Pine needles, Spanish and mist: savour 6 senses in Boquete

Every afternoon, strong winds blowing from the north bring misty clouds over the volcano to drift down the Boquete valley. But the hot sun still shines through, giving the strange sensation of warmth and mist bathing your face at the same time. Ephemeral rainbows move with the mist – a treat for your eyes that are hard to capture in pixels.

Boquete – a town in the mountainous central region of western Panama – offered a smorgasbord for our senses: five plus one. We loved it.

1 – Touch: Swaying bridges and prickly pineapples

We felt that same combination of hot sun and mist when we took the excellent Hanging Bridges tour with Boquete Tree Trek. We hiked 4.5 kilometres on mountain paths, interspersed with six suspension bridges over a canyon and clear mountain streams. On Bridge #4, the mist moved in, drifting down the valley and coating our faces and bodies in beads of cool moisture. As I stepped onto each bridge, I could feel it swaying and bouncing, so I put my hands on the cold metal railing to steady myself. On the trails between bridges, our guide, Luis, pointed out interesting trees, plants and flowers, including the deep pink mountain rose. “Touch it,” he said. “The flower is so hard it’s like plastic.” He was right.

During our fun e-bike tour with Soul Planet Cycles , the strong wind buffeted us. And one feeling we did not experience was sweat coating our bodies – whenever we faced a hill, we simply boosted the electrical assist and pedalled gently upwards.

The market enlivened our sense of touch, with prickly pineapples, rough stringy coconuts and smooth tomatoes and various unknown fruits.

Scratchy butterfly feet clung to Bill’s fingers at the butterfly farm (Mariposario).

But the best touch sensation of all was the professional massage I received from Kitzie at Spa Boquete. Sorry – no photos!

2 – Hearing: Rock music, roosters and Spanish tips

Who doesn’t love the bass player? The Boquete Brewing Co. hosts live bands Thursdays and weekends, most playing their own versions of exactly the same older rock music (plus some newer hits) as the cover bands that Bill played bass in at home: Rolling Stones, Marshall Tucker Band, The Police. We walked by a church where a choir practised. And the Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival began while we were there, so we enjoyed the sweet sounds of music everywhere.

Barking dogs greeted us everywhere we walked. Roosters crowed all day long, even before dawn. Near the river, we heard the cold mountain water rushing over rounded rocks. Pickup trucks filled with fruit toured the town, their drivers calling out their wares over loudspeakers: “Sandia, a;dkfj;afj (Spanish that I didn’t understand), piña, platanos, djslsfksiend…” Every day at noon, the bomberos (firefighters) sounded the siren so people could set their watches. Church bells rang at 5:45 p.m. to call worshippers to mass. The wind picked up every evening, sometimes howling so much at night that I expected to wake up to six feet of snow. But that didn’t happen!

We heard Spanish all around us, so what better place to practise? At the market stalls one day, I asked for two tomatoes, no, more red (as he picked up two greenish ones), and one big onion, please. “Dos tomates, no, más rojos, y una cebolla grande, por favor.” The two ladies next to me giggled and smiled. “Seh-boy-ah,” said one, correcting my pronunciation of ‘onion.’ “Una seh-boy-ah grand-ay,” said the other. I’d pronounced it “seh-bole-ya” but I tried again. They corrected. I tried again until they finally said “Si!” “Ah, mis profesoras de español! Gracias!” I said. That produced some huge grins! I heard them proudly repeating to others that I’d called them my Spanish teachers.

3 – Sight: Deceptive butterflies and entrancing waterfalls

At the butterfly farm (Mariposario), we learned that, when it comes to the Blue Morpho butterfly, our eyes deceive us. These huge butterflies may look blue but it’s not due to blue pigment, which is hard to obtain in nature. Instead, their wing scales are arranged so that they reflect blue, but they’re not actually blue at all!

The Flower Fair displayed brightly coloured formal gardens, but flowering trees, shrubs and plants delighted our eyes everywhere. Impatiens grew wild, as big as a shrub. We saw orchids, bougainvillea, and heliconia. What we, in Canada, call houseplants, grow to mammoth size in the ditches and along fences.

