Mountains and sea - Boquete and the Azuero Peninsula

I left Bocas del Toro on February 12th and headed to Boquete. A nice drive through the mountains and tropical rainforests of Bocas del Toro Province to the Chiriqi Highlands and cooler weather. Boquete is a town in western Panama that has gained some fame after AARP listed it as one of the most desirable places to retire overseas. Thus, there are a number of ex-pats living there, but also lots of nice restaurants and shops. And good coffee. This is the coffee-growing area of Panama. I stayed up the road a bit at the side of a road next to a waterfalls (one other overlanding couple from Belgium there but they seemed to stay in their van). The best part of Boquete (besides good local beer) was hiking in the cloud forests in and near Baru Volcano National Park. Unfortunately, the Sendero de los Quetzales was closed. I did a nice hike to a waterfalls where I was able to take a refreshing (and much needed) shower. There were some huge Mexican elms (Ulmus mexicana) in the forest, as well as howler monkeys and lots of birds. A nice visit to Boquete, but after a couple days I decided to head on towards Panama City to meet with the folks at Overland Embassy before the weekend.

On the way, however, I decided to deviate a little bit and head to the Pacific side of Panama. I read good things about the Azuero Pennisula, so headed there. The Pacific side is much drier, particularly the Azuero Pennisula. Mostly tropical dry forests. A lot of the pennisula has been deforested and turned into cattle country. To me, it looked much like the foothills of the Central Valley in California (the cattle parts, not the oak woodlands). I kept driving until I came to a nice resort town called Playa Venao. It was a nice town with a beautiful beach and great surfing. There were many people, mostly younger adults, enjoying the sun and surf. Many of the hotels, cabins and hostels are owned by Selina, an Israeli-founded hospitality company I hadn't heard of. They have many resorts around the world that cater mostly to younger tourists. Playa Venao was their first. The coffee shop owner told me that most of the property there is owned by Israelis. I camped at a beautiful spot on the beach just outside of town.

Playa Venao is nice, but I found my paradise further down the road. As you drive west, there are fewer and fewer people and a beautiful coastline. This is mostly cowboy country, along with a few surfers. But also more and more undeveloped, presumably protected, land. I drove to the end of the road to a beautiful cove called Corto Circuito. I would have stayed here and camped, but I wanted to get to Overland Embassy the next day, so I drove back to my camp spot in Playa Venao, and headed to Panama City the next day.