Hello, Panama!

I have had it in my head that we (Mike and  I) needed to take an anniversary trip for our 10 year anny for several years. At first I thought Fiji. Then I went a bit overboard and thought Fiji and New Zealand. (In researching NZ there were so many things I didn't want to miss, the trip ended up too long and the cost too hight... and even taking Fiji away, I knew we wouldn't be able to spend the time we wanted to there so I threw that idea out but hope to pick it up again in the future!) So then one day Mike & I got an email about flights to Panama for cheap (about $800 for both of us) and we jumped on it. Mike had actually suggested we go to Panama for our anniversary because we've been wanting to go (Panama is where Mike wants to live after he retires) but I thought we should go further away since we wouldn't have the kids. Well anyway.. so that is how we ended up picking Panama for our 10th.

Turns out, as we got closer to our departure dates, I started to think maybe I was crazy for coming up with the idea that we'd leave the kids home on this trip. I knew my sister would care for them well but I just still worried. And dropping them off was hard too! I've only been away from them on 2 overnight trips ... one was 1 night & the other was 2 nights. Mike has been away on business but it has never been us together. Bella is almost 7! Dropping them off was super hard and a bit tearful (for me... not at all for them- they were excited to have a "vacation" at Laura's).

Fast forward... we drive to Dallas, do a quick shop at H&M (me), and rush to the airport to catch our flight. Fly to Florida for a layover and then fly to Panama City, arrival time of 1:21 AM. Thank goodness we didn't have the kids on that late flight... we were groggy enough as it is. We then picked up our rental and drove about a block to our hotel to crash. Here are pics from in the morning at the Riande Aeropuerto. It was a nice hotel and we were thankful that it was so close to the airport. We had breakfast and then headed out for Boquete, Panama.

Mike in our hotel room, out our hotel room window they had peppers planted!, Panama gives travelers free insurance for the first 30 days, and Mike at breakfast.

Looking over the bridge at the Panama Canal on our drive.

The drive to Boquete was a bit long. We knew it would be but didn't anticipate the rain after dark nor the horrible construction/detours we'd go through as we got close to Boquete. So I think the drive ended up taking us around 7 hours on the way there. I was thankful that Mike was driving (esp during the stressful bits). We stopped and had lunch at a pizza place a little over 1/2 way to Boquete  (that looked like it was geared towards kids but the ingredients were quality and the pizza was good).

We have decided that it is just a matter of routine for us to pay off the police while we are in Central America. As happened in Costa Rica, we again were stopped by the police for speeding (which in fact I'm sure we were going 5-10 miles over) and after a long, broken conversation in Spanish (and a scare where I thought he was going to shove me in the ditch- strictly my paranoia) we settled on $60. I believe he started at $1000 Euros. Turns out, after talking with our coffee tour guy later on in Boquete, the first time ticket cost is $50. So now we know for next time to opt for the written ticket... or pay the police less! Ha. So then of course, once again, I am paranoid about speeding the rest of the trip.

After a stressful bit in the car, we arrived at our hotel in Boquete... our hotel was the Panamonte Inn (Owned by a Swedish family). I highly recommend this hotel if traveling in Boquete- the staff was always friendly, our room was huge and overlooked the beautiful grounds, and the restaurant had very yummy food. It is the oldest hotel in Boquete and it is said they have the best restaurant in Boquete, if not in the whole of Panama. We ate in their restaurant every morning but also 2 out of the 3 dinners that we were in Boquete for! They source local and organic ingredients when possible and you can even take cooking classes with their chef.

Mike relaxing in our room the first night, front of hotel, walk in closet (did not use much space in that thing!), porch out to the gardens/grounds of hotel.

View from the porch (those tall long things are some sort of cactus).

We had a really yummy breakfast (and delicious coffee) out on their porch and then I booked a massage for the afternoon. We then set out to explore by car to get a better feel for the town. It is a pretty small town but the residential areas and farms surrounding the town go out (and up the mountains) quite a ways. It is a beautiful place. We ate lunch and then came back for my massage (which was so very nice) and then after I showered we headed out again but by foot this time. Our hotel was at a dead end street but down the other end it took just a minute or two to get to the shops and eateries.

