Bells in Panama: Grandma Steph, Birthday, Boquete, Oh My!

Grandma Steph arrived in Panama to find humidity, a sleeping baby in her room, and myself sick with the flu...AGAIN! I am seriously never skipping getting a flu shot ever again...lesson learned. While I thought I was on the mend come Friday morning, that was not so and I ended up spending most of the day horizontal while my mom entertained Genevieve. We did have to make a run to the grocery store for some weekend supplies (including cranberry jelly for Brad at Casa de Las Palmas who called me and said the grocery stores in Santiago don't have any cranberry sauce and he was really craving it to go with a turkey he bought). Despite feeling like I was the loser in a dizzy bat contest, we packed up the car and were on the road to Santiago by 5pm. Once again, we stayed at Casa de Las Palmas to break up the trip. Grandma Steph (Abuela Steph) decided she'd like to leave her take on things. :)

"We arrived to find one [of the B& B Owners] shooing a massive poisonous toad off their covered veranda. The geckos were okay on the porch – they eat the bugs. Needless to say, when the lights went out, I tried not to think of what might be in the bedroom with me. One of the innkeepers is a professional chef and we were treated to a gourmet breakfast! Then, we were on our way to Boquete – a mountainous area close to the Atlantic Ocean and near the Costa Rica border. On the way there, there were people walking everywhere. With cars and trucks passing each other at maximum speed into oncoming traffic lanes, and humans running across and walking alongside the highway (some with unsheathed machetes), it was an exhilarating ride at times." ~ Abuela Steph

We arrived in Boquete around 10:15am and were ready to see the sites!

"Boquete – a picturesque little town surrounded with jungle (to me it was a thick forest with some tropical plants - guess jungle conjures up memories of Tarzan). And, with a pleasant climate and little humidity. We stayed at The Oasis – the same home of friends Pam Wejman and Jim Smith for a month or more a couple years back." ~ Abuela Steph

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We began our Boquete adventure at "Mi Jardin Es Su Jardin," an extensive local garden with something interesting around every corner.

View from atop a tower on the Mi Jardin Es Su Jardin property

Didn't realize this until I put these pictures on my computer, but these flowers were in the shape of a Christmas tree :)

After touring the Garden, we walked through downtown Boquete to find some place to eat lunch. We ended up at Big Daddy's for some good burgers.

We then headed to Cafe Ruiz for our 1pm scheduled coffee plantation tour and tasting! It was $30 per person, but was a 3 hour tour of their plantation that took us through all of the 12 steps they go through to creating their perfect cup of coffee! Our tour guide, Carlos, did a great job and was full of information about coffee seeing how he started as a coffee picker at the age of 10. Genevieve slept through at least an hour if not more of the tour, but that was probably better for everyone. :) Our tour concluded in the tasting room at Cafe Ruiz where we sampled their European roast, Italian roast, and Latin American roasts. We had hoped to sample their Gueisha coffee (produced only in Panama) which is the most expensive coffee in the world, but they were sold out at the time. As part of our tour, we each received a bag with Cafe Ruiz's logo on it with some coffee and snacks inside.

We took a small van to the Cafe Ruiz plantation where coffee bean plants like this one were growing and being harvested.

Carlos, our tour guide, showing us that the red fruits mean they are ready to be harvested.

Too much excitement...not enough coffee for Genevieve..

coffee beans straight from the tree!

There are two actual coffee beans per pod.

James tasting the coffee beans off the tree

beans drying in the sun after being picked

each one of these beans still has 2 layers that need to be peeled from it before they are ready to be roasted.

new coffee plants sprouting from the beans

the life cycle of a coffee plant

Gueisha beans only grown in Panama

Genevieve and Daddy are intrigued by all of the machines at the coffee plantation!

James, Genevieve (kind of), and Grandma Steph!

bagged coffee beans

bad beans that Cafe Ruiz refuses to use in their coffee...other companies use these beans in addition to sticks, rocks, insects, etc. and grind them up...a new reason why you should always buy whole bean coffee so you know exactly what you are getting!

Once back to Cafe Ruiz's actual coffee house, we had to put on these lovely hats and robes to enter their packaging facility. Mom was clearly thrilled about us taking her picture :)

G was very upset they didn't have a hat and robe in her size...

Coffee Doctors?

