Flannel Shirts (Panama)

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(Richard Detrich’s Boquete) I have to admit that when we were preparing to move to the tropics the last thing I thought about was flannel shirts.  In fact I took all my flannel shirts to Goodwill.   But here in Boquete in the evening and in the early morning I live in flannel shirts.

Fortunately they are pretty easy to come by and surprisingly inexpensive.  Panama is the “end of the line” for clothing.  If it doesn’t sell at T.J. Maxx it is bundled up and sent in a container to Panama.  Which is why you will see Indians picking coffee wearing shirts that read “Stanford” and “Harvard”.  On the way to Panama City is a huge store called “Ropa Americana” where much of the remainder clothing from the US ends up, most of it still with the original US price tags.  It’s my favorite stop when driving to Panama City to hop a plane to Fort Lauderdale.  The last trip I needed a new bathing suit.  (The chlorine in ship pools wrecks havoc on bathing suits!)  $5.  My Hawaiian shirts run me $1.50 to $15 for a Tommy Bahama.  Anyway, I bought a dozen flannel shirts for $8 each (still with the Kohl’s price tag on them for $24).  I gave half to my brother who lives in town, and kept half.

Boquete is about 3,400 feet and our new house in Palmira is about 4,100 feet.  And although we are in the tropics (Latitude 8.75N Longitude 82.45W) it is our elevation that makes it cool when the sun goes down.  Last night it got down to 60 degrees, and now, at 6AM it is 61 degrees.    It can get down as low as 52 degrees at night.  But our maximum temperature midday with the sun out is usually in the upper 70s.  Year round!  Pretty much perfect if you ask me.

It is perfect for growing our fantastic Boquete coffee!!  And there is nothing better early in the morning to sit in my flannel shirt, drinking our own coffee and listening to the cacophony of birds.  And this year promises to be a great coffee harvest.  Are trees are laden with beautiful green coffee cherries