Cat we met on our walk, beautiful flowers/plants along sides of roads, a small plot with lots of lettuce in between buildings, more pretty flowers, a barber shop where you can get your "ghetto style" on, and the river that ran through town.

We stopped in a coffee shop to grab some coffee (the weather was perfect coffee drinking weather!) and walked until we ran out of things to see.  It was there that we found a lovely little bakery, Sugar and Spice. Since I'd had sweet coffee I decided on a muffin (hoping it wouldn't be too sweet) but Mike got a blueberry cream cheese bread pudding. The lady behind the counter got our things for us and the guy who'd been busy working behind her asked Mike if we'd be staying there to eat and if so, he'd heat up the bread pudding because it was better that way. We were guessing he was the owner... he heated it up and then brought it out to our table outside. The muffin was delicious (very moist) and Mike enjoyed his bread pudding.

On our way back to the hotel we saw some painted rocks... followed them down into a parking lot and discovered all these painted rocks bordering the parking lot of the restaurant! Pretty cool!

This day was our actual 10 year anniversary day (May 24th) so we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant again (after all, it is the best in Boquete). Here we are getting ready to go eat (this is the top I wore on my wedding day when we left the reception!).

The next day we drove over to David to check out the shopping options (thinking that if we move here, where are we going to get what we need). It is a bigger town and we checked out their version of Target (not quite Target... but more like a TJ Maxx or something similar but without any discounted prices!). Then we came back, grabbed lunch at a sandwich shop, and then headed back to our hotel for a coffee tour we had booked.

The drive up the mountain was lovely (although the narrow roads are a bit scary at times... and they go fast on them!) and the coffee plantation tour was excellent. It is a smaller plantation (not like the one we visited in Costa Rica) and it was just us (a couple from Australia and a guy from Switzerland joined us on the tour), our tour guide, and the plantation owner's wife there on the farm. Our guide, Jason, knew a lot about the coffee growing process and we learned even more than we had in Costa Rica. He was really great at explaining all the steps, how it was done at that farm, and why it was done that way. The name of the coffee is named Royal- Ro for the wife (Rosa) y (and) Al for the husband (Alfredo).

View of Boquete on the way up the mountain, ripe coffee cherry split open, coffee plants w/ a chicken roaming, coffee cherries, drying coffee beans, and the old car that Mr. Tito (plantation owner) took parts from to make all his machinery for the coffee processing (and our guide, Jason).

Baby coffee plants, unroasted beans, sorting machines (made by Mr. Tito), small roasting machine (made by Mr. Tito), large roaster with scroon on top (made by Mr. Tito... scroon= spoon & screwdriver), roasted beans- dark, medium, and light.

Bags of coffee beans, some sort of sorting machine?, bagging process, Coffee bags for shipping, and roasted coffee with scroon. 

After our coffee tour we went back into town to get our car and then drove around the mountain area for a bit (scary... I thought for sure we'd get lost up there!). We found this pretty waterfall while exploring and the neat looking rock wall. I didn't get many other pictures of the mountain but we saw farms and the areas where the migrant workers live (many are indigenous people from the San Blas area who come in to work the farms and then travel back home). The living conditions were pretty primitive. 

After our explorations, we decided to check out the highly rated Big Daddy's Grill for some fish tacos. The owners (American) are very involved in the operation of the restaurant and the wife was in the dining room nearly the whole time we were eating there. The food was quite yummy. 

The next morning we awoke early to get a head start to make sure we arrived in plenty of time to catch our flight to the Pearl Islands. Unfortunately the restaurant wasn't open at that hour so we had to eat breakfast bars in the car and search for coffee in the nearby towns (found some and it was awful). And that concludes the first part of our trip... up next, the Pearl Islands!