Panama’s Pacific Coast; Onward to Boquete – Playa Corona

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.  Often times the posted speed limit isn’t.  Or it is posted in a spot that isn’t very visible.  Rezuma Velocidad, once past the slow zone, can be posted…or not.  ‘Rezuma’ isn’t in the Spanish/English Google translator, so it must be a word reserved for highway signage.  The meaning is clear.

The bridge over the Panama Canal

In a prior year’s visit we had toured the gringo area of Playa Corona with its high rise condos, private country club and golf course and restaurants.  To us it smacked of Miami Beach, or any wealthy beach enclave, replete with entitled attitudes and judgement of character by how expensive your possessions are.  Not our thing.  Our idea for moving to another country was not to isolate ourselves in a gated community or dress to impress but to live in and contribute to as part of the local community.  That would include socializing with gringos of like mind.

The co-pilots

We arrived at our AirBnB in Playa Corona as planned.  Irene greeted us at the gate and waved us in.  The dogs were very ready to get out of the car and set off exploring the grounds for the best relief site while we exchanged greetings with our hostess.  Tasha went where gravity beckoned…straight down slope until a shallow drainage ditch stopped her in her tracks.  Bryant went to rescue her and all was OK. 

Irene’s place is a very charming fenced compound with her primary residence at the lower part of the property.  Uphill is a casita that houses two guest quarters.  To one side is a chicken coup where the ‘girls’ are housed.  A very friendly dog kept ‘watch’ over the grounds.

The patio of our casita

The backside of the casita with approach path

Garden 'relief' area adjacent to our patio

 

Irene's place

We were the only guests at that moment and our side of the casita was very comfortable with a small kitchen, queen size bed, ample bathroom and large outdoor terrazzo for dining, drinking and relaxing.  Air conditioning was provided but hot water was not. Tepid at best and common for Panama lodging. Just across the terrazzo a flat landscaped area with a BBQ and seating beckoned.  The dogs picked that area for regular relief.

Irene, a New York transplant of Italian and Cuban descent in her mid 50’s, has been in Panama for about 14 years.  Her husband was back in the states to earn a living and pay off a big debt.  He was a chef and restaurant owner that had run a somewhat successful eatery in the town of Playa Corona.  The private country club asked him to take over the private restaurant which he did by purchase. His efforts to increase business by opening the eatery to the general public was thwarted and the endeavor went under leaving him with huge debt on both restaurants.  Irene figured that this was his monkey and she chose to remain in Panama on their property.

Playa Corona, the actual beach, was a 20 minute walk from the property and we hoped the climate would be somewhat cooler than what we were experiencing at the casita. 90 something degrees and very high humidity.  Our plan was to walk to the beach in the coolness of the morning, a Saturday.

Eggs are not refrigerated here,

are brown and date stamped

The setting sun provided a relief from the heat and a benefit from the breeze.  The night shift was beginning; bats flying about for their evening meal of insects, geckos calling, and the girl’s gentle clucking and scratching.  Irene had explained that having chickens roam the property greatly reduced the tick and scorpion population of which we saw neither.  And we enjoyed the fresh eggs from the girls as a result.  (I tried to NOT think about how ticks and scorpions were converted to eggs we consumed!)

The following day started early as usual. We greeted one another with what was to become our daily mantra “we’re here!”  The dogs are typically ready to get outside just before sunrise and, we learned, about the time roosters start crowing in earnest.  The roosters here crow at all hours for no reasons we can ascertain.  However, we noticed that crowing grows concentrated and vociferous just as darkness begins to recede.  We prepared our breakfast, taking our time to enjoy the surroundings and planned our hike to the beach.  It was going to be too hot and too far to take the dogs with us so we decided to leave them in the air-conditioned room as we had done in Panama City.

The walk along the road downslope to the beach was much hotter and more uncomfortable than anticipated likely because it was already 11A.  Irene had mentioned she often did the walk early in the morning and as a slow walker got to the beach in under 20 minutes.  Our clip was brisk and we found ourselves moving swiftly from one shade puddle to another.  A shade puddle being shade provided by the trees along the side of the road and there were not many.  Late model cars shared the road with old trucks modified to carry animal feed or vegetables to the local Mercado.

We arrived at the beach to discover that it was too hot to remain in the sun and palapas were available on the sand for that reason.  As soon as we settled under one we were approached for the fee.  $7 for the day.  Irene mentioned that the fees were only collected on weekends.

Palapa at the beach

Just a few families and young adults were out enjoying the surf in the heat.  This would take some adjustment time for us, if at all. We did not plan on staying for the day so vacated the palapa for a walk along the shore, wetting our feet in the warm water, before once again hopping shade puddles on the walk back to the casita.

We did notice here, as we were seeing elsewhere in Panama, that trash was being gathered and burned taken care of by the man collecting the palapa fee.

Beach to ourselves, practically!

 Three nights in Playa Corona provided the rest we needed for the next leg of the trip to Playa Morillo, a remote area in Veraguas corregimiento on the Las Tablas peninsula and to our next AirBnB.

Time to relax!