Punta Caracol’s cabanas hover over the crystal

waters of the Caribbean in Bocas del Toro.

Panama
Off the Path

In this country where continents meet there exists an

incredible diversity of landscape, culture, and peoples.
For visitors this stunning tapestry provides all the
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makings for a fantastic journey.

50
by Victoria De Silverio photographs by Doug Bruce
Spring 2010 ShermansTravel.com/SmartLuxury 51
 CASCO VIEJO
The patio of the abandoned Club de Clases y Tropas
Panama City’s revamped in Casco Viejo, once a hangout of General Noriega
and vibrant old quarter
From Casco Viejo, the view across the designated the 142-acre quarter a World
The Bristol Hotel’s bar in Panama
bay of the modern section of Panama City Heritage site, jump-starting an ambitious City’s financial district
seems like a hallucination. With scores of revitalization. Casco Viejo possesses a past
soaring skyscrapers tangled among hun- that is very much pushing up against its
dreds of cranes, the gleaming, overnight future. Crumbling churches and houses
metropolis stands in stark counterpoint to with trees sprouting from their sides stand
the romantic yet gritty old quarter. Over the shoulder to shoulder with preciously reno-
past few years, the gradual renovation of vated mansions. Yet despite its rough edges,
the old town, which has brought new res- Casco Viejo is a living museum and a great
Panama Bay with the sparkling metropolis of taurants, cafés, and hotels, is giving people place to spend two or three days.
Panama City in the distance a fresh reason to stay in Panama City. The quarter follows a rectangular grid
The old town might not exist if it weren’t centered on Plaza de la Independencia,
for the greed of Captain Henry Morgan. planted with tropical pink poui and poin-
One recent afternoon in Boquete, Panama, at the Panamonte Inn & Spa, the country’s oldest hotel, an iguana When he sacked Panama City in 1671, a ciana trees and dominated by the stunning
ruinous fire forced the Spanish to relocate Metropolitan Cathedral, which took more
was on the loose. Word reached the kitchen, and from behind the swinging doors emerged a silver-haired
to a smaller, more easily fortified penin- than 108 years to build. Its two white bel-
maître d’, a young chef, and three cooks in aprons and bandanas. The men sized up the situation. “Iguana?” sula 5 miles to the south. The quarter’s fries, encrusted with mother-of-pearl shells climb up the belfry culminates with a
one asked. “El dragon!” corrected the reptile’s caretaker, a Frenchman holding an empty box. On his way to unusual architectural makeup—a mélange from the Pacific coast’s Las Perlas islands, bird’s eye view of the quarter. Also on the
the hotel, he had rescued a pair of alarmingly large iguanas from a man by the side of the road. Dangling by of French and American neocolonial, sparkle the brightest just before sundown. square is the refined Salon Bolívar, where
neoclassical, and Art Nouveau styles—is Nearby must-see sites include the Museo a replica of El Libertador’s golden sword,
their tails, with their squat legs bound behind their backs, the iguanas had been saved from a fate that no doubt
historically unmatched. Yet from the 1920s del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá, with coated in 1,374 diamonds, is on view, and
involved a steaming pot and garlic. But now one of the prehistoric beasts had escaped its cardboard co-op to the 1950s, the elite abandoned Casco its illustrated history of the canal, and the the Teatro Nacional, a venue for operas,
to explore the amenities of a brand new suite. The general manager, a beanstalk of a Welshman, watched in Viejo and the quarter descended into squa- unassuming Iglesia de San José, which plays, and ballets. At the waterfront near
amusement as the macho iguana whisperers accepted the rescue mission. Welcome to Panama. lor. The tide turned in 1997 when Unesco holds a famed golden baroque altar once Plaza de Francia, see the remains of the
hidden from the treasure-aholic Morgan by Union Club, built in 1917 for Panama’s
A “bizarre and beautiful little country,” experiencing its moment of reinvention. and more plant and tree species than in a cunning priest who had it painted black. elite, and imagine what it might look like
Casco Viejo
Graham Greene once wrote about Panama. With one of the fastest growing economies North America and Europe combined. Along Avenida Central, the neighborhood’s after the owner of New York City’s Hotel
The squiggly bracelet connecting two conti- in the world, Panama has recently ushered Seven indigenous peoples thrive here. thoroughfare, stop in Manolo Caracol, on Rivington transforms it into a swanky
nents is so perplexing, its history so rife with in vast investments in its infrastructure and Choosing among all the possible attrac- known for its 12-course market-fresh menu. hotel over the next few years. Further along
treason and intrigue, that a dry understate- the renaissance of Casco Viejo, Panama tions can be difficult, though quick and Afterward go to nearby Granclément for a the seawall is El Mercado de Mariscos, a
ment must suffice. As both a barrier and City’s captivating colonial section. Diversity easy plane rides, good roads, and short honey ice cream or mango sorbet. lively fish market. Pick out fresh langos-
a bridge, Panama has been a magnet for in geography, ecology, and culture is the distances make the editing process less Not far away is Plaza Bolívar, an elegant tinos, octopus, lobsters, or fish, and have
seekers, scoundrels, and visionaries—from reigning theme on the isthmus and the painful. We’ve chosen three destinations square named for the independence leader the restaurant upstairs cook them, but be
Spanish conquistadors to English privateers presence of so much of it provides visitors worth exploring: Casco Viejo; the verdant, and lined with sidewalk tables where specific about the preparations; the Pana-
Sir Francis Drake and Captain Henry Mor- with chances for adventure. Crossed by coffee-famed mountain town of Boquete; restaurateur Jorge Zarak owns three eater- manian ideal is fried until bone-dry.
gan, from gold-hungry ’49ers and French rugged volcanic mountain ranges, covered and the unspoiled Bocas del Toro region, ies: Ego Café (featuring Peruvian tapas); Until the handful of boutique hotels cur-
and American entrepreneurs to the 70,000 with large tracts of pristine rain forest, and a land of beaches, jungles, and traditional Narciso (Italian fare); and Ciao Pescao rently under construction open, try either
Panama Canal workers, not to leave out a bounded by two coastlines and some 1,500 cultures. Together, these present a vivid (ceviche). Recently the latter received a The Canal House, a restored 117-year-old
fair-weather CIA operative–dictator, and islands, Panama bears a name meaning “an picture of Panama’s natural and man-made rare rave from Aristóloga, the much-feared mansion with a wraparound veranda and
sneaky bankers and prospectors. abundance of fish and butterflies.” In an wonders, its people as well as its history, and food critic for Panama City’s La Prensa. just three opulent guest rooms, or Los
CREDIT

