It is no surprise to those of us who live in Boquete Panama that Paradise Gardens has changed since Paul and Jenny left Panama. The ownership has changed, the management has changed and now so has the mission. Although still a tourist destination the current volunteers and management of Paradise Gardens are making a sincere effort to release animals back into the wild. They are accepting new animals and when possible working with ANAM to release them. They have indeed released many of the former residents.
Monte, above, is still there because he and many others are too accustomed to humans to survive on his own. The dilemma is that community support and visitation has dropped off under the musical chairs of changing management and the animals suffer.
I know the current manager, Jennifer, and she is committed to helping the animals and releasing them when possible. Jennifer needs $100 a day in income from donations and visitors to feed the current crop of residents.
I visited for the first time in a very long time yesterday, I urge you to do the same. Make a donation of money or time, help the animals. None of us knows the future of Paradise Gardens, but for now it is an asset to the community that needs community support to keep it’s doors open. Paradise Gardens is open Monday through Saturday 10am – 4pm.
I did try to warn the world that March 19 was a bad day to drive from Boquete or any other place in Panama into David. March 19 was the day of the horse in David Panama, the Cabalgata. This year due to an unexpected but temporal disability I could not ride, so Mayra, her daughter and a friend did the riding for me while I took some photos and video.
The video provides some sense of the insanity, some photos will help take off or add an edge.
Mayra and her daughter Karina as things are getting started. As I predicted it was a bad day for taxi drivers in David.
The Cabalgata is a family affair with many children enjoying the experience.
It is also an opportunity for the horses to meet each other for a cold drink.
I am sure the folks at Budweiser won’t mind.
After a long ride through the dust filled streets of a cow town a cold Bud seems appropriate and they do make it in Panama now, no wonder there is a shortage of rice.
To people who live in Boquete and know Cowboy Dave, you also know he rides motorcycles not horses. This rare and award losing photo proves that he also has done at least one commercial for Atlas Beer. I can attest that Dave never fell off the horse and no one from Atlas ever requested the photo.
This is the week of the David International Fair. It started 11 March and it will end 20 March. If you miss County Fairs you should not miss this event. The David Feria is much larger than the fair in Boquete Panama. It includes many typical County Fair things, rides for the children, greasy food, livestock, booths of deals you cannot afford to miss and bars, lots of bars.
In addition, tomorrow, is the day of the Cabalgata, the horse parade in David. The Day David goes to the horses. If you plan to go to David with a purpose tomorrow, is a bad day to go. If you want to see thousands of horses snarl traffic, drink rum, oops thats the riders, then it’s a great day to go. I love the Cabagata and although I will not be riding this year I will find a perch to watch the horses parade by.
Last year the thenPresident of Panama lead the parade, this year the Minister of Agriculture is the banner carrier. It doesn’t really matter since the entire event is for the riders, who start with gratuitous rum and end buying more rum. For the horses it is a snarl of thousands of horses doing the grand circuit of David. It is a bad day to be a taxi driver.
This event starts sometime after 1 pm, time uncertain. The parade starts near the Interamerican on the street with Super 99 and Mcdonalds and if function follows tradition there will be grandstands and mobs of people on the streets to enjoy the change of pace and the last holiday in David until November.
Yes, schools are closed for cabalgata, just like they are in Tucson Arizona for rodeo. In the past the Rodeo and the rodeo parade were a big thing in Tucson. I remember riding in a horse drawn float sponsored by a bar. We drank beer for the entire route, after that rather rowdy experience, they banned drinking in the parade, things change, David is still a cow town just like Tucson was in its past. Don’t miss the present time in David, because history suggests this tradition might not last forever.
Why do people go to the Boquete Panama Flower and Coffee Fair?
There are more flowers at Mi Jardin es su Jardin. There is more coffee at my house or perhaps yours? Year after year I wander through this event and remember I never liked the Country Fair in Arizona either. The major differences between Boquete and Pima County are the discos here and all the animals there. Both places had plenty of street food. I made a decision to avoid the discos, too early in the day, I did try some food. The most interesting food I found was being served by an old fried, Giovy.
She has a small restaurant just below La Cabana serving Chorizos from Walter Maier. Walter Maier is a Panama City company that makes a sausage that is more familiar in taste to those you will find in Europe or North America. Giovy’s brother in law went to Vienna Austria to learn how to make sausage and the results are miles ahead of Berards or the others in Panama.
This oversized bun, hosts a Butiferra with sauerkraut, a rare find in Boquete. It was very good and brought back memories of grilled Johnsonville Sausage in Tucson. If you want give it a try visit the booth, if you enjoy the sausage you can buy them on your next trip to Panama City at Calle 68, Casa #4 in San Francisco.
The rest of the fair visit was uneventful, I think for excitement I will need to try the discos one night this week.
A short two hours from Boquete Panama is the port of Boca Chica. On Sunday after a week of water falling onto Boquete a group of us decided we needed to float in a boat instead of trying to walk on, through or between the drops.
