en Boquete

So I´ve gone from an annoying Spanish language keyboard in Bocas del Toro to an annoying Spanish language keyboard in Boquete that has been used so much all the characters have rubbed off. That I am able to type anything at all is amazing.

Anyway, the remainder of my stay in Bocas del Toro was great. Yesterday I went sailing and snorkeling on a catamaran around the archipelago. I had dinner (once again) at my friend´s restaurant. I had barracuda fritters with chili sauce as an appetizer and pork meatloaf with mashed potatoes as an entrée. Then I had peanut butter chocolate chip pie for dessert.

I left Bocas this morning around 9;30 by ferry to Almirante on the mainland and then by bus to a city called David. I sat next to a woman balancing a child on one knee and a take out box of fried chicken on another, and we were treated to pan-Latin American merengue music and then an old Mexican movie about a man who writes letters for other people. I read-napped most of the way. From David, I took another bus to Boquete, which is where I am now. The trip from Bocas to Boquete took about 6 hours.

Boquete is nice so far. It is in the highlands, and it is cool and cloudy. They grow a lot of coffee here, so I went to a coffee shop this afternoon and sat around. The barrista gave me a free double espresso, which was my second, so after four shots I am totally wired right now. Tomorrow I plan to do some hiking in the area´s national park along a trail called Sendero de los Quetzales. If I actually see a quetzal I´ll pee in my pants. Hopefully the weather will cooperate during the hike; it was rainy when I arrived.

As for food, I´ve been eating a lot of gringo food since most of my dinners in Bocas were at my friend´s gringo-oriented restaurant. I had some Panamanian food in Bocas and also this evening. In Bocas, I had chicken and rice for a late lunch one day. Today I had rice with meat and grilled chicken with some sweet plantains on the side. The beer is pretty good - there are three national brands (Balboa, Atlas, and Panama). Panama is the best. The rum here (Abuelo) is pretty good, too. And the coffee I had this afternoon was delicious.