We left a very, very hot Bocas in the morning to go to what felt like a completely different planet; Boquete in the Panamanian mountains
We arrived to a very rainy Boquete in the afternoon with an old American school bus, put on the ponchos and had a wander around the cute little town.
It was awesome not feeling sweaty all the time, and so weird feeling cold again.
We found that the view from one of the bridges that crosses the river was stunning and we could clearly see the volcano Baru in a distance. Just next to the bridge was the cutest little souvenir shop where a very friendly man worked so I couldn't help myself from doing a tiny amount of shopping.
That just woke up my souvenir-hunting-mood though so we continued through town to look in some of the nice shops and found a cool little market with many local handmade items.
There are unfortunately no vegetarian restaurants in this small town. The first thing that popped up when we googled "vegan Boquete" was the restaurant/bar Big Daddy's Grill where they supposedly served vegan burgers after a vegan requested them to remove eggs in the burger pattie. All cred to Big Daddy for giving the vegan pattie a go and for sticking to it, we thought and headed to this little gem when we were starving in the evening.
The burger was really, really good and the service amazing. And it was vegan, we just had to make sure that they removed the ranch dressing and coleslaw that came with it (unfortunately they don't have a vegan sauce or dressing to offer, just balsamic vinegar, and the dear old ketchup and mustard of course)
On the mornings of day 2 in Boquete we jumped into a small bus after breakfast up to the start of the hike Sendero Piedro de Lino (Lino Rock)
It wasn't the easiest hike we've done. It started up easily with a gravel road, but pretty soon it became more challenging. Because of Boquete being a very rainy place, the muddy steep path was very slippery and we had to climb with both hands and feet at times to get up to the top. (On the way down we both fell on our bums X amount of times, but it kind of made it more funny)
But then again, coming up on the rock to see this view was so worth the sweat and dirty shoes.
Chilled here for a bit and thanked Mother Earth for being so fantastic, but it didn't last long until we saw the big grey rain clouds and heard thunder in the distance and this was the cue for us to start walking back before it would be impossible to climb down without not just sliding all the way down (which I guess could be pretty fun aswell..)
We made it back to land before the first raindrops hit, but decided to take a use of the rain ponchos again and walk the hill down back to Boquete downtown.
Back in town we found the juice bar Juice Mi where we could have a refreshing smoothie. So perfect after a hike like that. We came back here the next day and had the most amazing soy milk frappucino with Oreos. Vegan happy dance for this place for sure.
Boquete is known for its climate and good soil for growing coffee in particular. Because it's famous for its coffee plantations we thought it would be rude to miss out on a coffee your here.
So on day three we went on a tour to learn more about the history of coffee and about coffee beans, flavours and everything really.
The tour was a disappointment though. Don't know if it was just the company we booked with but for $25, all we got was a 5 minute bus journey to a coffee plantation where the guide showed us around and told us all the stories which were hard to focus on when we got constantly bitten by mosquitos. The best part of the tour was the animals there, the cute little goat, some birds, dogs and cats.
In the end of the tour came the moment we'd been waiting for; the coffee tasting. We thought that we were gonna be able to try different coffees, see the process of making the coffee or something but apparently all that was included in this your was one espresso cup of coffee each. (Okay it did taste good and to be fair the guide was friendly and fun, but it just wasn't enough to make it a good tour)
Before heading back to town in the bus, they dropped us off at a little honey store, because apparently this is not just a coffee farm, it is also a bee farm which we had no idea of when we booked this and it made me feel really bad knowing that our money probably contributed to the bee hives. Not only were we put into a honey shop, but the woman in there also offered honey tasting, if we paid for it. She was no friendly lady at all. Let's just say that me and Guy walked out asap and just waited for the others.
So a shout out to my fellow travelling vegans: if you decide to go on a coffee tour in Boquete, do more research beforehand so you don't end up on a bee farm.
The day turned to the better though, when we found a cute local restaurant where the waitresses were super helpful when we explained that we were after vegan food.
If it's something I've learned after travelling through south and centralamerica as a vegan, it is to always at least ask local restaurants if they can prepare vegan food because even though it's usually not anything on their menus, they can usually be flexible and fix you something and best part is of course that it's much cheaper than other westernised restaurants and that you usually get something really yummy, like we did at Restaurants Las Orquinas on this day.
For about $2 each we got stuffed from the carrot rice with beans and fried plantains that also included a delicious lemonade.
After that we went on to the sports bar jus ton the main square of Boquete, because my English man of course couldn't miss the England-Russia game.
So despite Boquete being somewhat harder to get to than maybe Bocas, it was so worth the visit. We are so happy that we made it here so that we were able to experience two completely different sides of Panama. Because of its location, we could also cross the border back to Costa Rica from the town of Paso Canoas, which is a border crossing that is not as touristy as the one with the bridge, hence, no pushy people trying to "help you" just to get your money.
So to sum up; go to Boquete if you get a chance. If not for the coffee, then for the beautiful nature or for getting a break from the heat of other parts of the country.
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