Boquete, Panama Day 5

April 5

We got up and had breakfast with the birds again.

 

 Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch

 Sapphire-throated Hummingbird?

 Euphonia in transition - probably Spot-crowned

 Silver-throated Tanager

 Spot-crowned Euphonia

  Euphonia in transition - probably Spot-crowned

 White-naped Brush-finch

Blue-grey Tanager

 



On the drive to the trail we crossed this bridge and saw the waterfall and the old "haunted castle".

 

We found the trailhead and walked across the bridge and walked up the challenging path. We came to a beautiful area where a man came up and started showing us birds and flowers. We thought he was going to tag along to be our guide (for a propina – tip), but he was just being helpful and he was the one to collect the fee to enter the private property. He showed us a map and told us to take a picture of it. (all in Spanish of course) He made it clear that the first 2 waterfalls were “easy” to get to and the 3^rd one would take an extra 25 minutes in each direction and was very hard. Well, we thought the first 2 were challenging so we skipped the 3^rd waterfall. It rained on and off most of the day and the trail was muddy. Lots of slippery rocks and steep steps. We did see a few interesting birds. I’m sure it would have been much better if not for the rain.

 Greg crossing the bridge

 me on the bridge

 very rocky trail - uphill...

 Greg ahead on the trail

 me resting

 farms

 owner's cabins

 greenhouses in the distance

 the hut where we paid the fee to enter private property

 photo of map

 wasp hive

 "mouse pancake?"

 trail

 Emerald Toucanet

 Emerald Toucanet

 Three-striped Warbler



Tawny-winged Woodcreeper

Tawny-winged Woodcreeper 

 Tawny-winged Woodcreeper

 waterfall #2

 waterfall #1

 

We got back in time for a late lunch of Pizza at La Pasada Boquetena Restaurant.

We were sitting and waiting for lunch when we noticed a lady park her car in front of ours (the blue one) and Greg commented she couldn't have parked any closer. Upon leaving the restaurant her car was right against our bumper. Greg got in and I was in the street trying to direct him out of the parking space. As he backed up, her car kept coming. Apparently, she did not put the car in park and it just kept backing into our car. Greg went inside and got the woman and she just couldn't understand how her car could have done that. (it's the car's fault?...lol) Anyway neither car was harmed and we went on our way. The pizza was good there.
 



Then we went for our afternoon drive past coffee farms and we found a street where we found some bird activity and got a few shots.

 coffee plants

 coffee beans

 views of Boquete

 Scarlet Tanager - male

 Green Violet-ear Hummingbird

 Bay-headed Tanager

 Bay-headed Tanager

 Red-legged Honeycreeper - male

 Spot-crowned Woodpeckers - they looked young

Shiny Cowbird that was singing outside of our room

We got showered and went to the happy hour at the bohio and chatted with the couples. We ate at Retrogusto. We were going to eat at The Rock, but the owner and one of the other couples there said it wasn’t that good anymore, so we took their suggestion to go to Retrogusto. Very good choice! We wanted to try the appetizer sampler for 2 and knew we couldn’t also eat a full meal, so we followed that with a pizza. Both were fantastic. The owner, the owner’s wife and the chef came to our table to chat and make sure everything was good. Once the owner found out we were from Coronado and often go to El Valle, he asked if we have ever eaten at their friend’s restaurant in El Valle. We have and it’s good as well. Our only issue with them is that they are almost never open when we go…..

We pe-ordered a packed breakfast for the next 2 days since we were leaving earlier than they start serving breakfast at 8:00. Tomorrow we are headed back to the Pipeline Trail aka Waterfall Trail to see if we could find the Quetzals in the nest.