Azuero Peninsula
After a week of rest from Carnavales Alex and I rented a car and returned to the Azuero peninsula, the location of Chitre and Las Tablas, for a tour of Panama’s beaches.
Day 1: Tuesday, Feb. 27
We got a nice early start from Panama City in our rental car, which I had to drive the entire time since Alex lost his license during the Carnaval revelry. We drove about three hours to Chitré, with a stop in La Arena, a town well-known for its ceramics. We also stopped at a dulceria there and bought cocadas- my new favorite candy consisting of coconut and sugar. And Dulceria La Arena has some secret ingredient that makes the cocadas slightly creamy tasting. It sounds weird but they are so good. Anyway, we continued just past Chitré to our first beach, El Aguillito. It was a little disappointing, because the tide was out so it was a giant mud flat with the ocean starting very far out. We did have a good fish lunch though.
In the afternoon we drove a little further and left the province of Herrera to go to the province of Los Santos, and the town of Villa de Los Santos. Here we visited Playas Monagre and Rompio, one of which we planned to camp out at for the night. After scoping them out and choosing a spot we decided we had to return to La Arena for more cocadas before putting up the tent. So we drove about half an hour back, and then half an hour again back to the beach just before dark. As we pulled up, we realized we had foolishly left the tent back in Panama City. Disaster! Our options were to either pay for hotels or sleep in the car for the rest of the week and keep going or drive back about 4 hours to the city. We chose to drive back so we would be able to stick to our original plan of not paying for hotels and camping out on beaches. We arrived back at the apartment around 11 and promptly fell asleep.
Day 2
We again packed up the car and got an even earlier start from the city, around 7am. We drove straight through Chitré and Los Santos to Las Tablas and then Pedasí further down the peninsula. We stopped for a cake break at Dulceria Yely, the bakery where the President of Panama orders his cakes. Very good, and cheap- $0.30 for a delicious slice.
Just before Pedasí we took a turn off for Playa La Garita, which the Lonely Planet claimed was a good beach for swimming. Unfortunately we disagreed, due to all the rocks. It was still nice, but we were hot and ready for a sandy beach.
A little ways past Pedasí we found ourselves at Playa Destiladeros, which would have been a deserted beach if not for the construction workers building nearby beach houses. It was still really beautiful though, and the water was cool and refreshing.
After an hour or so there, we were ready to make our way to our final beach for the day, Playa Venao. Venao is a popular surfing beach in Panama, and often has many surfers camped out. We arrived just in time for the sunset. 
Unfortunately we chose a party night to camp out at Venao, and we inadvertently set up our tent too near to the bonfire to get very much sleep.
Day 3
We woke early for breakfast and a swim, and then we packed up to check out another couple of beaches before returning to Venao to camp out again. We drove through some beautiful countryside that included spotting monkeys while crossing a bridge, and then we came to Playa Cambutal. It was rocky, but with large flat rocks that formed big tide pools that were great for swimming.
We returned back to Venao to get to sleep early to prepare for what would be our longest day of driving.
Day 4
On this day we drove back up the Azuero peninsula to Santiago (on the Interamerican highway) and then down again on the other side of the Golfo de Montijo to Playa Santa Catalina, a world-famous surfing beach and the site of many competitions.
We drove back through Tonosí to Macaracas, on a pot hole-filled road surrounded by tiny communities and greenery.
In Macaracas we wanted to take a road to Ocú; unfortunately the roads out of town were not marked, and while we thought we chose correctly, after an hour we realized we were back in Chitré yet again. This added about an hour to our trip that day.
Finally we made it to Ocú, where we planned to visit an artesania half an hour outside of town. It was a little out of our way, but our Lonely Planet book said that they sold many traditional Panamanian crafts, such as polleras (dresses) and masks. We drove through the little town of San José once and didn’t see anything so we drove back through again. Finally we stopped and asked someone and found that it was at the far end of town from which we had just returned. So drove back again, down a dirt road and finally saw it- an abandoned building that had clearly not been entered for at least a year or two. So after this needless detour we were back on our way to Santa Catalina again, sans souvenirs.
We drove through Santiago and then south again, through Soná and finally on to Santa Catalina. This beach is filled with little cabañas for surfers so we checked out a few before finding a guy who let us camp out for only $5 for the night, which included letting us use his facilities. He turned out to be from New Mexico and is now living in Santa Catalina, renting out cabañas and building a library for the town as there are no books (including in the schools) until you reach Soná an hour away.
All in all, we (I) drove almost 9 hours that day, unfortunately due to the many needless detours. Still, we got to see a lot of Panama that even many of Alex’s family here has not visited so it wasn’t so bad.
Day 5
We spent most of this day hanging out on the beach in Santa Catalina. In the morning we snorkeled in some large rocky tide pools where we saw a blue and orange striped starfish, a little swordfish, and some large fish hidden in the rocks. Then we body surfed in the waves and swam around.
We departed from Santa Catalina early that evening and drove 6 hours back to Panama, arriving around midnight. Overall it was a great trip, lots of driving and lots of beaches, and now there are only a few areas of Panama that we have yet to see.