An awful picture of us sampling coffee at the end of the tour...but had to be included because it was the only "sampling" picture we had :) It looks like I need more coffee...NOT

Entertaining Genevieve on the mini-bus/van ride back to the coffee house!

After coffee, we finally checked into our hotel, El Oasis. As previously stated by my mom, this hotel was a recommendation from Pam and Jim who stayed here for a month last January. They usually do not allow children under the age of 10, but they made an exception for Genevieve since I wrote them a month and a half ago and said we really wanted to stay there! It was a beautiful bed and breakfast just over the bridge on the edge of town (one of the few hotels that was a short walk from town). There were rooms and apartments that could be rented out. The rooms were basic and without air conditioning (trust me, it wasn't needed in the hills of Boquete!), but this was one of the cleanest and nicest places we'd stayed so far in Panama. We settled in and then headed out to dinner for my Birthday at El Pomodoro and Wine Bar! Thanks, Bill for buying dinner all the way from California! :) It was wonderful!!

Genevieve loves her poncho from Lindsay and Jonathan!

Ole!

Constant sunshine + Constant light mist = Constant Rainbow!

Genevieve makes silly faces at dinner

Genevieve and Grandma Steph

Our alarm went off at 6am on Sunday morning (we actually had to wake Genevieve up for once) and we headed to Kotowa, a coffee shop in town, for coffee and some meat, spinach, and cheese filled breakfast empanadas. At 8am our guide from Boquete Mountain Safari Tours, Felix, picked us up at our hotel to take us on an open air jeep tour of Boquete and the cloud forest.

Mom and Annie in the open-air jeep ready for our tour!

After picking up the rest of the guests on the tour, Felix gave us the run down of what we'd be seeing.

This kid can sleep anywhere!

First stop, the Basalt rocks

showing daddy whose boss

Next stop, road-side waterfall and a beautiful river running through Boquete

Grandma Steph gets a different perspective

"look what I caught!"

Felix, our tour guide

And we are off again!

Boquete's "haunted house"

Finally we reach the cloud forest.

"Does this thing come off?"

Hence the name "pipeline road"

carrots!

Finca Lerida Coffee Estate

Enjoying some Mocha's!

Tree tomatoes! We were able to eat them right off the tree...Genevieve loved them!

While we did get to see a lot of Boquete on this tour, we definitely thought it was going to be more focused on the cloud forest and the flora and fauna within, as opposed to a town tour. Probably wouldn't recommend this one to anyone who may come here, mainly because you can really do it all on your own.

We grabbed lunch at a Peruvian restaurant, Manchu Picchu (Mom and I got chicken ceaser salads... not the smartest idea from a Peruvian restaurant as the salads were drenched in dressing!). James' fish looked A LOT better! Then we left Boquete and headed for the small town of Caldera where we were in search of the natural hot springs! We drove until we reached a bridge, where we were told to park and then walk. It was about 500 meters walking through farm and forest to reach the natural hot springs. We had to pay the lady who owned the land $2 each to reach the springs. Along the way, this resident primate graced us with her presence. She is wild, but resides on the property seeing how that is where she is taken care of by the lady who owns the land.

Okay, so when they said "natural springs," they really were "natural!" There were 3 springs in all, although we only actually saw 2 of them and only got in 1. The water in these pictures looks cloudy, but it was actually very clear.

Not so sure about hot water outside of the bath tub

Just down the embankment from the springs was the river, with refreshingly chilly water!

Genevieve loved splashing around in the water and playing with the sand on the bottom of the river!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a local place called "Fresas Mary" where you can order a variety of frozen strawberry concoctions! They were amazing! James and I got Batidas de Fresas (Strawberry shakes) while Genevieve and Grandma Steph shared Fresas con Yogurt!

Can you tell that Genevieve enjoyed her strawberry treat?

That night, Grandma Steph offered to stay in and watch Genevieve (well, sleeping Genevieve) while James and I went out for a date night! Grandma Steph got a pizza and James and I headed out to The Panamonte Hotel for dinner! It is supposedly the best hotel in Central America and the chef there prepares the best trout in Panama!

Outside the Panamonte Hotel, we notice the LARGEST handicapped space we've ever seen!

I stood in the space for a little perspective :)

Before heading back to the hotel, James and I stopped by a local bar in town called Zanzabar for a drink. James got a Seco Sour while I tried a drink called The Quetzel (blue, and named after the local elusive bird found in that jungles of Boquete and the surrounding area). After our drinks we headed back to the hotel...we had another 8am tour planned the next morning!

