El Valle, San Blas and Cerro Azul

El Valle is a charming and upscale town nestled in the crater of an extinct volcano, about 75 miles west of Panama City.

Our Panama sojourn ended with four days in El Valle, three in the San Blas Islands, two in Cerro Azul, in the mountains just northeast of Panama City, and a couple nights in Panama City itself. Since it is now three months since we returned, and since Candy and I are now enroute to Alaska in our camper, I thought I’d better finish the Panama chronicle in one long post. I will do it in photos and captions. Ciao.

The Panamerican Highway isn't exactly a super highway by American standards. — The Panamerican Highway isn’t exactly a super highway by American standards.

Roadside stands along the Panamerican Highway sell everything from fruit to clothing.

We spent four delightful nights at this B&B in El Valle, run by an ex-pat couple who gave us great information about the area.

Enjoying morning coffee on the porch of our room at the Golden Frog Inn.

The downtown market in El Valle was resplendent with local produce.

El Valle also had a small zoo, full of colorful parrots, jaguars, ostriches, caimans and a climate controlled amphibian house. This frog is one of the last of its kind, the nearly extinct rana dorado or golden frog of Panama. When alarmed it changes color to a bright gold.

The local zoo was home to two jaguars along with other exotic Panamanian animals.

We visited an orchid nursery where botanists were conserving hundreds of species of native orchids, brought in from all over Panama.

We were sufficiently interested in this area that we spent an afternoon with a realtor. This is one of the houses we toured. A dealbreaker for us is that El Valle, like much of Panama, is suffering water shortages, blamed locally on manipulative politicians but likely also due to changing climate and rainfall patterns across the country.

The dry, grassy hillsides around the El Valle area were ripe for wildfire activity. Most fires were set intentionally by local farmers burning palm waste and other plant material.

Off to San Blas

After our stay in El Valle, we drove back to the chaos of Panama City, where we ditched our rent-a-car and spent a night on Ancon Hill, overlooking the city. Before dawn the following morning, we headed out for one of the high points of our trip, a visit to the San Blas Islands off the north coast of Panama. The islands are an archipelago of close to 400 islands of which only 49 are inhabited. They are inhabited and administered by the Kuna people, who came here originally from Colombia around the time of the Spanish invasion. While technically a province of Panama, the Kuna Yala region has been run by these beautiful people since the Tule Revolution of 1925. They have preserved their culture, costumes and morality in the face of intense pressure for development along the Panamanian Caribbean coast. They live a completely natural life, eating only what they catch or harvest.

We stayed at a place called the Yandup Island Lodge, a small island located just 20 minutes offshore from the Playon Chico airstrip. The entire stay was programmed. We awoke to the otherworldly sound of a conch horn summoning us to a delicious breakfast in the mess hall. Then we were spirited off to whatever the day’s activity was to be — snorkeling, boat excursions through local mangroves, trips to the nearby village — and returned in time for dinner. We slept peacefully in our cabana on stilts over the lapping waves of the shallow waters surrounding the island. The weather was pretty gray during our stay, but it relented enough for us to enjoy some world-class snorkeling and a dramatic full moon. It was like a dream.

Shortly after takeoff from Panama City's domestic airport, Candy captured this otherworldly view of Panama City from our puddle jumper. — Shortly after takeoff from Panama City’s domestic airport, Candy captured this otherworldly view of Panama City from our puddle jumper.

We flew to the San Blas Islands before dawn and got to watch a hazy sunrise over the northern Panamanian coast.

Locally built sailing craft like this were the natives' standatrd mode of transportation in this archipelago. — Locally built sailing craft like this were the natives’ standatrd mode of transportation in this archipelago.

Playon Chico airport is one of the main points of entry to the San Blas region. It is a short boat ride from here to our island lodge where we spent three wonderful days.

Air Panama flight to San Blas. — Our trusty Air Panama flight took us from Panama City to Playon Chico in the San Blas Islands in about an hour.

The boat ride to the Lodge took us past the densely populated town on an island connected to the mainland by a footbridge. The town consisted of thatche-roofed houses and this Spanish mission, a vestige of the colonial era.

Our cabana was on stilts over the shallow water.

Uagi is the native word for dolphin. Each cabana was designated by a different animal.

The inside of our cabana was really quite spacious, with a queen size bed, a twin bed, and a full bathroom.

The women on the kitchen staff at the Yandup Lodge sewed the traditional molas in their spare time. The molas are usually made in pairs, to be sewn together to form the bodice of the women's outfit. — The women on the kitchen staff at the Yandup Lodge sewed the traditional molas in their spare time. The molas are usually made in pairs, to be sewn together to form the bodice of the women’s outfit.

We were fortunate to be at the Yandup Lodge on the night of the full moon. The trees are blurry because of the brisk island breezes.

One of our guides and his family. The kids were heading to school. Mom looks less than amused, but we cheered her up with the customary tip for photos.

Domi, the head guide att the Yandup Lodge, and his wife in front of their home on the main island. We purchased several exquisite molas from Domi's wife. — Domi, the head guide att the Yandup Lodge, and his wife in front of their home on the main island. We purchased several exquisite molas from Domi’s wife.

Our guide grabbed a couple of the awesome starfish that inhabit the shallow waters near the mangroves. These, along with sea cucumbers, were in abundance here.

Cerro Azul

Our final stop in Panama was in an area called Cerro Azul, just 45 minutes northeast of the international airport, at the east end of Panama City. We had heard that this was one area that would-be expats were considering, so we rented another car and booked ourselves into a B&B called the Ginger House, located at the end of a road in what is actually an enormous development, promulgated over the past forty years by one off the wealthiest families in Panama, who own retail stores and chicken farms among other things. The development is gated and comprises several adjacent mountains and valleys, all carved into building lots.

Cerro Azul is a curious and almost sad anomaly in a country that is probably the most dynamic in Latin America. Begun in the 60s (?) with a nod to Swiss architecture and hopes of being a popular vacation retreat, the earliest homes built there are storybook-like A-frames, quaint at the time but now tired and depressing. More recently built homes range from modest to palatial, but the overall tone of the development is that of a ghost town — nobody out and about, nobody at the community pool, only glum landscapers taking care of lonely properties. Every other place was for sale and nobody was buying. It was really pretty depressing, certainly not anywhere we’d ever consider living.

The Ginger House was definitely the high point of Cerro Azul. Our hostess, a charming soul named Picasso, was a world-class cook and housekeeper, and the meals she prepared for us were a close tie with the meals we enjoyed at the Fortuna Reserva earlier in our journey. The birds in her back yard were the most colorful and vibrant ones we saw in our entire trip.

Picasso had the two biggest housecats we had ever seen.

Picasso, the proprietress of the Ginger House in Cerro Azul, is an amazing chef and took very good care of us during our stay.

Picasso's breakfasts were unbelievable taste extravaganzas. — Picasso’s breakfasts were unbelievable taste extravaganzas.

One of the many birds that frequented Picasso's terrace. — One of the many birds that frequented Picasso’s terrace.

A sample of Picasso's exquisite cooking artistry. — A sample of Picasso’s exquisite cooking artistry.

I've never seen bluer birds anywhere. They were in abundance on Picasso's terrace. — I’ve never seen bluer birds anywhere. They were in abundance on Picasso’s terrace.

As our trip wound down to its final hours, we drank a toast to a beautiful country and a wonderful vacation. I have the feeling we’ll be spending a lot more time here in the future.