Panama Scouting - Day 23 - Boquete Flower Fairgrounds
Hola! Buenas tardes desde Panama!
Today, Miguel and I went to the fairgrounds to see the flower displays. We missed the annual flower and coffee festival by one week, but the fairgrounds are open on the weekends for wanderers and events. Today's event was a dog show, which attracted people from all over Panama and Costa Rica, as told by their license plates. One nice thing about show dogs is that they are quiet and well-trained, so having many in one place is not the noisy ruckus it might be. Most Panamanians do not train their dogs - they are for cuddling and/or protection - and as a result, dogs bark all night, and during the day, if anyone or anything moves, I am listening to at least 4 dogs being frustrated by something as I write. The sign of a "good neighborhood" is quiet dogs. There are very few stray dogs around Boquete, and we have seen none within Boquete, thanks to an ex-pat-founded rescue and spay/neuter program that has made a big difference, we hear.
Back to the flower gardens: People travel around Panama to visit the local festivals year-round. Boquete's is well-known both for the flowers and the coffee and for the local A'Gabe dancers - A'Gabe is the name of the indigenous people of this part of Panama, and the dresses and floral headgear of their festival costumes are known all over Panama, too.
The fairground flower gardens are grown all year and sponsored by local businesses.
Some of the gardens are elaborate designs, like the peacock's tail. Some are concentric circles or boxes, or rows of different types of flowers, vivid and impressive. I did not enhance any of the photos - the flowers are really that bright!
Some locally painted bird condos in one garden, with the bridge in the background.
Inside the fairground, one family sells local honey products, which we cannot bring home, but will seek out when we arrive in the late summer to increase our tolerance of local allergens, as per the advice of a local doctor (we learned this about 10 days ago, and I included it in the email). I have been enjoying daily papaya, and my tummy is quite happy - it may go through withdrawals when I return.
The photos below are from the same bridge behind the bird condos, showing Miguel with the fairgrounds in the background and the river below.
Tomorrow is our last day in Boquete, and on Tuesday morning, we head out at 07:30 to David and the local plane to Panama City. We must be tested for Covid within 24 hours of our flight out on Wednesday morning. We fly first to Miami (leaving at 07:46, and only a 2.5-hour flight) and then sit around for 9 hours before our non-stop from Miami to Seattle (whoo-hoo, no need to stop in San Francisco!). We land around 23:00/11:00, so we won't be home until after midnight.
We are settling in nicely and not ready to come home. That bodes well for our return.
Aloha and adios from Panamanian Paradise! Buenas Noches!
Mary Bea y Miguel