Azuero Peninsula
So after leaving Panama City, I attempted to make it to playa Venao in one day but I got stuck in a small town called Las Tablas (which you only stay in if you get stuck there cause there is nothing to do) before heading to Venao the following morning. I set up camp and introduced myself to the people who were camping there. One woman, Catherine, had been there for 3 months. And an Italian couple, Flavio and Elisa, had been there for a month. The next day I went back up the way I had come to los Santos because an international fair had started and i wanted to geta hammock, food supplies and a machete. The fair was typical but I did get a very beautiful large hand woven hammock for $12 and a huge machete for $3 that I had toi get sharpened. After leaving the "Ferria de Azuero" I got stuck in Pedasi (the next town after Last Tablas towards Venao) where I stayed wih some fellow travels who came with me to venao the following day.
After I got back from Pedasi, I bought a surfboard for $70 and got to attempt to surf for the following week. Playa Venao has a little restaraunt with cheap food, but it is all fried like everywhere in Panama and central america, (except the rice and beans). I managed a few days where I spet no money at all because I cooked my own food and cooked with my neighboring campers. Over the course of the following week, I got to know Flavio and Elisa very well and they invited me to stay with them in Italy or southern Italian speaking Switzerland (where Elisa is from) depending on where they happen to be. I had a great time with them and I am certain that we will meet up again down the road. Playa Venao was gorgeous and if I wasnt surfing, chopping open coconuts for everyone, carving into gord-like fruit, playing dominoes, chatting or eating, I was sitting in my hamaca (hammock) just stairing, at the sea. It is quite an amazng tranquillo place and it is very easy to see how people can spend months there. But I obviously didnt spend months there.
Flavio, Elisa, Miguel (a local friend of ours)and I decided it was time to go and we left and headed further down the peninsula to a beach a few hours away called Playa Guanico where we spent a few days. When we got there we wanted to go to a "hotspring" we had been told about so we paid a man 10 bucks to take s. He took us to his grandmas and picked up his grandma who carried with her a random tupperwear container and worse a womans suit and he also picked up some other guy witha set of keys. We then went on a crazy ride through cow fields, over a river and through many gates that the gu with the keys opened. We then appoached the base of some barren hills (most everything is barren since this is the most deforested area in Pnama). We got out of the truck and walked for about 10 meters and stared down at this little trickle of water that came out from under a tree and went into a muddy area full of cow hoof prints and surely cow dung. We were then handed the random tupper-wear container and told to get down by the hole. So we undressed down to our swim trunks and oured the water that we scouped out over ourselves and ech other and actually had a great time and got lots of pictures and we walked away feeling more refreshed than any of us had in a long time. It was actually one of the best hotspring experiences I have ever had. I namd the hotsprings "Caca De Baca Hotsprings" which means cow poop hotsprings. Afterwards we rinsed off in a warm river berfore heading back.
This beach had far less tourists and the restaraunt was much nicer. The restaraunt however did not have a consistant menu by any means, but the prices were cheaper and the rice and beans were better than at Venao. Playa Guanico has a very strange surf, with large waves that usually break very close to the beach, but parts of the day have some good large waves that are easily enjoyably surfable. The ocean water was quite interesting because it varied in colors everywhere from blue to green to purple to brown to stereotypical tropical colors. And the sunsets ans sunrises were amazing as well. Every night I have sleptin my hamaca, I have woken up with the sunrise. I think that that is they way that a person should be woken up. We just set up our hamacas in the restaraunt for free and were even given hot showers at no charge. They people at Guanico are extremely friendly and kind and make you feel at home instantly. Playa Guanico was a great place to Visit but we soon wanted to leave out of shear boredom and left for David which took us 11 hours due to lying bus drivers. Many people will tell you ust about anything here to get your business, it really sucks.
I am now staying the night in David and heading to Costa Rica after having a last lunch with Flavio and Elisa. I should be meeting Becca i nthe next few days.
