UPDATE ON MY THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS

Lookie here! Is that what I think I see? What do you see?

MY OBSERVATION AND OPINION

This is Boquete’s Central Park. I showed this picture in a past post. As  one can see the park is undergoing a restoration. The old park was nice and yes, a coat of paint, a little maintenance and a little clean up would have done wonders and still been a pride to the City.

The renovation cost? $ 35,000.00. Continue reading if you are interested in my opinion and observations.

GEOGRAPHY & HISTORY OF THE AREA

Now for a little Geography……remember that Panama orients east to west (not north to south), and this takes a little getting used to. The Atlantic (Caribbean) is on the north and the Pacific is to the south. Also, the sun rises and sets over the Pacific. Panama’s Provinces (States) are divided into Districts (Counties), which are divided into Counties (Townships). Boquete is situated in the Province of Chiriqui, which is Panama’s southwestern-most province, immediately next to Costa Rica’s southern border.

The District of Boquete contains 6 Counties, or Townships; Alto Boquete, Bajo Boquete, Boquete, Caldera, Los Naranjos and Palmira. This District is known as the Valley of the Eternal Rainbow, and often one can view several rainbows at the same time, over the valley. The valley itself is shaped like a bowl, with the far end of the bowl touching Panama’s northwestern Province of Bocas Del Toro. Although only a few miles away, there is no road access directly over the bowl, and visitors to Bocas must drive around and over the Continental Divide to reach the Caribbean neighbor. It’s a fabulous drive with a drastic change to a more Caribbean type of foliage, housing and people as you cross the Divide.

The Capital of Chriqui Province is David, which can be reached in about 45 minutes by a 2 lane asphalt road that at some point in time become 4 lanes, shortening the driving time significantly. David is Panama’s third largest city (after Panama City and Santiago) and many of the large stores from Panama City have and are now building locations in David. David has an international airport with flights several times a week to San Jose, Costa Rica. Both Air Panama and Aeroperlas offer 2 to 3 flights daily to David from Panama City. COPA (the international airline of Panama) flies daily from the US to Panama City.

HISTORY OF THE AREA:

In 1916, just 5 years after the official inauguration of Boquete as a District of Chiriqui Province, the serene life of Boquete was changed forever with the arrival of a powerful locomotive that redefined life in the Valley. The railroad operated until 1949. Soon after that the new highway from David took over in accelerating the growth of the Valley.    By 1930 electricity became common in the populated areas, with radio and telephone bringing the outside world in to change the way Boquetenos saw the world outside. Magazines and newspapers were rare, and were passed around among residents and schools as a way to increase their knowledge of the world outside of Panama. Television arrived in the 60′s, further changing the cultural landscape.

Soon a concentration of commerce, telephone service, electric lighting, paved streets, postal service, water systems, health and government agencies as well as education created a community poised for growth. Activities such as an annual Flower Fair and the building of comfortable tourist lodgings, as well as the completion of the highway from David, began to have their impact on the area. Today, Boquete enjoys all the modern technologies available such as cell phones, high speed internet, video games, computers and other conveniences have enabled the population to reach out and touch the bigger world beyond.