April 1st - Boquete

We awoke early this morning, had our breakfast and proceeded to the Boquete Tree Trek for our canopy tour beginning at 8.oo a.m. Not knowing what a canopy tour was, we discovered, that it consists of a series of platforms anchored into the forest canopy that are connected by zip lines. Originally they were used by biologists to study the rainforest canopy, today they function as a way for tourists (us) to have an eco-experience. The canopy ride uses cable zip lines to take harnessed riders whizzing through the rainforest dozens of meters above the jungle floor. You ride from one platform to another, gliding over the tops of trees and vegetation.

We drove up the mountain, some 45 minutes out of town following a beautiful river valley. After a very slow, bumpy ride in the back of a large truck with a dozen other adventurers we came to our destination. Initially, our belongings were placed in lockers, then we entered the outfitting room, where we were outfitted. Then we were instructed to go to the outdoor presentation/instruction area to receive our training. After our training, we hiked through a , yet another beautiful area of the rainforest, to the first platform. Luckily, the instructions were informative, kind and encouraging. Only one person backed out of the experience. Our experience included 14 platforms and 12 zip lines. One of the zip lines was 400 metres long and facilitated the speed of 100 km an hour. We could control our speed with a hand brake. It was amazing, although somewhat trickier than it looked. Following our experience, we headed back into town for lunch and onto our next Panamanian adventure. For lunch we went to the nearest, yet again cafeteria style restaurant where the food was excellent and inexpensive. Our ´find´was later confirmed to have the best fried chicken in town.

After lunch, we headed out to meet our coffee tour guide. Unbelievably fortunate for us, we were the only people on the tour. Then, even more fortunate for us, our guide was originally from Tennesee, who spoke English and Spanish perfectly. Our tour came recommended by a Peace Corp Worker at the hostel we are staying at.


coffee farm tour