Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ANAM office
Although there is an
ANAM office
in Alto Boquete, all enquiries about the
national parks should be made through the office in David (
775 3163).
LEARNING SPANISH
As a place to hang out and
learn Spanish
, Boquete is a more relaxing venue than Panama
City. Both Spanish by the River (Alto Boquete 720 3456,
spanishatlocations.com
)
and
Habla Ya Panama (Plaza los Establos 720 1294,
hablayapanama.com
)
come recom-
mended; the latter also has an extensive extracurricular programme and enjoys a more cent-
ral location.
ACTIVITIES, TOUR OPERATORS AND GUIDES
Inevitably in a tourist-boom area, everyone wants a piece of the cake, and some “
guides
”
and
operators
lack the skills and equipment (eg first-aid kit for mountain guides) for the job.
If in doubt, seek
advice
from someone at your accommodation.
Finca Lérida
also has good
guides.
COFFEE TOURS
Coffee tours offered in English or Spanish (and Dutch in the case of Café Kotowa) range
from a 45min introduction to a 3hr interactive marathon, involving a lesson on how to hone
your cupping (tasting) skills and a tour of the estate and roasting facilities.
Café Kotowa
Palo Alto tour reservation 720 3852,
coffeeadventures.net
.
The entertain-
ing full-length tour run by
Coffee Adventures
of this scenic hacienda is highly recommended.
The visit takes in the original century-old wooden coffee mill brought over from Scotland.
Mon-Sat 2-4.30pm; 2hr 30min; $35 including hotel transfer.
Café Ruiz
Av Central, 500m north of town 720 1000,
caferuiz-boquete.com
.
Panama's
largest producer of gourmet coffee offer a nuts-and-bolts tour (Mon-Fri 8am; 45min; $9) led
by multilingual Ngäbe or Buglé cuppers at the roasting facility covering the production pro-
cess from plucking the cherries to packaging, distinguishing the different varieties and learn-
ing how to judge quality. It ends at their very pleasant coffee shop (Mon-Sat 7am-6pm, Sun
10am-6pm). More extensive tours focus on the tasting process (Mon-Fri 7.15am; 90min;
$20), while the full works (Mon-Sat 9am-1pm; 3hr; $30) includes a visit to the plantation.
The two longer tours include hotel transfer.
Finca Lérida
Alto Quiel 720 2285,
fincalerida.com
.
Spectacular setting for a compre-
hensive estate tour (Most days 9.30am and 1.30pm; 2hr; book in advance; $31), which in-
cludes watching the action in the original 1922 processing plant. Take the Alto Quiel bus
from Boquete or a taxi ($6) - transfers are not included.