Now, after 20 years of stable democracy area smaller than South Carolina live more the many who have passed through it like Catty-corner is the 18th-century Iglesia Cuatro Tulipanes’ deluxe apartments,
and autonomy over its canal, the nation is bird species than in all of North America so many ships through the famed canal. de San Francisco de Asís, where a rickety with all the benefits of hotel living.

52 Spring 2010 ShermansTravel.com/SmartLuxury

 Jefes, California-born owner Rich Lipner
sprays the trees with a brew of molasses,
MAKING IT HAPPEN
Sherman’s Picks:
phosphorus, and nitrogen, and cultivates ★= Smart Splurge museodelcanal.com WHAT TO SEE AND DO and Delta fly direct from Atlanta,
the fields according to the lunar calendar. = Great Value Teatro Nacional 507/262-3525 Soposo Rainforest Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami.
Boquete Mountain Safari tours culminate Adventures Day tours, $90 a per- Tocumen International Airport is
at Finca Lérida with a cupping, a profes- CASCO VIEJO, BOQUETE son; overnight tours, $130 a person or about 12 miles northeast of Panama
sional tasting to evaluate the aroma, body, PANAMA CITY WHERE TO STAY more; soposo.com City’s center, with a taxi ride there
and flavor profile of several varietals, WHERE TO STAY ★ Panamonte Inn & Spa costing $25. Most hotels can arrange
hosted by the operation’s head of quality The Canal House From $195/ From $295/night; 507/720-1324; WHEN TO GO TO PANAMA transfers.
control Andrès Lopez. Visitors gain an night; 888/593-5023; canalhouse panamonte.com Generally, December through April BOQUETE: Air Panama (flyair
appreciation for coffee’s complexity along panama.com Rancho de Caldera From $160/ is the high season and these months panama.com) and Aeroperlas (aero
Panama’s western highlands
near Boquete with a quickened pulse. Los Cuatro Tulipanes night; 877/810-0898; rancho are the driest and coolest. The rainy perlas.com) fly daily from Albrook
Caffeine buzzes are best nursed at the From $175/night; 646/233-1019; decaldera.com season (tourism officials call it the airport (Panama City’s domestic
Panamonte Inn & Spa with a bowl of loscuatrotulipanes.com “green season”) is from June through airport) to David, a short drive from
BOQUETE quete’s largest coffee plantations. Boquete’s pumpkin soup. Owned by the same family WHAT TO SEE AND DO November. In Boquete, the tempera- Boquete. Flights take about an hour.

