Thanks to our nine week housesit near Bucaro, Panama and the fact that it came furnished with a rough and tumble Toyota Helix, we had the opportunity to explore the Azuero Peninsula to our heart’s delight. The Azuero Peninsula is located in the center, Pacific side of the country, which is bizarrely the south of the country as the country runs east/west and not north/south as your basic world view would want you to assume. Panamanians often refer to it as the heartland of the country. Expats have started flocking to it due to its lower cost of living, beach access and some colonial flavor, particularly in the town of Pedasi. It’s also an ideal backpacker destination for surfers and yogis. Plus, it’s apparently a dynamic place for annual Carnival celebrations, which we didn’t get to participate in due to time of year and COVID.

Bucaro Bay

We spent quite a bit of time on the beach at Bucaro Bay, as it’s very close to where our housesit was. Although the water is not ideal for swimming, since there were a lot of rocks, it’s still lovely to walk along and wade in. Not to mention, you never know what you’re gonna find! For us, this included a decapitated sea crocodile which was at least 20 feet (6 meters) long. The locals call this area something like Calle de Cocodrilos, the water/pathway between the freshwater creek and the ocean where the crocodiles roam. 

We learned this one extraordinarily big one apparently got killed by the locals because it kept eating their dogs ? You can see his skull is completely shattered although his body very much intact. 

This is as close as Mandy could get for the photo. It was quite stinky. 

One of the doggies who got a pass.

There are 3-4 restaurants on the Bucaro Beach. This one was recommended to us by our housekeeper and was absolutely delicioso! Everything about this village is completely local. Not a tourist in site and we love it!

Gazing down the beach. Looks a bit like Oregon minus the palms. It’s so interesting how pretty much all beaches on the entire Pacific coast have this grey sand and mundane water hue. It made us very excited to get to the Caribbean in a few weeks. 

Two (masked) children sit on a log outside their home.

A typical beach residence tucked amongst the palm fronds. Most of the locals live in concrete cinder block houses with no screens. It makes us feel very aware, and grateful for the beautiful home we’re staying in and life we have. 

Trying to catch Jaggy some lunch (unsuccessfully because we had no idea what we’re doing). As we mentioned in other posts, getting that little guy live food to hunt was a real battle. 

Around Playa Venao

For Mandy’s birthday, we had a fun day of exploration in Cañas and Playa Venao, one of the many surfing beaches on Panama’s west coast. She thought about taking surfing lessons, but her goal ended up being to prove a 41-year old could still boogie board. She was moderately successful…haha! Above, a typical and lovely countryside Panamanian church in Cañas. 

Loved how a local was kitting out this school bus with home windows. Never actually seen this done by the vanlifers in the States! 

Where Mandy wanted to go to lunch—a fish shack called Fonda el Pescador about 10 minutes south of Venao. Despite Google’s insistence that it was open, it was closed. Quite typical of Google in Central America we’ve found.

The beach at El Ciruelo. We thought this town meant plum until realizing that word is CiruelA. Ha. Still having fun learning Spanish (two hours a day!)

Arriving to Playa Venao, we were suddenly surrounded by more gringos than we’d seen in Panama. This place was clearly tailors for the surfers… the Euro variety, evidently. Ah, yes, the we’re happy to see to Europeans are traveling in full force again! You can see the town is still quite in progress. It’s bursting with construction and trendy establishments like this cool lavenderia to wash your clothes at. 

The pasteleria, (bakery) where Mandy got her (our) birthday treat. 

Her birthday lunch spot, plan B. Believe it or not, the little spot on the beach in Panama offered some great world cuisine options, including this AMAZING chicken schwarma and hummus platter. This cost a whopping $10 which is pretty pricy for Panama, but it was splurge day so we were happy to oblige! Plus, it’s chicken schwarma…in a land where the food is not exactly to die for.

Hanging out on the beach after our lunch. 

Chocolate “pie” from the bakery. We’ll call it pie if that’s what you say it is. Quick! Just shove it in before it melts. Mmmm. 

Not the sunniest day ever, but it was kind of a godsend for us snowflaky Euro people this close to the equator.

Case in point, 50 SPF sunscreen and a cloudy day. Back at our place, it was time to celebrate with our new favorite view and some sangria. Oh yes. Birthdays schmirthdays. This girl’s just getting started ?

Playa Guanico

Arriving to another nearby surf beach, Guanico. West Panama is known for these. 

As soon as we nested a spot in the sand, a pick up truck with a massive thumping sound system parked and set up their personal party behind us. This forced us to another spot on the beach. This is where, once settled (again), a bunch of construction equipment make lots of pleasant rumbling while going to and fro. Relaxing!

Typical surf shack. 

Spotting a howler eating guava right above our heads. No zoom on this photo so you can see how close he was. A rare treat!

Pedasi

To celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary, we drove about two hours from our housesit to a haven of about 300 expats called Pedasi. This diminutive backwater hamlet with a full-time population of around 2,500 is surrounded by rolling green pastures, grazing cattle and lots of chickens. The center of the village is about a five minute drive from three unspoiled beaches on Panama’s “Tuna Coast” and has numerous restaurants, specialty shops, mercados and a much appreciated vibrant colonial and historic flair.

Above are the popping shades of green just outside of the town.

Playa Toro, or Bull Beach was one of three beaches. It has a strong rip current, but was still pleasant and swimmable. 

Was the first real sense of colonial personality we’ve gotten in Panama so far and we LOVED it! 

The town sign made us feel like we were back in Mexico. 

Loved the colors and murals throughout. 

Many services offered including several salons and spas. Costs for cut: $10 and color $30.Not too cheap, but still beats US prices.

Very backpacker and nomad friendly as well! If we hadn’t had a place, we would have probably been moving in for awhile. 

Lots of signs marketing to foreigners. Panama is one of the most friendly countries in the world for attracting foreign buyers. Unfortunately, the cost of living is overall more than we care to adapt to. 

Need a bike? Need it repaired? Need a surf board? A dog? Pedasi’s got it.

Having a traditional lunch at Fonda Tradiciones de Mi Pueblo Pedasi. It was average food, kinda rude service but absolutely delicious Maracuya (passion fruit) juice. Cost was $7 for both our meals. We still enjoyed it though. Overall, the locals in Pedasi seemed a bit more aloof than in the other places we’ve visited on Azuero Peninsula. Guessing they’re probably tired of gringoes moving in, which isn’t necessarily the case elsewhere. 

The town square. The yellow truck is a taxi. All the taxis are yellow pick ups here. Kinda cute. 

Overpriced smoothies and vegan food. Yes, their target market is evident.  

Playa el Arenal is where you can catch a 20-minute boat to the nearby island of the National Park, Isla Iguana where you can snorkel, scuba dive and lay on a beautiful beach. Unfortunately we had a jungle cat to get back home to. 

The forty-one year old in her beach get-up. 

Seeing alligators in the swamp near Tonosi on the way back. They hung out here regularly.

Playa Cambutal

Another beach we enjoyed hitting up was Playa Cambutal. You guessed it. Another surfing beach. It was chill, friendly and within an hour drive of our housesit.