Boquete Summary
| THE GOOD … |
| The people are very friendly and will help however they can |
| Beautiful location with beautiful scenery and wildlife |
| Lovely climate that apparently is the same all year round |
| We’ve felt safe here |
| Cars will queue up behind people walking in the middle of the street for however long it takes |
| Geisha coffee – THE most expensive coffee in the world, is produced in Boquete (costs ~US$1,000 per pound). Sells for US$9 per CUP in Panama, US$18 in New York and US$68 in Dubai!! Apparently tastes more like tea |
| Restaurants with EXCELLENT food |
| Weekly market with unbelievable hand-made products & produce |
| They sell alcohol in the supermarket (wine & spirits) … but only after 12pm |
| They have Chilean wine (currently my favourite wine) at very reasonable prices |
| Mike’s Global Grill – expat hang-out with live music (only discovered it on our last night in Boquete) |
| THE NOT-SO-GOOD … |
| Septic Tanks in use (ie: no toilet paper down the toilets) |
| Power failures happen regularly (thank goodness for generators!) |
| Boquete makes Tewantin look like a veritable Metropolis |
| We ALMOST became vegan (work it out) 🙂 |
| Bank doors guarded by armed guards with hand-held scanner thingos |
| Sidewalks/pavements are pretty non-existent |
| Recycling doesn’t appear to be a thing – unless it’s done after waste collection |
| ATM withdrawals attract a fee of US$5.25!! |
| Limited to no mobile reception |
| WiFi can cost anything from US$50 for 5MB/month to (five minutes away) costing US$150 for 1MB! |
| Sunblock costs approx A$17 for 200ml!! |
| 24hr peak hour traffic on the two main streets in town |
| JUST IS … |
| Volcan Baru is an active stratovolcano not far from Boquete and the tallest mountain in Panama (3,475m high) |
| There are a lot of American expats in Boquete |
| Strong currency (on par with US$) and things in Boquete and Casco Viejo are not cheap |
| Limes are dark yellow inside |
Some pics of the “non-touristy” parts of Boquete … (click on images for larger view – which, in case you hadn’t noticed before, applies to all pics on this blog) 🙂
No rubbish bins – collection from cages/baskets 
Street one block back from town 
Caldera River – built up on sides for the rainy season – used to flood town at times 
Tuesday Market 
Gardens of some description 
View of mountains in background
What we THOUGHT was the main Supermarket 
Central Park 
Pavement … 
… Another pavement 
Shop on main street 
Side Street
After being here two weeks – we were FINALLY in town at night to see the Christmas lights in Central Park …
Last but not least … you’ve got to feel for this poor bastard … cutting this large lawn with a bloody whipper-snipper!! (aka – weed-eater, weed-whip, weed-whacker, line-trimmer, strimmer; for our international audience) 🙂
Giggle for the Day (x 2)
First of all – despite waking around town (consisting of 2 main roads) for FIVE hours on our first day, and practically everyday for the last two weeks, we found out today that there is a third supermarket in town with substantially better quality fresh meat, fruit and veg and plenty more options than Romeros (where we’ve been shopping for the last 2 weeks) – doh!
Secondly, walking home from town in the dark tonight (for the first time), I’m wearing my sandals and all of a sudden I feel something wet, cold and sticky on my left foot – when I look down (after screaming), I’ve kicked what looks like a massive, dead cane toad!!! (Presume it was dead prior to me kicking it)
Dumb & Dumber
7 Comments
Lynda Maxwell
Sounds like a very interesting mix.
bec
Enjoying the LOL’s ladies!
bec
ps whats with the crabby heart icon next to my name? haha
Sandy
LOL – you’re not the only one 🙂
Barb Allen
some very eclectic pictures there from you 2 and love hearing about the adventures. quite a quaint place for sure so lots of trekking no doubt xx
Bailey
Ew ew ew. I expect a heads up next time reading that post about the toad. I would have been an inconsolable mess haha. Glad you enjoyed your time there though.
Sandy
Noted! 🙂