Santa Fe, Panama: Into the Mountains

Santa Fe, founded by the Spanish in 1557, is definitely off the beaten path for most foreign travelers and according to the guidebook, is “like Boquete 20 years ago” (before the white people invasion?) We really enjoyed Santa Fe. For us, it felt like a little slice of the interior of Hawaii… mountainous, exuding lushness, deliciously pure and cool air, quaint churches, gardens with unique and vibrant floral explosions, and tropical fruits galore. Plus, the real reason we came…the plethora of hiking options.

From Isla Canas, we took a five leg journey inland to the mountain town of Santa Fe. Bus travel in Panamá was so incredibly easy. As in many Latin American countries, bus attendants shuffle you methodically from one bus to the next, everything is signed, some are even air conditioned, and prices have ranged from $3-9/ticket.

The main plaza shortly after the bus arrived. We got caught in a rain storm and had to wait it out under a shelter.

We figured we might as well scarf some delicious traditional food while we waited from Cafe Popular. More rice, chicken, beans and caramelized plantains. All for $3.

Just like in México there’s a gaudy place to take selfies in front of in case you forget where you are.

Arriving to Hotel Santa Fe, which was the cheapest accommodation option at $28/night and about a 1k walk from the town. It kinda felt like Panamá’s version of an American road motel. Basic, no frills but did the job for a couple nights. Plus, the view was not too shabby.

One of the “Chino” markets in Santa Fe. They sold the basics like tuna, thread to fix Mandy’s busted out pants, and machetes.

We’ve seen lots of flowers that open and close to say hello, but never ever the green bits. Interesting.

There were so many beautiful gardens and wild flowers. Loved this purple paintbrush.

We had one day to get our hiking in so we hoped for decent weather and fortunately were greeted with a slice of sun the following morning. We headed for Cerro Tute, a five-hour round trip to the highest accessible point in the area. On the way, in the middle of seemingly nowhere, we passed more than one Alexander Graham Bell artifact from the 20th century.

Crossing over the river on a very bouncy bridge.

Loved the houses we began to pass. A little reminiscent of Alps meets jungle. Just adorable. We wondered if locals or foreigners lived in these houses.

Here’s the 650 meters (2100 feet) we thought we were gonna climb. Not exactly an easy hike. Santa Fe already lies at 500 meters, so it is considerably cooler than its surrounding lowlands.

Unfortunately by the time we got about half way up, the clouds had begun to roll in, presenting us with the conundrum of whether or not to turn around.

Fortunately, we turned around and the rain came tumbling down right about as we ended up in our siesta hammocks. That worked out ?

Our delicious linner at Cafe Dorado. (one way we save money is to combine lunch and dinner.)

Our audience during linner. It was sad to see several of them had open wounds. We have learned that wounds heal very slowly in the tropics. And case you were wondering, yes, they reaped from our leftovers.

After the rain passed, we headed to hike round two. As we got closer to the Rio Mulaba, we began to see quite a few epiphytes decorating the trees. Epiphytes are a little wonder of the jungle. They survive totally without soil by living in treetops and rooting themselves onto branches. Oftentimes, these epiphytes are little ecosystems unto themselves since water usually pools at their core. It’s common to find frogs or other living or lying eggs in these pools and some have been known to spend their whole lives within them.