What is it about waterfalls that intrigues humans? We hiked the muddy Lost Waterfall trail up a steep mountain to see several cascades that entranced our eyes for a long time.  

We attended the opening reception for a photo exhibition at the Boquete library. Howard Hill shared the best of his 40+ years of photography, featuring many photos from Panama. One of our favourites was the Candy Apple Man.  

Volcán Barú – the Baru Volcano – looms over Boquete, looking different from various angles. Morning was our best chance to see it clearly. By noon, it was usually crowned by clouds, with another layer encircling it like a belt.

4 – Taste: Citrus, beer, trout and strawberries

For Valentine’s Day, we celebrated at Big Daddy’s Grill with Brazilian margaritas, made with the Brazilian liquor called cachaça. It’s made from fermented sugarcane and replaces the tequila normally found in margaritas. But the tangy lemon juice with a hint of sweet orange from the Triple Sec shone through. Salt, pepper and paprika rimmed the glasses and ensured every sip mixed salty, sweet and piquant.

We tried three kinds of hot empanadas at Sugar and Spice. Crisp, flaky dough was the delivery mechanism for spinach with creamy cheese (our favourite), ratatouille, and smoky ham and cheese. We helped ourselves to the free water, lightly flavoured with watermelon.

The tart citrus, creamy seafood, sharp red onion and tangy cilantro of ceviche – seafood ‘cooked’ in lime juice – offered a taste bonanza. At Mar de Grau, a Peruvian restaurant, the crisp toasted corn kernels gave some crunch while the yam toned down the spice.

We enjoyed so many other taste sensations: gelato made with the sweet strawberries Boquete is known for, trout fresh from the waters of a local trout farm, and the chocolatey-coffeeish overtones of Portergeist – Boquete Brewing Co.’s porter. Every morning, our landlord left freshly baked bread and eggs laid by his own chickens – with dark yolks that are simply more flavourful than your regular old supermarket egg.

5 – Smell: Coffee, shoe polish, and pastries

Smell and taste are so hard to separate. During our coffee tasting at The Perfect Pair, our guide Valentina urged us to sniff each coffee before we tasted. The aromas enter and swirl about your inner head spaces, extending the experience before your taste buds even come near this wonderful drink.

The straps on Bill’s knapsack gave out and our search for a fix led us to the Zapateria (shoe repair shop). The kindly man on the left led us to the back where the earthy smells of leather and oils mixed with the waxy-petroleum of shoe polish. It reminded me of my Dad polishing his shoes. Our shoe repair man did a marvellous job, so a few days later, we returned with Bill’s sandal – the rubber sole was flapping. Again, an inexpensive, quick yet excellent repair and we got to inhale those comforting odours again.

Panaderias (bakeries) abound in Boquete: as you walk by, the scent of fresh bread and sweet pastries lures you in. Cinnamon, ginger, chocolate, sourdough and rye – what a delicious mix.

6 – A sense of homesickness: hot pine needles and Canada Dry

The tangy scent of pine needles hot from lying in the sun instantly transports me to Canada, specifically to an Ontario Provincial Park campground. And that makes me yearn for home like nothing else. Pine trees are all over the mountains here, but not on the coastline, so I felt more homesick in Boquete.

After we arrived in Boquete by bus from David, we were hungry, so we hoisted our backpacks and went into a small Panamanian-food cafeteria where we sampled local dishes. I don’t ordinarily drink pop, but the Canada Dry Ginger Ale called to me – it’s an unusual find and it was more spicy-gingery than at home. But, any mention of Canada gives me a certain tingle in my stomach that I know now to mean I’m missing home.

We loved listening to the live bands playing at the Boquete Brewing Co. but it did make Bill miss playing bass in the band and made me miss singing in my choir and quartet. While we were in Portugal in the fall, I was practising for my Carnegie Hall performance, but now, I’m bereft. Bill brought along a travel guitar he borrowed from a friend. And while I love listening to him practise, it makes me miss my fellow singers even more.

After Boquete, we’re heading back to Costa Rica to meet my sister Laura and her husband, Chris, in San José, then drive to Cahuita on the Caribbean coast for a beach vacation. Every time I get an email or text from them, my yearning to see them increases. I feel teary-eyed just thinking about it. I’ve now got mist behind my glasses as well as on them.