La Pintada

La Pintada approximately 2 hours and a half away. La Pintada is famous for the typical Panamanian Hat, not the famous “Panama Hat” which is made in Ecuador. The Panamanian Hat or “Sombrero Pintao” is made and sold in many places in the country, but La Pintada is famous for it. We shall visit a local place where the owner will give us a speech about the making of the Sombrero Pintao, including the fibers, the dyes, the weaving. From here we then drive to Penonome which is the Capital of the Province of Coclé for lunch. And after lunch, we then go visit their small museum that shows both the Pre-Columbian as well as Spanish objects from the time of the Conquest on.

Church Of Santiago The Apostle Of Nata

We depart at about 8:00 a.m., right after breakfast with our bags packed to go visit the Archeological Museum of El Caño. This was a “Necropolis” for the chieftains in the Pre-Columbian times. We spend approximately one hour and a half here and then depart for Nata de los Caballeros. From here we drive to Nata de los Caballeros which is about 15 minutes away. Its church is the oldest in the Pacific of America We spend about 1 hour here and then leave to go to Aguadulce where we are going to visit its small museum. The most interesting exhibit that we will see at the museum is a scale model of how they process the sea water we then drive by the “Salinas”, where they produce salt where we will have lunch. After lunch we then drive to go to Chitre where we go to a handicraft shop where they make the traditional “Cutarra” or Panamanian Shoe. We spend 1 hour here and then reach the Hotel Cubitá which has a swimming pool to spend the rest of the afternoon cooling off and relaxing.

Los Santos Province

We depart for Guarare where we are going to visit a Saddlery where we will see how they make the traditional chair/stool and horse’s saddles. We spend approximately one hour here and then go visit a lady´s house where we can see how they make “La Pollera”, the traditional Panamanian women´s dress. We spend about one hour and a half. On our way out we pass by the main park and center of the city the birth of the Folkloric Festival of “La Mejorana”.We then stop at an agro-tourism farm to enjoy a Lamb burger and try some goat cheese, milk and yogurt. After we stop at La Villa de Los Santos to visit the Church and the “Nationality Museum” as is known the Los Santos Museum. Los Santos was the first to shout for independence from Spain on November 10th 1821. We go back to Hotel Cubita, although some of you might want (if time allows) to walk across the street to Timsa to see how they make aluminum chairs and big pans to produce sugar cane honey or “raspadura” a kind of molasses.

Chitre

As every day, we depart after 8:00 a.m. to go to a ceramic shop to see how they work the ceramic or even try to make one. After, we come back to the hotel where we are going to be shown how they make the traditional drum and after, the traditional “Diablicos” masks before lunch. After lunch we depart for Panama City but make a detour to see the unique Plaza of the town or Parita. We will also stop in Anton to enjoy an “Agua de Pipa” which is how Panamanians call the Coconut Water and perhaps shop some sweet goodies made locally before continuing on our way to Panama City. We should be arriving between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to Panama City.