Boquete

Our little room has a balcony that looks out over the Caldera river as it loudly swooshes over rocks and under an old, yellow suspension bride. Across the river is a flower nursery, and since this is the blooming season everything is bursting with color: pink, white, yellow, purple, and then there´s green...the green climbs up into the hillside and the lush mountains surround the entire village. Nestled...the word describes nothing better than Boquete itself.

Our first adventure: horseback riding! Eduardo was our guide and we had two lovely horses to ride. The first hour and a half was amazing trotting along the river and then up into the moutnains where we had views of the twon and nearby Volcan Bareu. The last half hour was truly hell... the pain between my legs from sitting on that saddles destroyed my fantasy of riding alongside the bold and beautiful Augustus (Lonesome Dove - recommended read). By the time we got off the horses I felt...no analogies needed...

Not to worry because our second adventure was Loz Pozos de Caldera (hot springs!). We hiked in to find an elf-like cottage amongst vines, bushes, and criss crossing streams. There were two pristine hot springs surrounded by a simple stone wall and trees with exposed roots twisting down into the water. Small bubbles came up from the dirt and filled the quiet pool with hot (obviously), healing (apparently) water. (Note: parantheses influenced by Chuck Klosterman). Before plunging into the springs we went down to the southern portion of the Caldera River. The surrounding pines and blue sky resemble Oregon, but the hippo like rocks and feeling in my bones gave some of the "beauty" credit to Pnaama. The cold water was refreshing and I found a mossy rock just below the rippling surface to plop down on. Mmm: a rock, a river rushing around me, birds, butterflies, the sun and a breeze...yes, the perfect ingredients for thought pie. I felt I could have sat there and saild away with my thoughts, but there was more to do and see so we headed back to the hot springs.

Submerged in the hot water I could feel the bubbles dancing all over my skin and I am convinced that I was experiencing some sort of thermal therapy. After feeling rejuvinated Sarah and I posed for our bikini calendar 2008. The highlight was the self timer shot: Sarah set the camera up on a rock and on her way back into the picture she slipped on one of the mossy rocks. "Hurry!" I yelled, the model in me oblivious to any pain she may have been experiencing, "smile!" Well, the picture is quite telling with poor Sarah lying in the water while I´m posing...what have I become? In truth, the situation was a refreshing reminder of laughter from the gut.

On our way back to Boquete Sarah flagged down a pick-up truck: cheaper than the buses and thrilling wind exposure. The little girl in the front of the truck set up her nude dollsi n the back window and their plastic eyes watched us while we watched the rainbow stretched across the valley and let the sprinkles splat against our sun-kissed cheeks.