OUR FIRST ROAD TRIP…HIGHLANDS, HERE WE COME!!!

Update… We bought a car! We intended to eventually, and after walking, taking taxis and busses for eight months, we were ready. We are glad we waited. It gave us a different perspective and a greater appreciation for the places we explore here in Panama. So now that we have a car, of course, it is time for a road trip!

The weather in Panama is changing from the dry season to the wet season. The Azuero Peninsula, also known as the Dry Arc of Panama, will eventually cool a bit towards the end of the wet season, but currently, it is hot! It has been averaging 91° to 95° and with the humidity it feels more like 100° to 105°. To be honest, it’s doable after your body adjusts to it, but Vic and I are ready to experience other parts of Panama. So our first road trip took us to the Province of Chiriqui—specifically Boquete, Volcan, and Cerro Punta to look for a potential rental with cooler spring-like temperatures.

This past Tuesday morning, we (Vic, me, our dog Henry, and our cat Milo) picked up our friend Suzy and left for Boquete. It took us about 5 hours to get there, including stopping for lunch. The roads were surprisingly smooth and the car road nicely. The views changed as soon as we got past Santiago and exited the Dry Arc. It became more green and lush as we traveled. We passed so many streams and rivers too. Getting into the higher elevations revealed ever deeper shades of green and vibrant flower colors. We eventually were able to open the windows and enjoy the cooler mountain air. It was so fresh and clean.  

After settling into our rental we decided to drive through the main street of Boquete. It was crowded with so many cars on a little two-lane road and plenty of people everywhere on this Tuesday afternoon. Lots of restaurants and shops lined both sides of the street. It felt like a bustling tourist town. We drove by the beautiful flower park and said to each other we would want to go back there to walk along the river sometime.

We stopped in a grocery store to get some things for our stay and ran into Jackie Lange in the produce section. She is the founder of Panama Relocation Tours, with whom we purchased an online guide to help us prepare and move to Panama. She recognized us from Facebook and our messages. We talked for a few minutes and it was so great to be able to meet her and thank her in person.

A simple drive through this town and feeling the overall vibe helped us easily confirm that Boquete was not what we were looking for… we decided to leave early the next morning to explore Volcan.

After a good night’s rest and a leisurely two-hour drive, we were ready to find a place to get coffee, breakfast, and wifi to look for a pet-friendly hotel. We found Antaño Coffee Restaurant with outdoor seating that fits the bill. While looking up hotels, Suzy asked our server if he had any recommendations for a pet-friendly hotel. He suggested the one we had been looking at online, Hotel Casa Grande Bambito . It was on the way up to Cerro Punta and was located next to the river with beautiful views. While we were sitting there, we noticed it had begun to rain. It was lovely. It stopped just as we were ready to head out. It was the perfect coffee and breakfast stop. 

After we got settled in, Suzy wanted to check out some apartments at the nursery in the Volcan video we had watched on YouTube. She had been communicating with the owner. There were no rentals available, but we all wanted to see the property and ask some questions. He did tell us of a friend who has rentals on the road up to Cerro Punta. From there, we drove through the neighborhoods of Volcan, looking for rental signs. We only found two. We also stopped at a realtor’s office, but they did not have any rental listings. We had heard that rentals are hard to come by in Volcan, but as Jackie Lange says in her guide, “it takes boots on the ground and asking everyone you meet.”

We planned to have an early dinner at the Mexican restaurant from the Volcan video and head back to our room to make more inquiries. 

We walked into Burricos Mexican Grill (Facebook, Instagram), and the owner, Jaime Guerra, greeted us and asked where we had heard about his restaurant. We told him about the Panama Relocation Tours YouTube video about Volcan and he said he has had so many people come to his place from viewing the video. As we continued to talk with him, we asked him if he knew of any rentals, and he immediately went to work for us. He made some inquiries and found a two-bedroom and one-bathroom that would be available May 1st, just two blocks from the main road. He showed us where it was and arranged for us to see inside the next morning. Long story short… we are taking it and moving to Volcan!

The next morning, we had a nice breakfast at the Hotel Casa Grande Bambito. After checking out we decided to take the short drive up to Cerro Punta. It is a much smaller farming town, but WOW the views are worth it! This is going on our short list of where we want to live next. We then went to see the inside of our next rental in Volcan and it matched the photos we had been sent. We gave a verbal agreement and will wait to receive a lease agreement. On our way out of town, we stopped at our coffee place from the day before for a quick celebratory coffee, and we shared a yummy piece of pistachio cheesecake. We highly recommend getting a slice when you get the chance to stop there.

It was a long trip home, with increasing temperatures as we went. We stopped at a roadside stand to buy a huge bag of veggies for $10. It must have weighed 10 lbs and was filled with freshly harvested lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and carrots. The area is famous for selling these inexpensive and freshly picked bags of veggies.

Our last stop on this road trip was for a friend of Suzy’s who had just opened a hot dog stand named Caseros in Parita (a suburb of Chitre), where she lives, and we each bought a hot dog to take home for dinner. They had built their roadside stand from local bamboo and had neon lights to attract drivers going by. This was not a plain old hot dog either. It was more of an artisanal modern version for only $2.00 each. It was fun to watch it being assembled and it tasted great! They have been open for a week and are doing better than they had hoped. They are on Highway #2 on the right-hand side, coming into Parita from the north side. It’s worth the stop!

We got home just before the sun went down, and while it had cooled off from the earlier high of 93° with the feels-like temperature of over 100° in Chitre, we already missed the cool mountain air of Volcan. We won’t have to wait long to return and explore all that Volcan and the surrounding area has to offer!