The road up to Cerro Azul and Cerro Jefe was built from what I understand after WWII and was economically important because the Melo Corporation set up chicken farms along the road leading to Cerro Azul. The chicken houses are built into hillsides and down below the road and above the road; the farms don’t take away from the beauty of the area. There is an old neighborhood called Las Nubes that was built in the 1970s; many of the houses in Las Nubes are modeled on American fishing and hunting lodges. And many of the houses have been forgotten about as later, more disinterested generations either forgot about the houses or never had any interest in maintaining them. This is a good place to find a good deal on an old private house or on some land to build a new house. The Bed & Breakfast Casa De Campo is also located here.

Walt And Jacky

Well, Jacky is an excellent photographer from Colombia and Walt lived in Korea and jumped out of planes with the U.S. Military. Gabi came along – I had taken her before – and we parked the car and walked back into the forest, not jungle. The palm trees in the forest at Cerro Jefe are old and the view of the land and especially in the direction of the Darien jungle is, well, unique. We walked along a road that had been cut by Irenare now ANAM (Panamanian Natural Resource Protection Agency - if you want to go to Coiba Island in Veraguas, and you should go, then you need to talk with Anam) that led to a small stream that fed into the Chagres River.

Look out for the 4X4 cabañas, the turn to the cabañas are to the right, or to the opposite side of the road to Cerro Jefe or Cerro Pelon. The roads around this area are great for 4x4ing or mountain biking. The latter preferably, though the former is great if you have a case of beer and some friends and go exploring for hours down muddy trails and remote valleys. There is a heliport at the cabañas and the cabañas are set down in a land depression. I have never stayed at the cabañas but the spot looks nice. The forest around the cabañas is a paradise for bird-watchers; there are Crimson-bellied Woodpeckers, Black-headed Brush-Finch, Violet-capped Hummingbirds and the Tacarcuna Bush-Tanager.

The parties far back in the jungle, well beyond the 4X4 cabañas, are wild: you must understand firearms and their dangers and what shotgun shot is like falling onto an A-framed tin roof. I remember a party where everyone was dressed as little kids - blue scarves and small old-timey baseball caps with baseball men printed in crazy directions on the white fabric of the caps, bermuda shorts, tennis shirts and penny-loafers; the Venezuelan women were drenched in mud from four-wheeling it back in the jungle. During all of this we sat in bamboo chairs and benches in which our feet didn’t hit the ground and everyone had a gun and was flashing it around. People were shooting from a house below up towards where we were - a shotgun so there was no immediate danger as the distance between houses was far. The shooters screamed back and forth with merriment for each other. It was also Sunday at about 11:00a.m. and everyone was very friendly. A student friend of mine once told me that when she was growing up in the 80s in Nicaragua - she was part Italian, part Brazilian - that her parents always went to parties with the leaders of the Sandinistas and that at that time gun culture meant everything to the Sandinistas. Her father knew how to do business with the Sandinistas and so the family thrived. But part of his sucess was shooting and having his family deeply involved in firearms: smells of brass casings, booze and gunpowder: this was what she remembered most about Nicaragua.
 

When you stand in front of Cerro Jefe and look out over the forest, before you turn in at the 4X4 cabañas, look down the road that leads into the far distance to Altos de Pacora. The forest between the turn into the cabañas and the town of Altos de Pacora in the far distance is excellent for searching out birds and other wildlife like the Three-Toed Sloth.

Remember that it’s possible to drive to the San Blas Islands from the Pacific side of Panama. To do this, head to the town of Chepo – founded by Maroons, and well-known in Panama for its excellent eye-doctors – once you pass through the town be on the lookout for a road on your left that takes you across to San Blas. It’s a long trip, 8 or 9 hours or more – I’ve never done it – and a 4X4 can get stuck, but great fun if you like adventure. A British friend of mine named Judy who now lives in Cape York, Australia, built a small place on the bad road over to San Blas. They have some cabañas and a main house where you can stay.

Gamboa

If you are thinking of buying some property in Panama then you should look at homes in Gamboa. Lots of people know the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, but if you go to the resort make sure to check out the town of Gamboa. The canal and railroad run through Gamboa and the feeling of being deep within the Canal Zone is strongest in Gamboa as it is tucked in right between the cut of the canal and the jungle and the river Chagres. The houses are located in very quiet and very private neighborhoods and some have views that overlook the railroad and the canal. The old railroad bridge runs across the river Chagres and the road from the bridge leads past the old Canal Zone penitentiary; I also heard that some of Noriega’s elite female guard had their headquarters located near and around Gamboa. The area is now very quiet with almost no traffic or inhabitants. The Gamboa dock - in Gamboa and to the right as you approach the railroad bridge - is a great place to begin a fishing trip out to Lake Gatun. U.S. troops liked to fish in the lake and they came in and out of this dock in the early morning and late evening. From Gamboa you can search for the Camino Real. There are stones you can find in the jungle that were part of the trail; the people living in area, so I am told, know where the old trail runs.

Cardenas

Cardenas is another interesting neighborhood in the former Zone. It’s the approach to Cardenas which is so unique: there is a very beautiful open and shaded American-style cemetery to your left as you enter that looks like a unique blend of Panama and the U.S. Cardenas itself is tucked back into a kind of hidden bowl with houses and playing fields. There are many empty houses.

Books

Read a very interesting account of the terrorist organization that assassinated Czar Alexander II of Russia in March of 1881; the organization’s name was the People’s Will. The book was written by Richard Pipes and is called The Degaev Affair. A short book, it describes how Sergei Degaev (1857-1921) became an activist in the People’s Will, then betrayed the group to the Russian Royal secret police; after confessing to the police, Degaev doubled-back around and had the mysterious state security chief, Georgii Sudeikin, who Degaev had been feeding information to about the People's Will anti-monarchic terrorist operations, assassinated. Degaev then left Russia for Europe – France first then Great Britain - landed in the States via Canada, then onto St. Louis, Missouri, Washington University, John’s Hopkins University and finally a quiet and well-respected life at the University of South Dakota. The book has great photos of all the characters, some of the photos were idenified just three years ago.