describe it. We stayed in the "Mel Gibson" suite near the little outdoor bar. It was an awesome room with a large comfortable kingsize bed and a large jacuzzi tub (and yes, named so because Mel Gibson actually stayed there...).
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| Valle Escondido Hotel |
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| The "Gibson" suite :) |
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| Great comfortable bed in room |
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| Nice large jacuzzi tub in room |
There is also a golf course there that, though I'm not a golfer, I dare say that any golfer would love to play! Plus, if regular golfing isn't your thing they have a "putt-putt" course as well. Walking around the course I discovered many little side trails that lead over bridges or to a secluded spot by a waterfall.
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| A first class golf course |
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| "Putt-Putt" golf course too! |
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| Relaxing by waterfall along walk in Valle Escondido |
One of many bridges crossing waterways
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| Beautiful Bird of Paradise Flower |
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| Little Catina/Bar near our suite |
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Gardens around Hotel Grounds
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Giant Hibiscus
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If you are a birder as I am, find a bird feeder and put some banana and/or papaya out and see who comes. We have some friends in Valle Escondido who put fruit out on their feeder in the mornings and evenings. I have never seen such colorful little birds as I have seen at their feeder. My favorites are the "Flame-colored Tanagers, Silver-throated Tanagers, Scarlet-rumped Tanagers and the cheeky little "Rufous-collard Sparrows.
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| Rufous-Collard Sparrow |
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| Saltator |
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| Flame-Colored Tanager |
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| Scarlet-Rumped Tanager |
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| Silver-Throated Tanager |
There is so much more to say about Boquete but I will save it for another blog :) We are getting ready to return to Boquete for the fourth time. It will probably be our last time before we return to the states :( but, I hope that in the future we will be able to visit the special friends we have made there. It is truly a magical place!
