January 12, 2016

We arrived in Boquete yesterday afternoon, after a very long drive from Pedasi.  All was great until we got to Santiago, then road construction happened..... We were in road construction for 189 km (that's almost 120 miles) going back and forth from one side of the highway to the other as they dug and scraped and paved.... took us at least three times longer than we had anticipated, but we enjoyed Boquete.

Boquete is a small town located in the western-most Province of Chirique, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) from the border with Costa Rica. Because of its elevation, some 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) above sea level, its climate is cooler than that of the lowlands. Its scenic location, temperature, and natural environment make it popular with Panamanians and attracts tourists from all over the world. 




We are staying in a hostel right on the river. This is the scenic view we have from the yard. Not too hard to take eh???

Tuesday mornings there is a "Gringo Market" (so it is called) just on the other side of the bridge (top picture).











We toured the Cafe Ruiz coffee plantation this afternoon, for over three hours! Boquete, Panama is known for growing some of the best coffees in the world. 









Our tour guide was Carlos, and an excellent teacher he was. He has been with Ruiz Coffee company since he was ten years old and a tour guide since 1997. He was interesting and funny. I never thought that there was even this much to know about coffee and the way it is grown and produced. Firstly, coffee beans are fruits, and are hand picked when they are red and ripe one and a time, twisted so as not to break the stem. 


There are also many different varieties and qualities of beans, and different ways to process each variety. 

And nothing is wasted - the skins are composted, and the beans that don't make the grade are still roasted and ground and sold as instant coffee (who knew??) 

The coffee beans pictured on the right their "Geisha" brand -are naturally dried, organic, making them the most expensive. They get $3,000 a bag for these babies (about 50 pound bag). 

So coffee beans are picked, rinsed, fermented, dried, sorted, aged and roasted. 













When the tour was over we all went back to their Coffee Shop to sample three of the coffees. We were all given a nice 'parting' gift of coffee beans. 


It was a very informative day - a good day!!





We enjoyed our happy hour at Mikes Global Grill afterwards.  Here, on Tuesdays they have 2 for 1 drinks from 2 until 6.  We got there around 5 then wandered up the street for a fish dinner......