I spent part of yesterday visiting my in-laws as I do every few weeks. My father-in-law was an economist with the World Bank and worked on some projects in Panama back in the 80s. He confirmed that, at the time he was traveling there, Colon was considered fairly dangerous and that unless things had changed drastically, there probably is no reason to take one whole day of a 10 day trip just to go there. Colon is a port city with lots of warehousing and related facilities; while it may be interesting to visit some day it just isn't worth going to on this trip.
My initial plan is to pick up the car at the airport and get on the Pan-American Highway heading southwest towards the Azuero Peninsula. It is roughly 90 Kilometers to Playa Coronado, which is at the beginning of a series of beaches known for their good surfing. While I am not a surfer, I do love the sound of crashing waves and have heard good things about some of these small towns, including the town right before Coronado, Nueva Gorgona.
Not knowing what the traffic will be like on a Thursday afternoon that just happens to be a national holiday (independence from Columbia) I don't know how long it will take me to get out of town and down the road to Coronado so I am thinking that will be my first stop.
Since I am just beginning the planning of my itinerary, I recognize that it will likely change a few times before it is finalized. This is more complicated than Belize because there were so few highways and towns of any size in Belize that the plan fairly fell into place with hardly any thought.
After Coronado, I will continue on to the Azuero Peninsula and follow coastal Highway 3 down to Pedasi, across the bottom of the peninsula and then back up to the Pan-American Highway on the way to the Las Palmas Peninsula. Eventually I will end up at far western Panama in Chiriqui Province and check out the area around Puerto Armuelles before heading for the highlands and Boquete. I don't intend to spend a lot of time around Boquete since I really don't want to live in the hill country, but will continue on to the northwest coast and take a trip out to Bocas del Toro. There are a lot of towns up and down Highway 11 and from what I can tell, at least two ferries to Bocas del Toro.
After checking out the northwest, it is back to the Pan-American Highway to return to Panama City for the last couple of days in order to tour the canal and take a day trip to the Darien area.
That's it. Now I need to start finding lodging and get this down to a more definitive schedule so that I can ensure that I see all that I want to.
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