Day 1: Tuesday, Feb. 27
We got a nice early start from Panama City in our rental car, which I had to drive the entire time since Alex lost his license during the Carnaval revelry. We drove about three hours to Chitré, with a stop in La Arena, a town well-known for its ceramics. We also stopped at a dulceria there and bought cocadas- my new favorite candy consisting of coconut and sugar. And Dulceria La Arena has some secret ingredient that makes the cocadas slightly creamy tasting. It sounds weird but they are so good. Anyway, we continued just past Chitré to our first beach, El Aguillito. It was a little disappointing, because the tide was out so it was a giant mud flat with the ocean starting very far out. We did have a good fish lunch though.
In the afternoon we drove a little further and left the province of Herrera to go to the province of Los Santos, and the town of Villa de Los Santos. Here we visited Playas Monagre and Rompio, one of which we planned to camp out at for the night. After scoping them out and choosing a spot we decided we had to return to La Arena for more cocadas before putting up the tent. So we drove about half an hour back, and then half an hour again back to the beach just before dark. As we pulled up, we realized we had foolishly left the tent back in Panama City. Disaster! Our options were to either pay for hotels or sleep in the car for the rest of the week and keep going or drive back about 4 hours to the city. We chose to drive back so we would be able to stick to our original plan of not paying for hotels and camping out on beaches. We arrived back at the apartment around 11 and promptly fell asleep.
Day 2
We again packed up the car and got an even earlier start from the city, around 7am. We drove straight through Chitré and Los Santos to Las Tablas and then Pedasí further down the peninsula. We stopped for a cake break at Dulceria Yely, the bakery where the President of Panama orders his cakes. Very good, and cheap- $0.30 for a delicious slice.
Just before Pedasí we took a turn off for Playa La Garita, which the Lonely Planet claimed was a good beach for swimming. Unfortunately we disagreed, due to all the rocks. It was still nice, but we were hot and ready for a sandy beach.
A little ways past Pedasí we found ourselves at Playa Destiladeros, which would have been a deserted beach if not for the construction workers building nearby beach houses. It was still really beautiful though, and the water was cool and refreshing.
After an hour or so there, we were ready to make our way to our final beach for the day, Playa Venao. Venao is a popular surfing beach in Panama, and often has many surfers camped out. We arrived just in time for the sunset. Unfortunately we chose a party night to camp out at Venao, and we inadvertently set up our tent too near to the bonfire to get very much sleep.
Day 3
We woke early for breakfast and a swim, and then we packed up to check out another couple of beaches before returning to Venao to camp out again. We drove through some beautiful countryside that included spotting monkeys while crossing a bridge, and then we came to Playa Cambutal. It was rocky, but with large flat rocks that formed big tide pools that were great for swimming.
We returned back to Venao to get to sleep early to prepare for what would be our longest day of driving.
Day 4
On this day we drove back up the Azuero peninsula to Santiago (on the Interamerican highway) and then down again on the other side of the Golfo de Montijo to Playa Santa Catalina, a world-famous surfing beach and the site of many competitions.
We drove back through Tonosí to Macaracas, on a pot hole-filled road surrounded by tiny communities and greenery.
In Macaracas we wanted to take a road to Ocú; unfortunately the roads out of town were not marked, and while we thought we chose correctly, after an hour we realized we were back in Chitré yet again. This added about an hour to our trip that day.Finally we made it to Ocú, where we planned to visit an artesania half an hour outside of town. It was a little out of our way, but our Lonely Planet book said that they sold many traditional Panamanian crafts, such as polleras (dresses) and masks. We drove through the little town of San José once and didn’t see anything so we drove back through again. Finally we stopped and asked someone and found that it was at the far end of town from which we had just returned. So drove back again, down a dirt road and finally saw it- an abandoned building that had clearly not been entered for at least a year or two. So after this needless detour we were back on our way to Santa Catalina again, sans souvenirs.
We drove through Santiago and then south again, through Soná and finally on to Santa Catalina. This beach is filled with little cabañas for surfers so we checked out a few before finding a guy who let us camp out for only $5 for the night, which included letting us use his facilities. He turned out to be from New Mexico and is now living in Santa Catalina, renting out cabañas and building a library for the town as there are no books (including in the schools) until you reach Soná an hour away.
All in all, we (I) drove almost 9 hours that day, unfortunately due to the many needless detours. Still, we got to see a lot of Panama that even many of Alex’s family here has not visited so it wasn’t so bad.
Day 5
We spent most of this day hanging out on the beach in Santa Catalina. In the morning we snorkeled in some large rocky tide pools where we saw a blue and orange striped starfish, a little swordfish, and some large fish hidden in the rocks. Then we body surfed in the waves and swam around.
We departed from Santa Catalina early that evening and drove 6 hours back to Panama, arriving around midnight. Overall it was a great trip, lots of driving and lots of beaches, and now there are only a few areas of Panama that we have yet to see.
posted by Heather @ 13:49
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