At Home in Boquete Panama

Although it has grown a lot over the last couple of years, Boquete is still a quaint little town of around 20,000. There is quite a few gringos here … Americans, Canadians, and Europeans. It's easy to live in Boquete as an English only speaker because there are so many others here. There is a Tuesday morning meeting for residents, with tables set up for people to sell produce, food, trinkets, and things that can't be bought anywhere else. There is a talk given each week on a subject of interest to the English speaking community. Last week was about the laws around hiring and firing Panamanians … and how to keep from being sued. It was a hot topic. This week it was on 2010 tax laws for expats. Both were well attended.
Last week, a woman was selling tickets to a theatre production later this month. We bought tickets and was asking her about Boquete. She mentioned that she was going to Boca Chica the next weekend, but needed to find another couple to go with them to share the cost of the boat they were taking out. We told her we would like to go and …. We did. (You'll hear the details of this in a future blog.) We asked about hikes and we are now on the email list for 3 different hikes with residents every week. Everyone is so friendly and helpful … that small town family atmosphere … it's great!
Boquete is a little higher altitude than Caldera, so it's a little cooler, and they get a mist/light rain a couple of times a week from the low clouds that could get annoying … and they get more wind than we do in Caldera … but overall I like the place. There are a number of restaurants, but some are expensive. The grocery store is a little expensive for what we expected, so we go to David to shop when we can. Otherwise, you can find most things you need in Boquete, and what you can't, you can probably get in David.
We were in the ferriterrera (hardware store) getting some rope to hang a hammock and a woman walked in selling pastries in from a basket on her arm. Before I even had a chance to say I was gluten intolerant, she said, "and I have some gluten-free pastries as well." I thought she was an angel! It turns out she was just Swedish … but I got some gluten-free pastries for $0.30 each. That is Boquette!