 
In 1911, searching for a place to vacation, Tollef B. Mönniche, a world known and accomplished engineer who designed the emergency dams of the Panama Canal, travelled with his wife Julia to Boquete, a remote place in the western end of Panama known for its excellent climate. In those days the trip to Boquete took five days by boat from Panama City and two days more on horseback. During his two month stay in Boquete he purchased a plot of land where he built a cabin and planted a few coffee trees for his personal consumption.
Tollef Mönniche was an exceptional and versatile person. The United States Congressional Records’ account of him written by William Mc Cain who knew him personally and greatly admired him states, “ Many persons have given loyal and devoted service to the Panama Canal. Tollef B. Mönniche, a fascinating and unique Norwegian, ranks high among them. None could have given more in a decade. In the tradition of his bold, hardy and venturesome Noresmen ancesters, Mönniche in his mid–twenties forsook his native soil and emigrated to America to grow and develop in the machinery age of the present century. And a pioneer he was –a pioneer in the unknown of engineering structures and materials, and a pioneer in horticulture”, Tollef converted a small part of his land “…in the mountains of Panama into a renown coffee plantation – Finca Lerida…Mönniche used great ingenuity in developing his coffee plantation in a way that put Panama in the world coffee market. Coffee from his estate could not be surpassed any place in the world.”
In 1917, when he finished his contract as engineer for the Panama Canal, and worn out after years of intense work, Tollef and Julia decided to take a rest in their cabin in Boquete. At this time Mr. Mönniche decided to make Boquete his home, possibly because it reminded him of the Surnadalen Valley in Norway, where he was born. He purchased additional land and built his home following in the style of Scandinavian architecture of the day. Architects and engineers agree that the construction of his house is the product of someone with the meticulous degree of detail that Tollef had.
Once he finished the house, Tollef began developing the coffee industry in 1922. Being well aware that in order to assure good quality coffee it had to be processed well, Mr. Mönniche designed and constructed the first “beneficio”, processing plant, functioning by gravity which is on display at Lerida’s permanent Coffee Exhibit.
Tollef was a nature lover and as such he utilized only a small portion of his land to grow coffee. The greater part of his estate was conserved as primary and secondary forest which to this day house one of the richest biodiversities of the region. Being a naturalist, he became interested in ornithology. The variety of birds in the area have long been admired by Panamanians and foreigners who have visited Finca Lerida. The importance of Lerida as a birdwatching site is duly noted in Robert S. Ridgley’s book A Guide to The Birds of Panama. Mr. Mönniche preserved a large collection of birds whose habitat is above 5,000 feet. His collection, reputed to be one of the finest collection of Chiriqui birds, is in the Chicago Musseum of Natural History.
In 1957 Alfred Collins, a US Merchant seaman and a pioneer in the shrimp industry in Panama, purchased Finca Lerida. Fritz, as everybody knew him, moved to Boquete with his wife Inga and their six children and was a leader in the organization of the coffee industry and in developing new markets for the coffees of Panama.
Since 2002, some members of the Collins family, following the tradition of these two pioneers, have continued to develop Finca Lerida to what it is today: a beautifull natural reserve with a great variety of flora and fauna, mandatory choice for nature lovers and birdwatchers and a first class coffee plantation considered among the best.
The family home until now used by family members has become Finca Lerida Bed & Breakfast. Due to the growing demand of visitors and friends who wanted more than just a few hours at this priviledged and magical place you can also stay at our Finca Lerida Ecolodge.
| 