A Shangri-La of coffee alpine microclimates and rich volcanic

amid cool, green mountains
Tucked in the green Talamanca highlands
on the western flank of Panama near the
Costa Rican border, the winsome hamlet
of Boquete enjoys springtime climes year-
round. And, with its cheerful Bavarian-
style cottages dotting the flowery hillsides,
Boquete resembles an off-season Swiss ski
village. In town, modest churches mingle
with boutiques and cafés, and outfitters
offer white-water rafting, hiking and bird-
ing excursions. But there are many happy
reminders that one is in Panama, such
as men crowding stands selling lottery
tickets; indigenous Ngöbe-Buglé women in
brightly colored embroidered dresses; and
mules hauling sacks of coffee, the region’s
most celebrated asset.
Conquistadors and gold rushers used the
valley as a shortcut (boquete means “gap”
or “opening”), and by 1911 Europeans had
settled the town. Among them was Norwe-
gian Tollef B. Monniche, who designed
the Panama Canal’s emergency dams and
founded Finca Lérida, now one of Bo-
soil are ideal for producing high-quality
beans. In 2007, a pound of rare Panama-
nian geisha beans sold at an auction for an
unprecedented $130, and last year prices
hit $300. Smooth and sweet with notes
of honey, lemongrass, lavender, jasmine,
tangerine, and tea, the coffee brewed from
geisha beans is singular.
To understand what makes Boquete cof-
fee so special, visit some of its small family-
owned estates. On a Boquete Mountain
Safari coffee-tasting tour, guests get a close-
up view of artisanal coffee production, from
the bean planting to roasting, and then they
taste the brew.
“Coffee is like a mystery,” says Finca
la Milagrosa owner Tito Vargas, a local
with the dirt-stained hands of a farmer
and the dark steady eyes of a mystic. He
named his farm Milagrosa (“miraculous”)
because naysayers doubted he could grow
anything on a depleted 20-acre plot with
his machines made of spare parts—like
the grinder that relies on a car transmis-
sion. But the proof lies in Milagrosa’s deli-
cious coffee. At organic farm Finca Dos
since 1946, the inn has a quiet dignity even
as it evolves. New suites have mahogany
WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK
Ciao Pescao 507/262-3700
Boquete Mountain Safari
507/6627-8829; boquetemountain
ture is steady year round (highs in
the mid-80s, lows in the mid-70s),
Local operator Panama Trails
(panamatrails.com) will plan a
beds and glass doors that open to rose and Ego Café and Narciso safaritours.com but rains arrive in the green season stress-free itinerary, including car
camellia gardens. Up the road, its chef 507/262-2045 as they do elsewhere. rentals and hotel stays (877/290-
Charlie Collins recently opened a cook- Granclément 507/208-0737; BOCAS DEL TORO 2454; info@panamatrails.com).
ing school focused on new Panamanian granclement.com WHERE TO STAY GETTING THERE BOCAS: Air Panama and Aeroperlas
cuisine. Rancho de Caldera is a new Manolo Caracol 507/228-4640; La Loma Jungle Lodge AND AROUND fly daily from Albrook airport to Bo-
eco-resort with nine glass-walled cabins. manolocaracol.com From $100/night; 507/6619-5364; CASCO VIEJO: Continental flies cas Town; flights take about 1 hour.
Hotel chef Craig Miller whips up innova- thejunglelodge.com nonstop from Newark (flight time is
tive dishes at Madre Tierra with the flavors WHAT TO SEE AND DO ★ Punta Caracol From $430/ about 5 hours and can cost as little Visit our Panama Travel
Guide for a slide show of
of Panama, Italy, India, and Thailand all Museo del Canal Interoceánico night; 507/757-9410; as $350 depending on the time of
sourced from the property’s gardens. de Panamá 507/211-1649; puntacaracol.com year). Continental, Copa, American, � Doug Bruce’s photos at
shermanstravel.com
Bristol Buenaventura, less than 2 hours by car from Panama City on the Pacific coast, is styled
like a Spanish hacienda, with terracotta tiles on terraced roofs and bougainvillea cascad-
ing from the windows. Four restaurants are overseen by local culinary star Cuquita Arias de
Calvo. At the oceanfront El Faro Club House, this page, beach butlers attend to requests for
umbrellas, towels, cocktails, and reservations for on-beach massages. Connecting the mind-
body-spirit dots are the full-service spa and fitness center with saunas and steam rooms, and a
charming white adobe church. From $395/night; 507/264-0000; thebristol.com/buenaventura
Boquete’s prized coffee beans

