Azuero Peninsula
Jutting out prominently on Panama's southern coast is the Azuero Peninsula. This off the beaten track rural area is cherished by Panamanians as the cradle of their Spanish heritage and folkloric traditions.
Covering the provinces of Herrera, Los Santos and Veraguas, its natural attractions include beautiful beaches, soft rolling hills and in Veraguas towering coastal mountains. Sportfishing, surfing, diving and snorkeling are simply world class.
Azuero is most famous for its rich historical culture, including lively festivals and traditional religious celebrations dating back to Spanish colonial times. Many of the small towns were founded in colonial times and have their own 17th-18th century churches.
Azuero is also home to Panama's best Carnaval celebration. A colorful, wild yet friendly event in Las Tablas. Nearly all the exquisite hand embroidered “pollera” dresses Panamananian women done for festivals and parties are made by local artisans in Azuero as well as most “Panama Hats” .
Azuero is also the site of Panama's richest archeological excavations with remains dating back 11,000 years, the earliest found in Central America.
Modern life has very much arrived in the two principal cities, Chitre and Los Santos both connected to the Panamerican highway, by the excellent National Highway (Carretera Nacional). Here the modern and the traditional worlds comfortably mix. You'll see cowboys on horseback and businessman in SUVs talking intensely on cell phones.
Chitre is the place to stay or shop if you want modern comforts, conveniences like large grocery stores, movie theaters and 3 star hotels.
Old country lifestyle in the Azuero countryside is largely unchanged since the turn of the century. Visitors enjoy the way life slows down as if one were traveling back in time. People are friendly and prices are cheap.
Azuero Peninsula is one of the last parts of Panama being “discovered” by tourists and investors but it is being discovered big time. A small roster of celebrities including Hollywood movie stars and America's rich and famous who are buying large tracts of land as nature preserves, for exclusive getaways and investment. It already has one upscale residential resort community, Azueros and such projects are being planned.
How To Get There
You can fly to Chitre and Pedasi with Air Panama about a 40 minute flight. Since December 1st Air Panama offers flights on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, round-trip for $126. By car, the roads are excellent. Take the Panamerican highway, turn off at Divisa and head down the Peninsula on the excellent National Highway.
It’s 4 hours to Chitre and another hour and a half to Pedasi for example. If you fly, you can also rent a car in Chitre from Hertz. You can also take a bus from Panama City’s Albrook Bus Station Terminal- The fare is $7.
Once you get there, you can get around by taxi (taxis run around $1-2 in the cities) and by bus, since the National Highway runs through or close to most attractions. Longer rides can be amicably negotiated with a taxi driver.
Where To Stay
Hotel Versalles in Chitre: Attractive 3 Star Hotel and an Excellent Value.
La Playita: Lovely cabins, a gorgeous beach and within walking distance of top surfing beach, Venao.
What To Do
Isla Iguana Diving, Snorkeling and Birding
This island is a veritable natural wonderland- a national wildlife refuge right off the coast near Pedasi, it has the best snorkeling in Panama and excellent diving. It lies in the biggest and oldest coral reef in the Gulf of Panama, 35 acres of coral reefs with 13 eastern coral species and an amazing 200 fish species.
Humpback whales can be seen around the island from June to November. Isla Iguana also has giant iguanas scurrying, of course and it’s the yearly nesting site of the 4-foot Carey sea turtle.
Birders will enjoy the fact that they don’t have to go all the way to the Galapagos to see the largest colony in the region of magnificent frigate birds, with their puffed red chests.
To go vist the Island, you need to go with a tour operator or rent a boat which will drop you off and pick you up. Inquire at Pedasi’s Dive Shop or the IPAT center (National Tourism Office).
World Class Surfing and Sports Fishing
World Class surfing at Venao Beach in Los Santos and at Catalina Beach in Veraguas.
World Class sports fishing off the Veraguas Coast near Coiba Island and at Pedasi in Los Santos.
Coiba Island Nature Tours
The most nature rich and pristine national marine park in the Americas. If you are a nature lover, Coiba Island is not to be missed. For tours: Ancon Expeditions.
Isla de Canas Sea Turtle Observation
Thousands of sea turtles can be viewed both nesting and hatching. Ask a Panamainfo tour operator about special seasonal packages.
Las Tablas Carnaval Celebrations
This is the big one. The celebrations are wild yet friendly, colorful, and fun night and day. It’s impossible to get hotel reservations anything less than a year in advance. But you can go for a day trip, stay in a nearby city or if you are lucky stay in the home of some Panamanian friends.
Festivals
- Patron Saint Sebastian of Ocú Festivities: Ocú (January)
- Carnavals: Las Tablas and Los Santos (February)
- Manito Festival: Ocú (August)
- Holy Week: Entire Region (April)
- International Azuero Fair: Los Santos Villa (April and May)
- Corpus Christi: Los Santos Villa (June)
- Patron Saint John the Baptist: Chitré (June)
- La Pollera and Patron Saint Librada Festival: Las Tablas (July)
Museums and Cathedrals
In Chitre, the small anthropology and natural history museum called Museo de Herrera is the best in the region and worth a visit. It has pre-Colombian artifacts and pottery dating back to 5,000 B.C. and an exhibit of local folkloric costumes.
In Chitre’s town square is Iglesia San Juan Bautista with magnificent stained-glass windows and teak ceilings flanked by walls lined with statues of saints.
Another Colonial Art museum six miles northwest of Chitre, right off the Carretera Nacional in the town of Parita with artifacts from the 17th to 18th centuries including a statue of the Madonna. Another attraction is a 18th. century church, Iglesia de Santo Domingo de Guzman,unique for a bell-tower which hangs directly over the front door.
Handicrafts Shopping
La Arena: Just four miles from Chitre. La Arena is famous for these clay pottery and handicrafts which are displayed everywhere in small shops and in front of peoples homes. They have been crafted the same way for centuries. La Arena produces the famous colorful paper mache carnival masks ( tourists snap these up) , handcrafted leather and wood furniture.
Parita: This is carnival mask headquarters as hometown of Panama’s most famous mask-maker- Darido Lopez. Visit him and his world-famous folkloric festival masks at his house right on the Carretera Nacional-you’ll see the sign out in front.
Ocu: Named for its Panama hats, which are unique in design and made only by the women. Housewives create and sell beautiful polleras each with their own unique embroidery stitch and exquisite laces and embroidered clothes.