Panama Day 6: Playa Venao and the Southern Azuero Peninsula

When I logged in today and read through the comments left on the blog, one of them was an anonymous nasty-gram asking me why I hadn’t finished writing about the rest of my trip (I think it might have been my sister, but she denies it). Again, my apologies. I realize this is taking a long time but I have had other demands on my time. I will try to get it all done by the end of the year partly because there are a handful of people, like yourself, who want to get to the end, but mainly so I don’t start forgetting things.

Anyway, I had planned on using my sixth day in Panama to drive to the towns surrounding Pedasi and make it to the far south end of the Azuero Peninsula. As I drove along I noticed many farmers had put out their milk cans alongside the road to be picked up. I don’t know if the milk was being picked up by a commercial processor or a co-op, but there they were sitting by the highway. Later in the day I saw a man on a horseback riding away from the road side with a milk can on each side. As luck would have it, this was one of the few times during the day when there was a car behind me so I couldn’t stop to get a picture.

The southern end of Playa Venao

I went through many small towns along the way that weren’t on any of my maps. For example, I discovered the village of San Francisco when I took a left-hand turn down a road just to see where it might lead. I ended up at a beach whose name I do not know, but this was the first time I had seen mangroves right on the beach. As I drove back up to the highway I realized that I had lost track of the number of turns I had made and wasn’t absolutely sure that I was back on the main highway. Oops. Well, I figured, if all else failed I could just head northeast and eventually make it back to Pedasi by following the highways along the coast.

I continued down the road and in the hopes it would lead me to the section of road that goes from Playa Venado to Canas. I guessed correctly because I saw a sign or two for Playa Venao and knew I was on the right track. Even in the far south of the peninsula there was road work going on. I had read in one of the English language newspapers that the country loses a significant amount of agricultural product each year due to the inability to get crops to market in a timely fashion, hence the tremendous amount of money being spent on better roads throughout the country. It didn’t hurt Pedasi that former Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso Rodriguez de Arias, the nation’s first female president, grew up there. Somehow a major road-building project was magically scheduled for the eastern coast of the peninsula -- imagine that!

From San Francisco on, it felt like I was on a slalom course instead of a highway as I swerved around pothole after pothole. I wasn’t always successful in avoiding the divots in the road and I know that Thrifty had to do a major realignment on my vehicle after I returned it. I continued to notice se vende signs all along the road, some of them noting that the land is “permitted” or the number of meters of beach frontage. I recall Ted telling me that there are no private beaches in Panama… there may not be a convenient way to get to them, but the actual beach is public property.

I saw a sign for La Playita Resort and followed the deeply rutted road down into a low valley, across a shallow stream and finally came to the resort. I did not drive into the resort but I can confirm that it is set in a beautiful forest on the hillside overlooking Playa Venado. It is a very peaceful spot and a great location – close enough to civilization to make a quick trip into town, yet just remote enough to provide the peaceful solitude one might want for a real get-away-from-it-all vacation. I never did get to the beach, but the setting was gorgeous. Another hotel in the area is El Sitio Hotel that has a surf report on their website.

Just down the road was Playa Venao, host to the Third Annual Central American Surf Championship, a major surfing beach that is positively breathtaking. There is a nice hotel being built right on the beach to accompany the bar and restaurant that are already open for business, and at least one other bar/restaurant on the east end of the beach. There is also a small convenience-style store and quite a few high-end homes being built. There were a few surfers out on the water but I was told by the bartender (yes, I had a couple of Balboas) that the surf had been down the last couple of days.

I took a walk down the beach and just tried to absorb it all… the nearly hypnotic sound of the ocean, the mist created by the crashing waves and the gulls overhead. If someone had offered to sell me a house on the beach at a price I could afford I would have bought it on the spot. Every time I visit a beach my resolve grows stronger that I have to retire on the water. I sat for quite some time on the open-deck veranda of the bar and just enjoyed watching the waves and the surfers. I’ll definitely be back. My nephew loves to surf; maybe we can come back together some day.

With some difficulty, I tore myself away from the beach to continue my trek. I laughed really hard when, between Playa Venao and Canas I came across a teenager on his horse ambling down the side of the road texting on his cell phone as he went – what a land of contrasts. This is a very agricultural area with lots of cattle and corn (for silage, I presume) and I loved it… the cattle reminded me of growing up in Montana. There were even some areas of open range, which surprised me. I haven’t seen open range since driving through the Blackfoot reservation in Montana. Working the land and raising cattle is hard work but I’m sure it is also very gratifying. Ag communities have a strong sense of place and even stronger family values. The idea of moving to a small town in an agricultural area is very appealing.

I think some of these farmers are actually better off than their homes would suggest. I saw many brand new, state-of-the-art tractors and combines. While it’s possible that these were custom crews, I doubt it. This isn’t like North America where the custom combine outfits start in Alberta in August and make their way south to Texas; there just isn’t enough land or crops to support such massive operations.

As I continued towards Tonosi I came across a couple of guys hand mixing concrete on the road… not off to the side, right on the road. I guess there must not be too much traffic to bother them. This wasn’t the only time I saw this practice of using the road as a concrete mixer. I made it as far as Tonosi before turning around to return to Pedasi. It was raining steadily when I got to Tonosi but from what I could tell this is a major town in the area. There are a lot of stores and shops, a large-animal veterinary near the center of town that had a drive through so you could unload your animal under cover, several groceries and at least two banks.

I arrived back in Pedasi just as the sun was going down. After downloading my pictures and taking a shower, I planned on going to Smiley’s for dinner but saw a sign pointing towards the Chili Reef restaurant and decided to check it out. This place was closed the night before but was obviously open that night because it was all lit up and there were was another couple at an outdoor table enjoying dinner. After a while several other groups of people showed up including a group of five that I had seen in town the last couple of days that I think was staying at one of the hostels.

While waiting for my meal to be delivered (a pair of fish burritos that were excellent), I struck up a conversation with the couple at the next table. It turned out that Devin, a former music teacher from Pullman, Washington now lives in Limon, about three or four miles south of Pedasi. Devin  has a partner from the Big Fork area of Montana (it's a small world) and together they bought some acreage along the coast that they are slowly selling off. In the meantime he met a Panamanian woman while surfing and slyly suggested that she teach him more Spanish. Today she is his wife and they have a small four-room hotel and cafe in Limon.

Devin also has a house for sale that he bought on the beach outside of Las Tablas and offered to show it to me. The house was originally intended to be for him, but as his business developed in Limon he decided to sell it instead. We agreed to meet the next morning after he finished giving a violin lesson and I would follow him to the house. This was a good plan since I was heading back towards Panama City the next day anyway.

My next installment will be about the house on Playa el Ulverito and my “discovery” of Punta Chame.