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Travel Related
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ALMIRANTE |
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 Western
Panamá is divided into two by the rugged Cordillera Central , which
begins not far west of the Panamá Canal and runs some 400km to Costa
Rica. North of the mountains, the undeveloped Atlantic coast is covered
in dense rainforest and inhabited by isolated indigenous groups. South
of the mountains, the drier and more fertile coastal plain is largely
deforested and heavily settled. This agricultural heartland is known as
el interior (its inhabitants are known as interioranos ), the homeland
of ladino rural culture.
Before the arrival of the Spanish, this Pacific coastal region was home
to the most sophisticated indigenous societies in the country, and it
was here that the conquistadors met the fiercest resistance, especially
that led by Urraca , a chieftain whose head now decorates the one cent
coin. Gradually these societies were defeated and either assimilated or
driven into the infertile highlands - where their descendants, the Ngobe-Buglé
, still live - while the forests were cleared for agriculture and
ranching.
The region's towns - Penonomé, Chitré, Las Tablas, Santiago and David -
are dull, provincial market centres, and the surrounding agricultural
lands scarcely match the untamed wildernesses found elsewhere in the
country. Even so, there are several places worth checking out as you
head west towards Costa Rica or Bocas del Toro. Close to Panamá City are
some spectacular Pacific beaches and the cool mountain resort town of El
Valle ; while slightly further west near Penonomé the remnants of the
pre-Columbian societies that dominated the region can be seen at Parque
Arqueológico el Caño . South of the Interamericana is the Peninsula de
Azuero , a fascinating agricultural region famed for its religious
fiestas in which early Spanish folkloric traditions survive almost
unchanged. In addition, although the peninsula is largely deforested,
much of its coastal ecology remains well preserved. Surrounded by coral
reefs, Isla Iguana Wildlife Reserve is one of the best places in Panamá
for divers and snorkellers, while at Isla Cañas Wildlife Reserve , to
the south, sea turtles arrive every year in their thousands. In the far
west, near the Costa Rican border, the Cordillera Central rises to its
highest peaks in the Chiriquí Highlands , a beautiful region of extinct
volcanoes, dense cloudforests and idyllic mountain villages.
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