IT'S a Friday afternoon in Boquete, Panama, and the main street resembles Anytown, U.S.A. There is a mom-and-pop coffee shop with round tables, premade sandwiches and a dessert case. Nearby is a tiny video store, with posters advertising “Misión Imposible Tres” and “La Guerra de Los Mundos.” And down the block is a small deli that serves cheeseburgers with rice and beans.

At midday, when the air is warm but crisp, a casual pace falls over the town. Crocs-wearing tourists mingle with old-timers, making fishing and hiking plans for the following morning.

What feels at times like a newly minted resort town in New England or perhaps Southern California is actually the latest stop on Panama's growing tourist route. Tucked in the highlands near the Barú volcano, in the western Chiriquí region of Panama, Boquete is emerging as one of Central America's latest eco-tourism destinations.

Surrounded by green mountains topped by misty, craggy peaks, Boquete offers plenty of outdoors adventure, like hiking, climbing, bird-watching and white-water rafting. And thanks to a 3,000-foot elevation, the area's microclimate deducts 10 crucial degrees from the incessant lowland heat.

Wispy clouds meander overhead in the morning, but release their grip by midday. It's warm in the daytime, bracing at night, and perfect for growing bananas, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, strawberries and coffee — Chiriquí's main crops.

But unlike most eco-tourist hot spots, Boquete draws people not just to its natural beauty, however lush it may be, but also to its snowbird enclave. In the last two decades, a thriving community of North American baby boomers have built homes in and around town. Attracted first by the Napa-like weather and low cost of living, and then by the lax real estate laws — not to mention potable tap water — several thousand foreign families now own homes in Boquete, according to Tom Byrne, a 39-year-old developer who moved there from Ireland.