Greetings from Boquete!

Boquete is a small, quaint town not far from the highest point in Panama, Volcan Baru (11,100 ft). Honestly, it's just the right pace for us as a slo-mad location. There aren’t a ton of marked trails in the area, but there are a ton of unmarked trails to explore for an adventure and a few pleasant places to visit that are close by. Plus I really loved that it didn’t feel touristy and that every person greeted us with a smile and friendly “buena” or “buen dia” as we passed by.

We even got to experience our first earthquake while living here. We were sitting on the couch after just getting off the phone with Jim's mom when we felt the couch swaying and could hear the house rattling. It didn't last long, but long enough for us to turn to each other and ask are we having an earthquake?

This is considered summer/dry season here, but it's not hot. Boquete's higher elevation and close proximity to the equator keeps the temperature in the 70s during the day—aka, perfect weather for exploring.

You'll notice our friends Kirsten and Peter in a lot of our pictures. I met Kirsten through one of my travel groups. She was looking for a place to get some friend time. Full-time travel can be tough on your social life, no matter how much time you like to spend with your partner. So Kirsten and Peter found a place not too far from ours and we became adventuring buddies.

Here are our highlights from seven weeks in Panama!

XOXO,

Carrie and Jim

RAQUEL'S ARK

Many of you saw (and loved!) the pictures of the perezoso (sloth) at Raquel's Ark on Facebook and Instagram. Raquel's Ark was about a 90-minute drive from Boquete through some winding steep hills. (So steep an 18-wheeler caused a traffic jam when it got stuck trying to make it up one of the hills with a full load.) We popped over with our friends Kirsten and Peter. I think we all agreed that getting to hold a sloth and play with him was a bucket list type of experience (or it would be if I was a maker of bucket lists!).

Raquel is an ex-pat that provides a home and rehabilitation for wild animals. When we visited she had a sloth, wooly opposum, coatimundi, jaguar, squirrel monkey, and capuchin monkeys. The sloth has been in her care for twelve years and was adorable… but those teeth! We fed him flowers and watermelon, but he was more interested in trying a taste of my arm! I fear I have been infected with a bit of sloth pereza (laziness). I do love that the spanish name for sloth (perezoso) translates to lazy!

You can find information on how to visit (and hold and feed) a sloth here. Raquel does ask for a $20 donation when you visit.

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Flower and Coffee Fair

We happened to be in town during the (world renowned?) Flower and Coffee Fair. It's on every single list of “must dos” in Panama and definitely in Boquete. Knowing that, we were pretty underwhelmed. The flowers were beautiful, but they were nothing compare to the the flower festivals in Vietnam for Tet. If you want to see flower displays, I highly recommend being in Vietnam for the weeks leading up to Tet.

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Hikes

You can see a post all about our favorite hikes here.

Birdwatching

We enjoyed the birds so much in Costa Rica, I thought it would be fun to look for some cloud forest birds here in Boquete. We certainly saw A LOT of birds and heard even more. Our guide, Terry, sent us the list afterwards: 59 to be exact! It was a great experience if only to learn that I am more of a naturalist than a birder. I love the birds, but what I really love is nature. I love the insects, the plants, the different ecosystem, and exploring the microclimates. Our guide was a true birder. Before I could even register that a bird flew by she was identifying it and telling us if it was a male/female and/or a juvenile. I enjoyed the experience, but I think I'll stick to nature watching instead of just birds!

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Chocolate making class

Fellow nomad travelers Kirsten and Peter joined us for this adventure.

Kirsten and I met the owners of Chox at the Tuesday Market (also home to all things made with alpaca fiber). And decided we just had to sign up for a chocolate making class on Valentine's Day. I’m so glad we did! It was fun making our own chocolate bars, flowers, hearts, and Lego men. The chocolate was so good and all local ingredients too. The chocolatier sold me on the quality of Panamanian cacao beans.

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Butterfly farm

We found that compared to the areas we’ve spent time in Colombia and Costa Rica, Panama had far less butterflies. This bummed me out not just because I like butterflies, but really because I love taking pictures of butterflies wherever we go. I have a new camera to bring my photography to a whole new level… (I hope!) When you aren’t having luck finding butterflies in the wild to take pictures of, you find a butterfly farm. I wanted to practice using the settings on my new camera so that I can feel familiar and comfortable with it before we get to Antarctica.

Carrie goes running

This was also a great location to work on getting back to running. I ran my last half marathon in 2019. Since then, I have tried to get back into running a few times. Each time I’ve been met with a lot of fatigue. I'm sure a lot of it was just doing too much, too fast. Some of it for other reasons. This time I went back to how I started running back in 2008: good ol’ Hal Higdon. I love following his programs because it reminds me that I don’t need to run everyday as I'm getting started. I kept thinking that I'm only running a mile or two so it's OK to be running everyday. A mile or two is a lot when you haven’t been running! So, I am finally feeling back on course. Full-time travel has taken more of a toll on my running then I realized. Some places just aren’t great for running no matter how much you want them to be. Boquete doesn’t have many sidewalks and it has some steep hills (OK, a lot), but there isn't much traffic and the dogs are friendly. It feels good to be back exploring neighborhoods through running. Now let's hope Jim can get his stride back and join me!