We arrived in Boquete July 15th, found Mamallena Hostel overlooking the town square without any trouble, and when we checked in, both of us realized that even though we have a private room with a private bath, this is a place for young folks doing the world tour thing. Our room, although clean, is spartan and in town (i.e. noisy).
I found Hotel Valle Del Rio (http://www.valledelrioboquete.com) where I stayed two years ago. We drove up and booked a river view room. Anyway, we managed well at Mamallena's on our first night, even though some of the young-un's were partying until 1:30AM. Hopefully, tonight (our second and last) will be quieter.
Today, our first full day in Boquete was spent driving into the mountains (i.e. suburbs) gawking at the beautiful homes and vistas.
We did two good deeds today. The first included a local woman walking along the road. We stopped and asked if she wanted a ride and she jumped in. We drove the long and precariously winding road to the bottom where she indicated a house. We dropped her off (about three miles downhill) and found we were along a road that led us into the heart of Boquete.
So we continued our adventure, driving through town, taking a left at the baseball field and sports center (instead of a right on our first drive) and that's when we came upon four young men staying at the hostel. They were walking up to the Quetzales Trail. How did we know?
Well, we were having coffee at Cafe Ruiz about a mile up the road from Mamallena's when they came walking up the road. We chatted a bit about their destination. Anyway, after driving around Alto Jaramillo, the mountain suburbs I mentioned earlier, we headed up another road; one we thought led to the waterfalls and Quetzales Trail. Well sure enough they were still trudging up the road an hour and a half after our chat.
We asked if they wanted a ride to the trail head and they jumped at it, and it's a good thing too, because we drove another five miles UP hill before reaching their destination.
Our second good deed. Mind you, they then would spend another six hours hiking the trail before catching a shuttle to David and another shuttle back to Boquete. They'll be lucky to make it back to Mamalleno's before 10PM. Ah, to be 20-something again!
Good news! The four hikers made it back to Mamalleno's by 7:00PM, because they really hoofed it along the trail and took a taxi back to Boquete.
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| Good food and wide selection of beer and wine |
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| New road to Boquete |
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| Cafe Mirador |
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| View from Cafe Mirador |
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| Home at Alto Jaramillo with stunning views |
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| Views and coffee plants |
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| Our place for two nights |
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| Cleaning out the muck from the gutters |
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| Dumping the muck in the gardens at the town square |
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| Main road in Boquete |
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| Main road in Boquete looking up the street |
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| Abandoned apartment on main road in Boquete |
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| Internet, electricity, cable TV—Boquete has it all |
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| Refrigerator at Mamalleno Hostel |
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| Our room at Mamalleno's |
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| Traditional home in Boquete. Note it's made of wood |
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| Traditional but a bit more upscale home in Boquete |
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| The long and windy roads above Boquete |
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| Teenager sitting in town square. Note that his cell phone is plugged into a public outlet. |
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| Everyone is connected here. Boys sitting in the town square |
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| River running through Boquete |
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| Vistas above Boquete from long and windy roads |
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| Boquete town square taken from Mamallena's |
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| Boquete taken from coffee shop just before descending into the valley |
Today we drove up to the Queztal Trail, hoping to take a hike to one of the falls, but 3/4's of the way up the mountian, it started raining and we weren't prepared to hike 1.5 hours in the rain, so we meandered around the mountain roads some more, taking in the vistas, walking some, and basically gawking at the lush scenery.
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| Turkey buzzards abound here. I captured two resting |
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| Believe it or not, this is a house and farm hanging from 5000' |
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| A meadow with clouds floating by. The peaks around Boquete are referred to as the cloud forrest. You can see why |
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| Coffee is grown everywhere here |
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| And yes, cows graze along the hillsides |
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| Boquete is volcanic in nature and this shows how some of the rock was pushed up and around |
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| Note the confluence of rock |
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| And lots of falls and rivers |
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| Sites like this everywhere you turn along the meandering roads above Boquete |
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| More of the same. This is the wide shot of the close up above |
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| People like to carve totems out of stumps. This one, like many others, is near a driveway |
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| View from our room at Valle del Rio, and yes, those are coffee trees |
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| Another road above Boquete. The flowers serve as the hedge for a home |
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| Gotta love the gate, but we stopped for the vibrant flowers. This is the house with the flowery hedge above |
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| Oh, and these folks have two of these humungous plants standing guard |
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| Local woman taking her dog for a stroll (notice he's on a leash) way up in the hills above Boquete |
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