Journey to Panama & Beyond

Arrival in Boquete! Five weeks in Boquete and it feels as if it zipped by in a day!    Several topics mentioned below will be reposted with greater detail.   For purpose of getting caught up, a summary of our observations and adventures…. We drove into Boquete just before sunset taking in the beauty of the lush surroundings and the colors of the setting sun.   Much had changed since our last visit over one year before and much had not.   New construction could be seen in and around the central village and some construction started long ago remained untouched.   The roads were torn up to accommodate the water and sewer upgrades that I had read about in the expat blogs month back.   Detours and gravel road were expected. We thought we knew this house and where it was located from our previous visits.   WRONG!   After a 4.5 hour drive, we were exhausted.   The dogs were waking up from their long snooze and were an...

Once we left the Carretera Interamericana to start the drive south on the west side of the Azuero Peninsula, the road quality became …. scary.   Big potholes large enough to consume an entire tire and bend rims were scattered about.   Shade puddles became the enemy efficiently hiding the potholes from view.   I reduced our speed to about 35 miles an hour so I could successfully slalom around the potholes I could see and be slow enough to not destroy a rim on the ones that I couldn’t.   The views from the road along the coast were magnificent! Beautiful coastline, blue sky and green water.   Tropical vegetation, rolling grassy hills in the foreground and jagged peaks in the distance.   I looked as much as I could but needed diligence for the potholes, caballeros and carts that traveled along side the road.   Small villages, commercial districts and escuelas (schools) dotted the area.   Bryant took the pictures and provided a narrative o...

Packed and ready to roll! Playa Corona is about 1.5 hours drive west of Panama City along the Pan-American highway called Carretera Interamericana . It is popular with gringo retirees due to the proximity to the city. The road from Panama City past Playa Corona to Santiago was built many years ago but is in decent repair.   It is truly a highway, not a freeway as we know it, because every few miles there is a Reduzco Velocidad sign (reduce speed) as you pass through a small town or commercial district.   It reminds me more of the old California Highway 99 vs the 5 or 405. If all of the Reduzco Velocidad zones didn’t exist and the top speed limit was 70 vs 52 mph one could drive from Panama City to Boquete in under 4.5 hours…   295 miles.   BUT, and it is a BIG but, the highway isn’t engineered to support those speeds and you will incur a ticket or jail time if you are caught speeding over the posted limit which is typically 80 kmh or about 52 mph. ...