Monday, August 25, 2008

Vodka Lowers Testosterone

264-267 J / Coffee trees at the foot of the volcano

The final destination of our bus is San Jose, Costa Rica, so we asked the driver to drop us off the road at the fork in the road Boquete. No problem. Around 5am we were awakened by the colleague of the driver who announces that they have forgotten to drop. Awesome. They will land on the edge of the road and told us to cross and wait for a bus. We wonder if we are not already on the border with Costa Rica because there is what appears to be a border post. Besides, a man who seems to be a customs asked for our papers. A bus arrives and we are rushing to get to the other side of the road to stop it. It is still dark and the passengers are people who go to work. We learn that the first bus to Boquete is at 6:30 so we decided to go to the terminal at David, it will be better than to wait in the dark on the roadside, and for some snaps raining and more. We will put more than one hour to David which confirms our doubts over the border. We will not have long to wait, a big yellow bus American Blue Bird is leaving to Boquete. The time it fills up and go. Still an hour away and we here in Boquete, a town near the volcano, whose summit, moreover it is possible to see in clear weather from the Pacific Ocean on one side and the other the Caribbean Sea . We need to find a hotel and the guide indicates a cool down in the village beside the River. We take the road when we stopped by a lady who says she has rooms available in his hotel, that's good is precisely the one we wanted. She was en route to taking the bus to David and told us that the keys of the shop is hidden in the flower pot and we install. In fact it looks more like a small house with a lounge and a kitchen and two bedrooms with bathrooms. We choose one and then ask our large bags. Indeed the river flowing in front and there is a mini garden to enjoy it. A quick shower and getting ready rapido a coffee because it will be time to find Kalin and Jason. They are as expected at their hotel, waiting for us, we have just enough time to discuss before the tour guide for the Coffee arrives. She is Dutch, and like many foreigners settled in the area some years ago. The climate and beauty of the area attracts more and more people, many Americans who spend their retirement in this quiet corner. On the road we had seen signs announcing the construction of new homes and all were in English, it is clear that it is not for Panamanians. We got into the 4X4 which takes us a coffee plantation. The guide explains that with her husband they too have a plantation but it takes its customers that of her friend because she is larger and especially it has all the machines that help explain the process. Arrived on site we expect three Americans who will follow the tour with us. It will last three hours and despite the fact that this is not our first Coffe e Tour we have learned many things, the process is not quite the same in all countries. The owner retains all the machinery of his grandfather who started the operation and used by then and still functioning. They are in their original location in a small wooden house and it's interesting to see how this has evolved. We conclude with a tasting of coffees that have undergone different types of roasting, light, medium and dark or French! Then comes the part "and now you're well buy one or two packets of coffee? . Since we are only interested in green coffee which keeps better and they do not it will not be for us. By cons we acquire a large bag coffee to keep company with the one we brought back from Brazil.
We return to the village and spend the afternoon we walk together, especially in a private garden open to the public, drink a coffee on the terrace (where smoking is prohibited) and we find our coffee roasting plant in a way. We eat together and we say goodbye again, Kalin and Jason are leaving tomorrow morning to Bocas del Toro on the north coast and we stay an extra day to explore the area.
The next day we go to market to buy some fruits and vegetables and we leave on the paths. First we follow the paved road and when a small way to this we borrow. We walk along a beautiful river for a while, we stopped under a tree for a picnic and then arrive in a very dense forest on a hill. The scenery and lights are beautiful and it does us good to find ourselves in nature after a few days in Panama City.
The next day we left already. We get up at dawn to catch a bus to David and we know that there are departures from San José, the capital of Costa Rica. It will take us several hours of travel, with a border crossing and arriving late in the day. We actually arrived around 19h in San Jose and we have to change terminal. In fact there is no terminal comprising all companies but small private terminals for each company, obviously they are scattered in the city. We counted follow up with a bus to Nicaragua since we do not intend to stay in Costa Rica, but there is no night bus, the next is tomorrow morning at 8am. We buy our ticket we pay for the entire journey while we stopped long before, in a small city near Lake Nicaragua where we can take a boat to Isla Ometepe, our next destination. We're looking for a hotel in the area and land in the "Small Hotel", an institution whose former owner was French. We see immediately that the standard of living here is still more expensive than in Panama. The price of the bedroom is close to those found in Europe. The neighborhood is not full of hotels, it's late, so we negotiate the price a bit and we moved. We dine out and go back to bed quickly, one is KO and say that ultimately it is not so bad we do not travel that night. Tomorrow we must get up early to have breakfast before going to the terminal which requests arrive one hour before departure of the bus! Worse than flying.

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