Blatts in Panama: Bucolic Boquete

Perfect weather in the open countryside, peace and quiet and relaxation.  Are we in paradise?Nope---just Boquete, Panama.

Lucky us! We got to visit our friends' family farm; Hacienda Esmerelda, where Geisha coffee became a known name in coffee; like Dom Perignon is to champagne!

We joined the Petersons on a ATV trip through bumpy, beautiful terrain to the river where the kids splashed and played. Steve drove like a little, old lady, but felt like a speed demon.  (Just check out his enormous grin in the photo....he's like a kid in a candy store.) 

Then we had a lunch fit for kings, complete with fresh milk and ice cream from their own dairy and delicious, home-grown coffee.    

Afterward, we took a quick dip in their cool lake.  All in all, a fun day shared with great company.

We highly recommend staying just five minutes out of town in the cabins at Villa Marita--reasonable, great beds, hot showers ("Come on, Benji, it's been twenty minutes..."), breakfast and friendly staff.

It's hard to describe the splendid feeling of hot sun on the skin and a cool breeze in the hair, but that's the ideal climate boasted by Boquete. Mountains, waterfalls, coffee farms, dairies and great, inexpensive hamburgers (at Don Fulo's burger shack) are just some of the draws here...




Boquete is now up there in our TOP TEN PLACES to visit in Central America!