On Saturday, we took a day trip away from Boquete to the Gulf of Chiriquí. Our friend Milagros got a group together. It has been on our list of places to visit, and we really had a blast.
We drove into David to meet everyone in the group, then traveled about an hour until we reached Boca Chica. The boat launch was a short walk. It was quite the adventure just getting in and out of the boat. We spent about an hour tooling around in the gulf until we reached an area known to have whales, and were not disappointed.
We boated to one of the small islands in the Gulf of Chiriquí that had gorgeous light sand. There were other boats there as well that brought people over to the island to enjoy. The island itself is a nature preserve. It was completely unspoiled. We enjoyed lunch on the island with our new friends. Although we packed sandwiches and snacks, there was plenty of Panamanian food to go around, which the others happily shared with us. Among them was a dish referred to as “mono” which means monkey in Spanish. I looked like a tamale, however these banana-leaf wrapped yummies consisted of chicken, rice, beans and plantain. It was delicious. We learned the name comes from when workers used to take these meals out in the fields or jungles to work and they would hang them from trees, as a monkey would hang.
We spent a few hours enjoying the scenery and the water. The boat came back after a few hours to pick us all up and we drove a short distance to another beautiful island. After a short while, the captain was ready to head back.
I feel so blessed to have the chance to explore such beautiful places in Panamá, just a short drive away.