Merrill Bennett has a business renting his skills as a capitan and his boat out for tours of the Pacific of of Boca Chica and we took advantage of the opportunity, it was a great day. Merrill is an excellent host and his knowledge and innovation made for a great day at sea.
Pon is a great Thai cook but I think this was her first time hauling in the fish herself or actually with a little help from Bob.
After hours of successful fishing we stopped in cove in the in the Secas for some snorkeling and lunch.
Merrill brought a small BBQ so lunch was fresh, very fresh fish.
A Spanish Mackerel and some Dorado barely out of the sea were incredible. I also tried some Yellow tail sashimi, a bit chewy but direct from the filleting to my gullet.
My contribution was the Spanish Mackerel for the grill.
Not a huge fish but a great lunch.
The trip included paralleling some humpback whales and a school of porpoises. It was a great day and if you don’t have your own boat I would recommend contacting Merrill. His web site is losbennetts.com
Part of the charm of living in Boquete Panama is the tranquility of our lifestyle and the abundance of opportunity for enjoying our quality of life. Today I seized the moment and took advantage of a great opportunity. Boquete Safari Tours has a of season deal on horse back riding, $25 for a couple of hours riding through Caldera.
After our ride we took the opportunity to visit Rancho Caldera and enjoy a fantastic brunch. A year ago the Panamonte was the only place in Boquete to have a Sunday Brunch. That has changed, there are now several places serving Sunday brunch. Rancho Caldera is special for several reasons.
The synchrony with riding helps set it apart as does the quality of the food and drink. Gina has made Rancho Caldera a spiritual haven. The food and the atmosphere are fresh and clean. Her new chef, Craig, has brought a higher than normal standard to local cuisine. I think the mantra could be stated as quality food, quality drink, quality service and great preparation makes Rancho Caldera worth the ride from Boquete.
Start with the unique smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict below, my breakfast was fantastic.
The eggs are from local chickens, dill literally clipped by the chef in front of me.
Other menu options were equally wonderful as were some temptingly toxic deserts. Consider a chocolate cake made with chocolate from Bocas del Toro.
After Brunch you can round out your Sunday with a cooling dip in the Rancho Caldera Swimming Pool. Look at the surreal view. I really urge you to try the whole enchilada, ride the horses, eat the brunch and get wet in the pool. Make your Sunday “muy especial”!
Just a short ride from Boquete Panama, near the town of Boqueron, is the distillery of Carta Vieja Rum and two types of Seco. Seco is the national drink of Panama and is best equated to moon shine, an American tradition.
Acting on a tip from a friend I contacted the distillery and discovered they are open to provide tours of their facility. That knowledge is all that it required to enlist a group of enthusiastic rum and Seco tasters, mostly my house guests.
The process of making both rum and Seco at Carta Vieja starts in the same way. It all starts with sugar cane, this cane field surrounds the distillery. Sugar cane juice is fermented to make Seco and molasses from the cane is fermented to make Rum.
Sugar cane is fermented in a large cylinder for 36 hours, that all folks, 36 hours. Then the distilling begins.
Seco is made from this un-aged distillate and is bottled and on the truck to your local market within 48 hours. Seco is aged on the supermarket shelf, that explains why it is the legal moonshine of Panama.
Carta Veja rum is processed differently. It is blended and aged. The Anejo Rum is aged for years in used bourbon casks Aging adds flavor and color. Samples are taken throughout the process and when it is ready it goes off to bottling.
After we finished the thirty minute tour we had the opportunity to sample the output.
Our tour guide was most informative and did his best to explain the process he and the other 87 employees working for Central Industrial Chiricana SA do producing and distributing their products.
For more information or to setup your own tour follow this link to: Carta Veja
This past week Heather and I took a Coffee tour with Boquete Mountain Safari tours. Rather than write about our experience, today I rather write a little about Boquete Mountain Safari Tours.
Boquete Mountain Safari Tours is owned by Brad and Carol, two recent immigrants who like so many new immigrants saw a need, seized an opportunity and created a new reality. The new reality is that Boquete Mountain Safari Tours provides tourists with an excellent holiday experience. Riding in the back of one of their renovated yellow Toyota land cruisers with bilingual guide is a fun way to see Boquete and the region.
This is the third time I jumped into the back of a yellow cruiser, first for a short ride through one the Bajo Mono Loop. Although I had made the ride multiple times I learned more from the guide than I knew before. My second trip was to take a visiting friend from Brazil Horseback riding. We also went to the Caldera hot springs, someplace I had not yet discovered on my own. I know it is silly that after living in Boquete for more than 2 1/2 years I had never been to the hot springs but I it was a new discovery for me.
Deja vous, I remember when living in New York I never visited tourist spots without an out of town guest, while living in Tucson Arizona I only visited the amazing Desert Museum with guests. We, the locals often miss the obvious attractions of our community. What Brad and Carol have provided is a nice clean easy service for both tourists and locals alike.
