| Most of the
beaches were deserted and spotless and the waves were excellent for surfing.
The new road winds down secret valleys to mountain peaks and back into
golden pastureland and would be a great road for biking as there is almost
no automobile traffic. You need to spend time in Cerro Hoya National
Park in order to understand the beauty and history of the area. Camping
and trails are part of the Park and are little used, so no worrying about
unwanted distractions. Go when things are dry: December to March.
On the opposite
side of Veraguas lies Agua de Salud. Located in the northwestern corner
of the Cañazas district of Veraguas, Agua de Salud is remote. The
area - and there is no town to speak of – got its name because of the healthy
spring waters that flow from two rivers: one river flows with hot water,
the other with cold water, though both seem to originate from the same
source.
The entrance
to Agua de Salud is located at Cerro De Plata – about 25 miles from Santiago,
Veraguas, heading in the direction of David. The road is terrible but could
be used in the middle of the Panamanian Summer – January to April.
Ask locals about the condition of the road. The walk is 10-14
hours maybe more and can only be done during the summer. There is little
in way of accommodations so you need to bring your own, but the landscape
leading up to the two rivers is remarkable as you can see for miles in
every direction as you approach the Continental Divide. The section on
the road that is named Agua de Salud is about four hours walk below the
springs.
If you are
headed towards Agua de Salud or decide that you don’t want to walk the
long distance to the springs, I recommend you take a short cut to Rio Cobre.
If you are on the road to Agua de Salud, Rio Cobre will be on your left.
The walk from the road to the river is about an hour and you will find
it exciting. I did it at dusk and the walk is one I will never forget:
we headed out from the small-village Cerro de Plata. The walk is on flat
land and high thick-brush surrounds the path that leads to the river. As
you make your way along the path you can hear over the brush the sounds
of farmers talking around their houses, speaking of the days events, but
you will never actually see anyone as they are hidden behind all the growth.
There is a kind of excitement and fear when you hear this cacophony of
voices over head every so often. The tension arises because you can’t see
where the voices are coming from – but you wish you could. Be careful on
the path, as large coral snakes like to make their way to the river during
the day to cool off. The river itself is very isolated and surrounded by
flowers, green pastures and I saw the most wonderful multi-colored butterflies
that descended to blue-green grasses. The river is dark at dusk and the
low tree-limbs get darker and more ominous as sunlight disappears. Get
out and away from the river before nightfall: you could lose the trail
back to Cerrro de Plata.
If you decide
that you want to walk the entire way to Agua de Salud, then after about
4 hours walking from the Pan-American Highway the landscape opens up and
you can see 30 miles in every direction. This area of Panama had at one
time active volcanoes and you can see this in the dimple-studded landscape.
This area was also once jungle, but slash and burn agriculture has turned
it into open grasslands, so much so that you can see someone walking towards
you an hour before you meet.
Why the
burning? It makes clearing land easier, but there is another very important
psychological reason: The more clearing and burning the larger one's world.
And for people who never leave their immediate surroundings - like the
indigenous community in Panama - increasing one's world means reducing
danger. The jungle is a jack-in-the-box world filled with danger.
Be careful
walking in open fields, stick to the road, as large cattle ranchers own
much of the land in this area of Panama and they don’t like foreigners
wandering off the road onto their land. When I worked in rural development,
I used to walk to remote communities in the deep countryside, and I remember
a time when I was walking over a hillside covered with only low-grass,
a few dozen pine trees and the nearest house miles away (though I could
see the house in the distance), two cattle ranchers approached me on
horseback with guns, and asked what I was doing walking across their land.
Luckily for me they only wanted to scare me. Others have not been so lucky:
an American friend of mine was shot at from a distant grove of pine trees
as he was playing soccer with some locals. |