Monday morning we made sure we had enough time to eat at "Olga's Cafe," as referred to by the locals. The actual name of the house turned breakfast nook was Cafe Punto De Encuentro. Olga, who is the first one to come out and greet you at your table is very friendly and ready to make you a hearty and relatively cheap breakfast. She even brought out toys for Genevieve to play with while we waited for breakfast. I would highly recommend the Huevos Rancheros! After breakfast, we hurried back to the hotel to find Felix, our tour guide from yesterday, and apparently today, waiting for us! We were ready for our half-day hike through the surrounding jungle! Since we had Genevieve in tow, we had Felix take us on a category 1 hiking trail that wouldn't require too much climbing. Our trail took us through "disturbed" forest (surrounding trees cleared for farming) into "primary" forest that hadn't been touched. We ended at a beautiful waterfall...reminiscent of those we saw on our honeymoon on the Road to Hana in Hawaii. Along the way, Felix pointed out different types of plants, some we could touch and eat and others that would cause hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea (Yikes!). We kept our eyes open the whole time for the Quetzel, but unfortunately, didn't get to see one.

Felix pulling up some "wild" watercress

yea, that's a bridge...

James, Genevieve, Annie, and Steph!

G poses for the picture :)

biggest leaf ever!

A fruit related to the tree tomato...Felix pulled one off, pealed it open and let us try it... G loved it :)

G enjoying some of the fruit's orange pulp

Mom!

Flamingo Flowers

Pandora?

Yes, he has my baby girl on his back and he still chose to be Tarzan! Genevieve was sleeping...

Look at her poor little arm hanging out!

After G's first ride via vine, she sleepily lifted her head, opened her eyes for a second, and promptly fell back asleep.

Quetzel?

made it to the waterfall!

Mom was proud of herself for making it through the hike...she totally didn't give herself enough credit! :)

Mom and I :)

Group shot!

looks like something from alien!

total tourist mode

ridiculously old tree

Almost at the end of our hike. Felix paid the owner of the land we crossed for our trail entrance fee. The people who own the land use the money to maintain the trails and the feeble bridges along it.

Tired and hungry from our hike, we headed back to the hotel for showers and then hit the road again. Still thinking about the strawberry yumminess from the day before, we stopped at Fresas Marys for more Batidas de Fresas and some $1.50 cheeseburgers! From there we took a scenic drive (suggested to us by Felix) to the town of Volcan, which is on the way to the top of Volcan Baru, the dormant volcano looming above Boquete and surrounding towns. On the way, we stopped at this wood carver's shop along the road (suggested to us by Mom's Frommer's guide). He had some amazing pieces that he had carved as a master wood carver. He gave us a short tour of his workshop and then offered to show us his craft. It was amazing to see how quickly he was able to carve "Panama" into a piece of wood!

A short drive later, we arrived in the small town of Volcan where we attempted to find the Janson Family Coffee Farm. It said to turn down a road and then turn right when you hit the airport runway... in other words, when we hit the airport runway, you turn right and drive down the runway until you reach the entrance to the Janson Coffee farm!

The master wood carver at work!

Volcan!

Janson Family Coffee Farm

View from the Janson Coffee Farm tasting room

Genevieve and Grandma waiting for our coffee!

Volcan Baru

Latte foam mustache, courtesy of Grandma

enjoying some great coffee! We also bought some Gueisha beans here!

more shots of Volcan Baru

The airport runway we had to drive down to get to the coffee farm :)

views on the way back to Boquete from Volcan

That night we ended up eating dinner at our hotel, which was excellent! While I put Genevieve to bed, James and my mom ordered some Tres Leches cake and cheese cake "to go" (in other words, they promised the waitress they would bring back the plates when we were finished). We enjoyed both slices of cake as well as wine and beers...that is until mom couldn't feel her forehead (usually her test is if she can feel her nose or not) and decided to put herself to bed.

Mom putting herself to bed after realizing she could no longer feel her forehead :)

When you can't feel your forehead, you often don't remember to take your purse or jacket with you :)

Before hitting the road to head back to Panama City, we had a great breakfast in the garden at our hotel. I was sad to leave Boquete and the clean mountain air. Despite a rocky/sick start, we had a great weekend (a great Birthday weekend for me!) in Boquete (Thank you, again, Pam and Jim for all of the excellent recommendations!).