This coffee tour was an epiphany for me. I grow coffee, I even know two of the three growers we visited but I never learned so much about coffee, coffee processing and coffee judging as I did on this trip.
The message is that we can always learn something new. Boquete Safari Tours is doing an excellent job formulating tours for the tourist that will also benefit an interested resident. Brad and Carol congratulations on doing an excellent job in helping Boquete get on the map as a tourist location, something good for all of the community.
After returning to Boquete Panama from our cruise we stared a most unusual cruise. It was a don’t stop the party continuation. Our house is under construction and tomorrow I will do a two week update on the progress but we expect to be vagabonds for another month as walls are removed and replaced, doors are moved and added, tile is laid and paint is applied.
We had house guests from St. Maarten, Jane and Wayne and no house. Fortunately we found a roof for them and one for ourselves also. On Tuesday we took them for an ill fated trip for corned beef and cabbage at a local restaurant, a St. Patrick’s Day massacre, the food was inedible and of the three members of our party who ate it all three suffered a bad night of paying for my error.
By Wednesday noon everyone had recovered and we started touring Boquete. First adventure was to drive up the Palo Alto loop and have lunch at Auras, an excellent choice for a great slow paced meal especially after the prior night of culinary terror. Then off toward Bajo Mono see the waterfall and castle. We discovered that the road is back at least that far and work is in progress in the river bed.
As Jane and Wayne looked at purchasing some trinkets at a very low priced stand near the waterfall, I saw this young girl sitting and almost coaxed a smile.
The waterfall is a shadow of it’s past self, not only due to the dry season but also the piles of debris at its base. We drove back to town without completing the loop. Saw some friends and joined them for dinner in Caldera, a great evening.
Thursday was a morning visit to the Feria in David and the Horse Parade. If you missed the Feria you missed the ice cones.
Wayne was so impressed by the $0.75 beer at the fair that he had to drink a few before we re-entered the heat of the day.
Being up close and personal with a prize winning Brahma bull
and the shock of learning this was planned for David near Super Baru .
At least in the mind of a developer David is ready to become a suburb of Panama City.
Jane was to be a rider in the horse parade, but the super glue did not hold her in the saddle which is how I found myself wandering the streets of David on a horse.
Friday, well a late start a visit to Paradise Gardens which has more and more happening. New animals, new structure, some old friends gone, released into the wild and a new tiny baby any eater. In April Paradise Gardens will be releasing several jaguars into a remote area now that they are mature enough to hunt. If you have not been to Paradise Gardens it has become a must see stop in Boquete.
Saturday night Heather and I returned to the fair, a very different, very crowded Saturday night and enjoyed the company of friends and the high energy of David’s Feria.
I live in the cool hills of Boquete Panama just fifty kilometers from the hot city of David Panama. Since David is the shopping and governmental center of the Province it is not an unusual place to visit regularly. On 19 March 2009 David went to the horses. Each year during the David Feria a day is designated for a cabalgata, a Horse Parade. This year Heather organized a small contingent from Boquete to ride. Through either chance or conspiracy I ended up on a horse in the parade. Think four to five hours of heat, dust, horse smells, rum, beer and great fun.
As we gathered Roger and Dimitri observed me to see if the super glue would keep me in the saddle. I am not sure who lost the bet because once up in the air I had no intentions of setting foot on ground until I had the entire experience of riding through the streets of David.
Heather smiled because she applied the glue, still I think she wagered against me surviving the day.
Fortunately Dimitri convinced Terry not to wear his gun belt, replete with a silver toy Colt 45. It might have caused a problem since the President of the Republic of Panama, Martin Torrijos was the flag bearer in the parade this year. If he had any security with himthey were not very obvious and he led well over one thousand horses away from the free rum and beer tents into the streets of David.
The sites of children, families, mothers and children riding and the crowds observing were some compensation for the increasingly tender buttocks.
We rode from the InterAmerican Highway near the drive through, later the ride through, liquor store down to the prison, across 13 de Novembrie to the Municipal market and then up to Romeros in Dolegita before turning back. Basically the horses blocked virtually every major road in David for from 20 to 30 minutes. There were throngs of onlookers all along the route and frustrated taxi drivers throughout the city.
In addition to the horses, load music blared, bands played, women danced, politicians waved and a rain of fireworks added to the color of the moment.
By the time we arrived back near Super 99 the horses and riders were in control of the streets. There was something compellingly nostalgic about people riding their horses up to bars and at times into bars.
As the sun set and the grip on my saddle relinquished, several ice cold beers helped to easy the soreness and allow reflection on a unique experience. The David fair continues until Sunday night and if you are in the area I do suggest a visit, leave your horse at home that day has passed for another year. I hope to see you next year at the cabalgata, Horse Parade in David Panama.
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