Boquete Trip!

Around mid-October we decided to take a trip to a place called Boquete.  Boquete is in Panama about an hour south of the Costa Rican border.  I once again was unsure of what to expect and was excited to be going somewhere that was in the middle of the country and not on the coast.  I have really enjoyed living by the beach and my dream is to relocate to the Georgia coast when I get home, but going to the pools and beaches everyday can get a little boring.  :)  I know people are reading this and thinking, she is CRAZY.  But I think anything is that way.  I have never relaxed and had so much down time as I do here, and I am truly grateful for this time, but I do miss the hustle and bustle of being home.

So, back to Boquete.  :)  I was so excited about the trip, but was a little down because the Auburn/LSU game was that weekend and I had been able to watch all games on CBS.  I was crossing my fingers, hoping I would be able to watch it.  So we loaded up the car and headed to Boquete.  It took us around 5 and a half hours to get there and with three kids in the car, I just tried to close my eyes and listen to my music in order to keep my sanity.  So, we arrive in Boquete and it is beautiful.  I have never been to Colorado or anywhere like that out west, but the family kept comparing it to towns in Colorado.  It was so clean and really beautiful.  I would recommend Boquete to anyone traveling in Panama.  A little bit about Boquete is that it is a prime place for growing coffee.  There are TONS of coffee fincas (farms) in the area and I will post a few pictures of one amazing place that we ran into just driving around.

We get to our hotel and it is right on a river.  Leslie has shown me pictures of Boquete during the rainy season and the area floods at least once every couple of years.  The hotel that we were staying at had undergone some renovations due to being almost destroyed in a flood.  I was surprised at how nice the hotel was, because when you are in a third world country, you aren't sure what to expect.  :)  There are 6 of us to have to accommodate so we got adjoining rooms and the rooms have a queen bed and a twin bed.  This was perfect, I stayed in the same room as the two boys.  The slept in the queen bed and I was in the twin.  I was fine with these accommodations until I was woken up the next morning at 6am to a conversation about farts and nuts (sorry to add that little detail) but, BOYS WILL BE BOYS!  :)

The day we arrived was the Saturday of the game, so I was keeping a close eye on the time so I could get back and could hopefully watch it.  The boys ended up going up the mountain to check out some land while the girls stayed behind.  We ended up going to get some desert and drink a little bubbly at an old hotel called The Panamonte.  I will post the link for you below so you can see this amazing place.  I also have some pictures.  It was raining and around 60 degrees when we arrived at The Panamonte, but was the perfect weather to sit in the covered sitting area with a fire going.  It was a great afternoon.  We stayed there for a couple of hours and then headed back to our hotel.  The first thing I did was ask the bartender about the channels and low and behold they get CBS!  We hung out in the bar area and watched the game, which is so great to me...who can say they were able to watch our AMAZING season in Panama.  I hate that I was away for the season, but it is one I will never forget...being in Panama and winning the National Championship!  :)

Here is the link for the hotel-
The Panamonte

Here are some pictures that I took while at the hotel-

 We know where we are headed!

The grounds were so lush and gorgeous!

The fireplace where we sat and had some desserts and champagne.

 You can see I'm very happy!

 This one is kind of dark, but this is one of the sitting areas.

 The bar area is on the far right and more sitting areas.

These pictures don't do this place any justice.  You have to visit to see how beautiful it is.

Here are some pictures from the hotel where we stayed-

 This is a covered area where you can eat or hang out. 

 Here is the bar area and then up stairs is another lounge area.

 The river is just beyond those rocks across the street.  You can see the fog covering the mountains.

 After the game we did a little dancing under the disco ball...you can also see Halloween was coming up.

I don't think I need to explain this one...  :)

Great place to watch a great game! War Eagle!

 The view from the room the next morning...crisp and clear.

Another view...this is an extinct volcano.

When we woke up we decided to venture around.  The pictures will do enough explaining of where we went and what we saw.

The next pictures are of a HUGE coffee finca that we stumbled upon just driving around.  This is a hotel and restaurant, but was still under construction and would not open until November 2010.  It was stunning! You can see up on the hills all the coffee that is being grown.  I really wish I could remember the name of this amazing place.

Coffee beans laying out to dry.

One evening we went to eat at a restaurant in downtown Boquete and it may have been the best meal I have ever eaten.  It was this locally owned Argentinian meat restaurant.  You are served family style with an organically grown hydroponic salad to start, bread, the meat dish and mashed potatoes.  You wash it all down with homemade red wine.  It was one of the most amazing meals I've ever had in my life and only hope we go back there before I leave in June.

If you are unfamiliar with hydroponically grown veggies and herbs here is a website to help explain it-
What are Hydroplonic Grown Veggies?

Also a picture of veggies and herbs being grown hydroponically-

The reason I am sharing this information is because it was very interesting to me the way that they grew these beautiful vegetables.  The salad that accompanied our meal had the brightest coloring I had ever seen.  I was told it was due to the way the things were grown.  I wish I had taken a picture of my salad and actually thought about it once I had eaten it all.  :)

Hope you have enjoyed my once again long post about a trip taken here in Panama.  More to come on other trips.  Miss everyone so much and hope everyone had a great weekend!  Ciao!