The Panama Canal

THE PATH BETWEEN THE SEAS A trip to Panama simply must include a visit to what remains
one of humankind’s most significant technological marvels and the result of one of its greatest
DANNY LEHMAN/TERRA/CPRBIS

dramas: the Panama Canal. By August 15, 1914, when the Ancon sailed the first official interoceanic
voyage, 27,500 workers from all over the world had lost their lives to malaria, yellow fever, and
dreadful accidents during the 34 years it took to remove the more than 268 million cubic yards of
earth standing in the way (one city block wide by 5 miles high). Now, throughout the year, Panama
Marine Adventures offers excellent partial crossings for four to five hours, as well as full transits,
CREDIT

which last double that time. The schedules vary each month so it’s essential to check the com-
pany’s website. Tours, $115 or more; 507/226-8917; pmatours.net

54 Spring 2010 ShermansTravel.com/SmartLuxury ShermansTravel.com/SmartLuxury Spring 2010 55


BOCAS DEL TORO
Ecotourism meets elegant
cabanas, jungle tree-
houses, and tribal lands
When Columbus returned to the Carib-
bean shores in 1502, he was a pitiful old
man, suffering from gout, malaria, arthritis,
and a serious case of the sads. Though he
found bargains (trading cheap hawk’s bells
for golden breastplates), his mission was
to find a shortcut to the Indian Ocean.
One bright spot on his fourth and final
voyage must have been Bocas del Toro, the
paradisaical archipelago off the northwest-
ern coast of Panama near Costa Rica; the
explorer named a bay and two islands, Isla
Cristobal and Isla Colón, after himself.
Fast-forward more than 500 years, and the
isles—where dense jungle melts into white-
sand beaches, fringed by mangroves and
vibrant coral reefs—are still unspoiled.
While it’s perhaps difficult for a new-
comer to imagine, the area’s chief city of
Bocas Town—with its colorful two-story
balconied buildings, backpacker hostels,
and wacky gringo nightclubs straight out
a Jimmy Buffet song—once sizzled as a
banana boomtown with six foreign embas-
sies and five newspapers. In 1899, the
United Fruit Company opened its Panama
headquarters in Bocas Town on Isla Colón,
recruiting workers from all over the Carib-
bean. But by 1935, a series of fires had
ravaged most of the colonial houses and a
fungus had devastated the crops.
Over the past few years, yet another
56 Spring 2010 ShermansTravel.com/SmartLuxury
Guests at Soposo Rainforest Adventures
stay in one- or two-bedroom huts.
boom has hit Bocas—in tourism and real
estate. On the surface, Bocas appears a
postcard Caribbean idyll, but just under-
neath is remarkable ethnic diversity. Today
more than 50 different nationalities coexist
while dozens of dialects ring through the
air. Three indigenous groups—the Ngöbe-
Buglé, Bribrí, and Naso—live there.
Small ecologically and culturally
oriented retreats offer a definition of luxury
that goes beyond thread count. La Loma
Jungle Lodge, on Isla Bastimentos, is
a 20-minute boat ride away from Bocas
Town, hidden from the dock by a mess of
mangroves and palms. Proprietors Henry
Escudero, a Peruvian-born archaeologist,
and his partner Margaret Ann, an English
museum specialist, elevate self-sufficiency
to an art form. A typical scene includes
Three Naso boys
Bolivia, a Ngöbe-Buglé woman, roasting
cocoa beans over an outdoor fire; Mr.
Kelly, a Creole, tending to the trees with
the Escuderos’ 2-year-old Lucio in his
arms; Henry baking bread in the kitchen;
and Margaret Ann making a batch of fresh
lemongrass tea or packing lunches for
guests—all while Goose, a fluffy mutt,
chases butterflies and frogs. The property’s
three solar-powered cabins, crafted mostly
from already fallen trees, have elegant
observation decks. Flocks of parrots, tribes
of fuzzy monkeys, and croaking poison
dart frogs provide entertainment—best
enjoyed from a hammock or a cozy bed.
With the surrounding jungle as decor,
the extra details are stylishly minimal:
Mati the spider monkey
Handmade chocolate at
La Loma Jungle Lodge
bathroom mosaics; a vase of fresh flowers;
or an antique wood box containing a sur-
vival kit (with natural mosquito repellent,
citronella candles, and a flashlight).
Top-notch seasonal meals offer simple
spins on local recipes, with most of the
ingredients coming from the property’s
profuse gardens. “Really, you just toss
seeds, and something grows, the soil is
so rich,” says Margaret Ann. Dishes like
grilled jackfish served over coconut rice,
and steamed katuk, a tropical green that