After I got back from Pedasi, I bought a surfboard for $70 and got to attempt to surf for the following week. Playa Venao has a little restaraunt with cheap food, but it is all fried like everywhere in Panama and central america, (except the rice and beans). I managed a few days where I spet no money at all because I cooked my own food and cooked with my neighboring campers. Over the course of the following week, I got to know Flavio and Elisa very well and they invited me to stay with them in Italy or southern Italian speaking Switzerland (where Elisa is from) depending on where they happen to be. I had a great time with them and I am certain that we will meet up again down the road. Playa Venao was gorgeous and if I wasnt surfing, chopping open coconuts for everyone, carving into gord-like fruit, playing dominoes, chatting or eating, I was sitting in my hamaca (hammock) just stairing, at the sea. It is quite an amazng tranquillo place and it is very easy to see how people can spend months there. But I obviously didnt spend months there.
Flavio, Elisa, Miguel (a local friend of ours)and I decided it was time to go and we left and headed further down the peninsula to a beach a few hours away called Playa Guanico where we spent a few days. When we got there we wanted to go to a "hotspring" we had been told about so we paid a man 10 bucks to take s. He took us to his grandmas and picked up his grandma who carried with her a random tupperwear container and worse a womans suit and he also picked up some other guy witha set of keys. We then went on a crazy ride through cow fields, over a river and through many gates that the gu with the keys opened. We then appoached the base of some barren hills (most everything is barren since this is the most deforested area in Pnama). We got out of the truck and walked for about 10 meters and stared down at this little trickle of water that came out from under a tree and went into a muddy area full of cow hoof prints and surely cow dung. We were then handed the random tupper-wear container and told to get down by the hole. So we undressed down to our swim trunks and oured the water that we scouped out over ourselves and ech other and actually had a great time and got lots of pictures and we walked away feeling more refreshed than any of us had in a long time. It was actually one of the best hotspring experiences I have ever had. I namd the hotsprings "Caca De Baca Hotsprings" which means cow poop hotsprings. Afterwards we rinsed off in a warm river berfore heading back.
This beach had far less tourists and the restaraunt was much nicer. The restaraunt however did not have a consistant menu by any means, but the prices were cheaper and the rice and beans were better than at Venao. Playa Guanico has a very strange surf, with large waves that usually break very close to the beach, but parts of the day have some good large waves that are easily enjoyably surfable. The ocean water was quite interesting because it varied in colors everywhere from blue to green to purple to brown to stereotypical tropical colors. And the sunsets ans sunrises were amazing as well. Every night I have sleptin my hamaca, I have woken up with the sunrise. I think that that is they way that a person should be woken up. We just set up our hamacas in the restaraunt for free and were even given hot showers at no charge. They people at Guanico are extremely friendly and kind and make you feel at home instantly. Playa Guanico was a great place to Visit but we soon wanted to leave out of shear boredom and left for David which took us 11 hours due to lying bus drivers. Many people will tell you ust about anything here to get your business, it really sucks.
I am now staying the night in David and heading to Costa Rica after having a last lunch with Flavio and Elisa. I should be meeting Becca i nthe next few days.
posted by Unknown at 12:01 AM
2 Comments:
Zack, you don't have many people leaving you comments. i am not sure how this works even, but i wanted to say that everything sounds amazing. i love you so much and its awsome that you are already so far from orcas it seems. well obviously. but yes, i hope the next part of your trip goes well and i am sure that you and becca will have an awsome time. i have been hanging out with sam lately. he reminds me of becca so much. well, just remember that there are people thinking about you and excited about living vicariously through you in all your travels haha.
Lots of love,
Munchie :)
Hey Munchie,
Thanks for the post, it means alot to me. And sorry it has taken me so long to reply, my internet use has been sporadic at best the last few weeks. Its been alot of fun traveling with becca. She will be heading back to turtle saving in a couple weeks and then I will be going solo again, which is also fun. Until I get to India wheni will see Madeleine anyways. Hows everything going with you? And tell yo mum and dad i said hello.
Love you,
Zack
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