2RetireesInPanama: MY VIRTUAL FACEBOOK "PEEPS" NO MORE

Tuesday was a day "unplanned". I didn't want to book an early coffee tour or zip-lining tour on the second day of our mini-vacation, and instead allowed for "sleeping in time". Breakfast was complimentary at the hotel and began at eight am. The market didn't open, so my research showed, until ten am (really around nine). Ray and I were ready to go a little early (the sun rises fast), so we walked the grounds of the hotel and met Oscar, the Toucan.

Not so shy here.

He really does look stuffed!

The sun is shining in Boquete!

Backside of the hotel overlooking the river.

Other side of the river.

I had contacted several "friends" that I hoped to meet while in Boquete. There was Holly (from California) who has been in Boquete for almost eighteen months with her husband, Scott. I have been following her blog www.hollycarter184.wordpress.com, and we made arrangements to meet Wednesday afternoon. She and her husband have taken on the HUGE task/challenge/excitement/adventure of building not only a workshop, but a one bedroom casita and, while living in the casita, they will build their home. Then I was hoping to meet the Shermans, a family of four that moved here to Boquete for just a few weeks (from Arizona) to get some quick Spanish lessons. Allison keeps a blog on facebook https://www.facebook.com/panamapause?fref=nf They will move to Pedasi soon enough, since they aren't loving the temperatures and rains of Boquete. Holly has another friend, Andrea, that I am facebook friends with that I thought I might meet, and the Shermans are friends with the Smiths who I was hoping to meet as well. Candace also keeps a blog on facebook https://www.facebook.com/smithsinpanama I better get started then!

I have to write about breakfast first. The menu did offer the usual "either/or" fanfare. Fruit OR oatmeal. Eggs OR Sausage Stew OR Pancakes OR French Toast. White toast OR Wheat toast OR Hojaldras. Rule follower and planner that I am, I went the other way. Coffee was Cafe Ruiz this time. Delicious. Orange juice was excellent. And then I ordered an omelette with french toast and hojaldras (fried dough). Lovey and Thurston hadn't tried this before, and they were hooked as well!
We confused the waitress a bit, but she realized we were hungry gringos.

After breakfast we explored Boquete and the market. This is where I heard "Allison"? And it was Candace! Yay! We recognized each other immediately from our blogs and facebook. My group gathered with her family of five so we could chat and stop traffic coming into the market. We agreed to meet up again soon, and off we all went to shop. That was fantastic! I love finally meeting people that I have read about for months on end.

Boquete Tuesday Market

We bought chocolate to eat on our return trip, coconut oil, a Christmas gift perhaps, and sampled things like homemade honey, yogurt, and cole slaw. We walked around the town (there is a square in the center of town), and then we decided to get in the car and explore...in case it rained. We wanted to go up the mountain. I tried Holly to see if we could move our meeting day up, but she would be in David shopping. No worries. Driver Ray took us up one side and down another, we stopped at Fresas Mary where we were told we could get fresh strawberries and ice cream. I am noticing a pattern of eating here. "Mañana" would be when we could get the fresh strawberries, but I did enjoy superb ice cream!

Lots of houses for sale on the hills.

My creamy strawberry ice cream

Wildly tall cactus

I know we drove towards Bajo Mono, and towards El Salto, but being in the backseat chatting with Lovey and not planning this part of the trip ahead of time, I also know we didn't want to hike to the waterfalls or up to Volcan Baru. We were happiest in the car taking pictures and enjoying the sunshine. We had exercise ahead of us the next day. We stopped at Big Daddy's for lunch (another on my go to list) where we ate a light lunch of wings, salad, and a corn dog with french fries. We were told by the group of four at dinner the night before to find Finca Lerida for wonderful gardens and views. We hopped in the car and drove up to this coffee plantation. We enjoyed hiking up the hills here (okay, there was one hill), and then we had to try the coffee here. It was OUTSTANDING! It was just so good. Finca Lerida was built by a Norwegian engineer that was helping design and construct the Panama Canal locks emergency hatches and docks in Colon in the 1920's. This man was in search of clean, fresh air and needed to recover from his fourth attack of malaria. In 1924, he retired and built his house here, and he built the first gravity coffee plantation. He also invented and patented the "sifon" that separates the good from the bad coffee beans. And in 1929, he sent his first shipment of Panamanian coffee to Germany. There is the history lesson for the day.

In the cloud forest at Finca Lerida

Coffee beans

The hotel

Rooms are $350/night

Walking the gardens

This is a "tomato" something (Ray doesn't remember)--it is good in soups and is not a fruit.

Love these!

Expensive coffee!

So good!

After our extensive hike, we had (or, I had made) plans to meet the Sherman family at Kotowa coffee shop after their Spanish lesson. We met and chatted for ninety minutes! Their kids were so patient! Such a great family with their own adventures. We promised to keep in touch, and when we are in Pedasi, I am sure we will visit with them again! And another promise I had made was to find the baseball game (the first World Series game) on some random television in some random restaurant in Boquete for Thurston. First let me point out that it never rained on Tuesday. It was a gorgeous day! Back to dinner. We went to Mike's Global Grill for tacos and taco salad. We had sangria and beer. We talked to the owner, Mike, we ate dinner and then we were offered "free nachos". We waited for four small bowls to arrive that housed three chips in each, some sauce and pico de gallo in them. After forty-five minutes of watching the Kansas City Royals suffer (!) and pounding down the nachos (I think I ate all of them), we left Mike to watch the game for us. We stopped at a brand new ice cream shop around the corner from our hotel and enjoyed what seemed to be more like gelato. Very good, very filling after the nachos, and another FULL day of FUN!