a day in panama city

spilling the beans

Why hello, my sweets! I apologize for the sporadic posting. My excuse: I worked all day yesterday and had an interview this morning. As my twitter followers already know, I'm back in the great city of New York and have been since late Friday night. Central America was phenomenal but life compelled me to make my next move. Hopefully I will be able to share specifics with you soon. Until then, back to Boquete:

Wednesday afternoon we took a trip to a coffee plantation. Not just any plantation though, we visited Cafetale La Milagroasa, or, The Miracle, and learned a whole lot about the growing, harvesting, roasting, and brewing the beloved coffee bean. 

Boquete is one of the best coffee growing regions in all of Panama for it's rich soil and highland climate (please note that most mainstream beans are grown in the lowlands which accounts for their bitter flavor).

Cafetale La Milagroasa sells specialty coffees. The first from the Geisha plant and the second from a blend of beans like Caturra, Criollo, and Pacamara. (I could've very well spelled each of those names wrong, please don't judge). 

How to Make Coffee. Step 1: Pick the coffee bean fruit from the trees. Step 2: Separate the beans from the skin. Step 3: Allow the beans to ferment by soaking them in water for about 20-30 hours. Step 4: Lay beans out to dry for 15-20 days. Step 5: Store indoors in plastic bags for 3 months. Step 5: Use a machine to de-shell the coffee beans. Step 6: Roast those babies up...

Above you'll see the distinction between the light, medium, and dark roast. There's literally only about a minute of roasting time difference between 'em.

Then, following the grinding of the roasted beans, we got to taste test the medium roast ourselves. Even black, it was amazing; Sweet, not bitter, and incredibly luxe.

We also had a chance to try the three levels of roasted coffee beans, but I only had one of each. If I'd eaten any more I would have been jumping off the wall. I know this for a fact as my tour companions did, and were.

Yum, I love coffee, and I brought a bag home for my parents too. It was, shall I say, a miraculous experience.

After wrapping up our tour, I dropped my camera on the ground and injured it greatly. (It's currently at Best Buy being nursed back to health). As a result, I do not have photos of the fabulous dinner we ate that night. Nor do I have any of Panama City where we went the next day. I do, however, have a fun little video of all the country's capital in 30 hours :). It should be up by Friday. Hasta la vista.

chasing waterfalls in boquete

On Tuesday, the boys and I decided to go on a trek outside of town, passed the numerous coffee plantations, far from Volcan Baru (the tallest volcano in Panama) and all the way to the Cascada Quetzal.

It took us about 2.5 hours to reach it.

With fresh empanadas in hand, we sat to admire it's beauty (and rainbows). 

But I'd be lying if I said I expected something a bit more majestic.

Oh well. It was still a gorgeous hike, great exercise, and gave us the perfect reason to visit this little place afterwards.

We enjoyed multiple cups of all natural, strawberry "ice cream."

It was probably the best I'd ever had. And oh so ridiculously refreshing.

what the rock is cooking

As I mentioned yesterday, the boys and I dined well in Boquete. We found a local magazine that had published a story highlighting of the best restaurants in the area and we decided to review them ourselves. This, is a story of the best.

The Rock Restaurant is located a quick 15 minute cab ride outside of the center of town. It stands in it's own contemporary building decorated on the inside with natural woods, stones and clean lines. The wine list is comprehensive and menu small yet seasonably thoughtful.

We decided to begin with a Carmenere from my beloved home away from home and a vineyard that I visited myself, Concha y Toro. As I told the boys, Carmenere is wine derived from an ancient French grape brought to South America in the early 1800s and extinct in it's native France today. Up until the past few decades, actually, wine connoisseurs thought it was a Merlot; A distinct Chilean mellow merlot with soft tannins and herbal accents. Funny, don't you think?

To begin, J.P. and I split a green house salad. It was unlike any salad I'd had south of the American border. It was filled with various greens, crisp, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, sweet orange tomatoes, sliced almonds, and shredded carrots.

With it we also had warm, fresh baked bread, high quality olive oil (I could taste it) and real balsamic vinegar. In my travels throughout Latin America, I've often been unimpressed with their pan. I prefer a heartier loaf with thick crust and soft interiors. This one, however, was anything but disappointing.

Matt had the duck as his appetizer. I wish they had a menu online so I could explain to you what came with it, but alas, they do not. It was delectable though. I can say that, he gave me a taste. And I don't even like duck to begin with.

As my entrée, I ordered the river trout wrapped in bok choy, over white rice, and in a coconut milk-based sauce. They did a fabulous job. The last time I had trout was in Ecuador and dare I say that this might've blown that trout out of the water ;).

J.P. had a filet mignon with corn and julienne vegetables,

Matt had fall-of-the-bone pork ribs with papas fritas and corn.

We were ridiculously happy diners. It was like a meal I could've eaten in New York, or any other cosmopolitan city for that matter, but instead, I was in the small city of Boquete, in Panama, sitting beside a friend from Canada (that I met in Costa Rica) and another that I was working with at the time. A happy diner, indeed.

And then came dessert. The three of us split the Brownie Sunday. Or rather, I ate 60% of it, Matt had a bite, and J.P. finished off the rest. Details, details.

If you ever get a chance to smell what The Rock is cooking, (sorry, I couldn't help myself), than please make sure to pay a visit to this spectacular restaurant. In addition to great, fairly-priced food and a lovely atmosphere, it also has amazing service. I found Panamanian food to be rather disappointing, mostly fried, and oftentimes flavorless, but The Rock Restaurant truly does create a dining experience for senses. I'd go right back for dinner tonight if I could.

blooming in boquete

Boquete is made up of a pretty affluent diverse community of retirees, expats, and Panamanians. As such, there were wonderful little places like Sugar & Spice. And it happened to be located directly in front of our hostel. Breakfast jackpot.

I enjoyed a plate of seasoned scrambled eggs, three chunks of country bread which I topped with butter and fresh marmalade, and perfectly brewed coffee with cream. Perfectly satisfied, we then decided to walk around our little mountain town a bit.

The homes are beautiful but very private and protected by guard dogs.

Thankfully, we stumbled upon a public garden. 

 

I obviously loved it. Next? Mid-afternoon errands.

A barber shop clean-up and an authentic lunch. 

What you see above is mixed rice, root vegetable salad, pinto beans, and tomato salad. 'Twas absolutely delicious and a whole $2.00.

Afterwards, we ventured to the fair grounds to admire the annual celebration.

The Garden Club of Boquete really did a beautiful job.

Following our day of floral adventures, we went back to the hostel to rest and wash up before dinner time. For three weeks I had gone into a meal situation with a mind of budget and health, but being as I was leaving in a few days (more details to come) the boys and I decided we should go all out. We did, it was amazing, and not nearly as expensive as we'd planned. I'll save that dining story is for tomorrow though, get excited :) really, really.