Sometimes I don’t go to Boquete for months and then sometimes, like last week, I’m up there twice in the same week. I was invited to hike the Pipeline Trail with some friends so I figured while I was up there a couple days before, I’d see if we could find it. This brought us to some really interesting places I hadn’t seen before.

Just before driving down into Boquete proper, there is a tourist center with a great view of the valley below and the mountains beyond.

The Pipeline Trail, or the Hidden Waterfall is in the Bajo Mono area. For directions and helpful pictures, check the Boquete Travel Guide HERE. When you get to the sign that says “The Lost 3 Waterfalls” you are at the beginning of the Pipeline Trail. (an aside, the last thing on this page is a video made by my friend Ryan when he hiked to the 3 waterfalls, and his companion was Gary who has been playing music with my husband! It’s a small world sometimes).

The drive to this area is more beautiful with every passing mile. We passed the rock wall I posted about recently, and then the San Ramon Waterfall. It’s the end of dry season but it still seems to have enough water to make a very pretty waterfall.

San Ramon Waterfall

Past the waterfall is the “Lost Castle” which is definitely worth a visit because it is an absolutely gorgeous spot! Joel did some research on the castle and found stories that either the owner died, the owner’s wife died, or she decided she didn’t want to live there and construction stopped. Now it is possibly for sale though he wasn’t able to find any details. Can you imagine getting this property and finishing the castle? I was so taken with the area that I took quite a few photos.

Your castle in the forest!

There are huge beautiful trees in front of the castle

Looking up

The inside is unfinished with graffiti, broken glass, and this pretty bougainvillea growing through the upstairs window.

The river in front is so pretty.

We had to stop and enjoy the river for a while.

This tree covered with flowers caught my eye.

There were a lot of angle trumpet flowers all along the drive up.

One of many bromeliads in the trees.

what a place

Eventually we found our way to the beginning of the hiking trail. News and photos of the hike will be in the next post.

After returning to town and having a nice lunch with my friends, we decided to check out the orchid festival that was going on in Boquete. There were some very pretty orchids, fairgrounds full of colorful flowers, and lots of interesting vendors to visit.

One of many unusual and interesting orchids.

Another pretty specimen

More orchids with prize ribbons.

There was a section of bromeliads too.

The fairgrounds were full of beautiful flowers

By the time we finished looking around it was almost time for my teacher from Habla Ya to get off work. She spent a lot of hours on line with me before I arrived in Panama trying to pound some Spanish into my thick head, and we have been good friends ever since. We hadn’t seen each other in too long so I was happy to catch up with her as we rode down the hill and a bonus, her guy and little boy were waiting below so I got to see them too!

I’ve been having a lot of good times lately 🙂

Panama is a beautiful country