We were told that there is 15 meters of volcanic ash that makes up the topsoil, so farming is very easy as the soil is very fertile. They grow lots of Panama’s potatoes and onions up in this area. There is also enough smaller farmers that grow all kinds of vegetables that they sell in the markets in town, so the produce is phenomenal and cheap. We bought a whole pineapple, 6 bananas, 1 tomato, and 6 eggs for a grand total of $2. It is understandable why this area is so popular with the ex-pats. The clouds rolled in so we figured it was time to park the bike and do some more walking around town.
In the morning we expanded on the free pancake breakfast that is offered by the hostel to include our fruit and eggs from the market. As we are leaving Boquete today we packed the bikes, which seemed so fast without the tires, then made a stop about 20km out of town at the Caldera Hot Springs. The springs were a little hard to find, but they were worth it.
They are totally natural springs, you sit in the pools on rocks and sand surrounded by an unspoiled natural setting.
The owner of the property, Omar, was enjoying one of the pools when we arrived, and aside from him one other couple were there and they did not like the setup so spent all their time at the river. Omar explained how the springs are good for the glands, circulation, arthritis, and a couple of other things I could not translate. The pools varied from about 38 to 43C, and the river that runs by is about 15C so it is quite the contrast to jump from one to the other but fun all the same, much like jumping from a hot tub into the snow. Omar also has a pet monkey, a few goats, a pair of pheasants, ducks, geese, chickens, horses, and a few cows. He was very friendly and even took a few pictures of us together in one of his private pools that has two pipes with different temperature water feeding it, very nice little spot.
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