Gaetano took us to one of his favorite spots overlooking Boquete whereupon I decided it was the time and place for a hot chocolate.
We had met him in Pedregal the River port on the outskirts of the big city of Davíd. We had talked across the tables and he helped us choose some fish dishes for lunch which was when I discovered he was retired Italian civil servant from Bologna.
After Layne got over her bout with Covid he invited us to go up the mountain with him to a coffee shop with he promised, splendid views across Boquete and down to the sea.
It was a lovely afternoon marred somewhat by me forgetting to bring my camera. Rusty stayed behind in the van for a couple of hours which he doesn’t necessarily enjoy but it gives him a chance to sleep.
The Barú volcano across the valley long since dormant.
It’s a funny place twenty minutes up the mountain above Boquete at around 4400 feet, and that much cooler than the city itself which lies at 3500 feet above sea level.
I ordered hot chocolate, Layne had a blackberry juice and Gaetano had a cappuccino which we took at a table inside a little warmer than the viewing platform.
He grew up in Sicily and went to engineering school in northern Italy in Bologna and stayed there after he got a government job. It was funny to hear his life story which meshed in odd ways with mine.
His father a plumber emigrated to the United States for five years and made enough money to set himself up at home supplying the building trades in his home town and becoming a wealthy industrialist in Italy. His son wanted his own life and wanted to see more of the world on his own terms and do he set himself up in the north off the country away from his fathers influence.
Now retired Gaetano wanders Latin America will though he settled for the foreseeable in Boquete.
I enjoyed being a passenger for a change with Layne taking notes as Gaetano reeled off a list of places to eat that we should check out before we see him again.
We got back to town in time to get tangled in the evening’s flower festival traffic:
In point of fact his first recommendation worked out very well when we tried out what he rated as the best seafood restaurant in town.
Fried calamari rings promised well in the clean tidy unassuming eatery.
I had the red snapper in a lemon caper sauce and when Layne tried to order it in Mexican (!) we discovered the name for red snapper in this Spanish speaking country is quite different. Even our confused waitress got a laugh. “Huachinango” in Mexico and “pargo rojo” in Panama. Go figure!
Layne had the Greek sauce on her red snapper and it was easily better than mine with olives feta cheese and tomatoes. Plus we had leftovers for lunch.
The days go by pleasantly enough but at the back of my mind is that irritating thought gnawing away as I ask myself if soon, very soon we will be back on the road.