tastes like a nutty kale, are full of flavor
and presented with care.
Punta Caracol, the photogenic aqua-
lodge off the coast of Isla Colón, is so
iconic it could be the Eiffel Tower of
Bocas. Its chartreuse thatch-roofed cabanas
are suspended on stilts over turquoise
waters. The two-story cabins appear like
charms on a bracelet linked together by a
long wooden walkway. Owner José-Luis
Bordas originally devised the project as
his business school thesis. Initially there
were no roads, electricity, or a water sup-
ply, but the industrious Barcelona native
persevered and, four years later, his lodge
started accepting guests. Bordas and his
team of workers made by hand all the cab-
ins, the guest room furniture, the dining
room tables and chairs, even the mosquito
netting. In each, the first floor has a sitting
area with doors that open onto a terrace
sporting two sun beds; upstairs the lovely
bedroom has soft lighting, a four-poster
canopy bed, and a view of the horizon.
Punta Caracol’s most endearing luxury is the Americas governed by a monarchy—is
that at any time of day or night, guests have under serious threat. The most immedi-
immediate access to swimming—or snor- ate one is pressure from the Panamanian
keling or kayaking—around a coral reef government for people to leave their lands
rife with parrot fish, snappers, and crabs. to allow for dam-building projects.
From either La Loma or Punta Caracol, Amistad National Park, a Unesco
travelers can have their pick of sensational World Heritage site hosting an incredible
day excursions such as diving amid the 500 species of birds and 130 species of
coral forests of Cayos Zapatillas, tracking orchids, borders the area visited by Soposo
red-billed tropic birds and brown boobies Rainforest Adventures. From Bocas, a taxi
on Isla de los Pájaros, watching leather- ride takes guests to the town of El Silen-
back turtles nest on Bluff Beach, or surfing cio. Then it’s a float up the Teribe in a
on Red Frog Beach. green dugout canoe with an eagle mascot
Soposo Rainforest Adventures, an out- and a jungle hike past clucking chickens,
fitter that guides trips in the mountainous yapping dogs, and maybe even a gigantic
jungle of Bocas del Toro, offers a way to pig, until a cluster of three Naso houses
leave the tourist bubble. The Naso people
have lived there for more than 3,000 years,
on stilts made with jira and palenquilla
palms appear. In Sieyik, the Naso capital,
but only about 3,500 are left, divided children perform dances in honor of snakes
into 11 communities along the Teribe and wild cats, and when it’s time to leave,
and Changuinola rivers. Their unique
culture—their nation is the only one in
guests ride traditional balsa rafts back
toward home. ■
ADD A TRIP TO KUNA YALA The isolated Kuna Yala archipelago, a string of 365 coral
islands that hug Panama’s coast near Colombia, is part of the semi-autonomous homeland
of the Kuna Indians, who in 1925 won independence from Panama. Few ancient tribes have
been as successful in preserving their culture and controlling their own destiny. Surviving
mostly off the coconut trade and fishing, the Kuna Indians welcome a limited number of tour-
ists. The Yandup Island lodge (from $100/night a person; yandupisland.com) offers thatched
overwater cabins with wooden floors—a luxury for the area—and terraces overlooking the sea
and the misty jungle. The setting—grassy, palm-studded Yandup Island—is not much larger
than some miniature golf courses. Included in the price are meals and escorted day trips via
dugout canoes to deserted islands for swimming and snorkeling. The lodge’s use of outboard
motors is a rare concession to modernity. To see secluded spots like the Kuna village Playón
Chico, forgo a group tour and ask for a private, less conspicuous visit. Densely packed with tiny
huts (some sinking along the water’s edge) and filled with children, the village feels magical.
Albinos comprise a high percentage of the local population (1 in 165). Kids play basketball,
baseball, and soccer simultaneously on the same court; elders confer in large halls; and those
in the middle gather with flutes on dirt streets to practice a dance involving hopping on one
foot. Within this matriarchal society, women show off their status by wearing molas, pat-
terned silk squares that are the centerpiece of their centuries-old style of everyday dress, as
well as multiple strings of orange and green beads on their forearms and calves.
ShermansTravel.com/SmartLuxury Spring 2010 57