Making Tea in Boquete, Panama

Yesterday afternoon, Jonathan and I took the bus to Boquete. The bus station was only a block away from the Hotel Madrid where we stayed for two nights in David ($38 / night). It was an easy walk, as for once, it wasn’t raining. Luckily, we arrived at the station as a bus to Boquete was loading. Busses are scheduled to depart David to Boquete every 30 minutes from 6:00am to 9:00pm. But, really, they leave whenever they’re full. So, we were able to leave only a few minutes after arriving at the station.

The bus is an old US school bus. Most of the local buses we’ve seen here in Panama have been that. But, some of the owners of the bus like to get creative and paint flashy designs and maybe even add flashing lights and neon to their bus. (We saw a bunch of these the night we arrived in Panama City. We don’t have pictures of any yet, since it was too dark to take any.) Our bus for this trip though was just plain white.

The ride was pretty uneventful. It’s 45 minutes, and a steady climb uphill (up-volcano that is). And the main stop in Boquete is the park. Though this park doesn’t have much grass, it’s just a gazebo (large and covered which came in handy since it was raining), and a few paths. From here I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few basics for dinner (bread, cheese, cucumbers, and tomatoes). Then we found a taxi and were on our way.

It was really fun giving the taxi driver directions. All we had were driving directions (no address), so we (Jonathan) told the taxi when to turn. We think it made the driver a bit nervous not knowing an address. But, we made it ok. Of course it helps that some retired Americans built themselves a castle here (literally a castle), and it served as a good landmark for where we were going.

When we arrived at the apartment we’re renting, Cora, the owner came out to greet us. She greeted us with a big hug. It was really nice to be greeted that way by someone whom we’d never met, but felt as if she knew us from reading our blog.
We got set up in our place. It’s beautiful and perfect. (Video and pictures coming soon.) It has a full kitchen so I can cook again (finally!), a king-size bed so I don’t have to hog the bed or steal the covers anymore, and it’s simply beautiful. We’re in the mountains, so it’s cooler here, AND there are no mosquitoes! Yippee.
Because it’s cooler (and I mean it’s about 65 degrees right now), Jonathan and I are making our first cups of tea since beginning our travels. It’s finally cool enough to want to drink something warm. We both like tea, but it’s really difficult (for me at least) to drink it when it’s 95 (or warmer) and 95% humidity outside, and there’s no air conditioning. But, that is no longer the case. We don’t have AC here in Boquete, but we don’t need it. Boquete is known as the valley of spring, because it has spring-like temperatures year round. So far, I’m loving it.

This morning, I decided to make use of the coffee maker (the first one I’ve had access to since leaving Colorado). I’d bought little samples of 6 different Panamanian coffees at the grocery store to see which one I’d like the best and which one would be a good one to buy a full size bag of. I’ll post those reviews later as I make my way through 6 pots (the 4 cup size) of coffee. But, I can tell you now that unless I absolutely adore it, I won’t be drinking more than a cup or two of each kind. I’ll keep you posted…