Paradise Found

We were driving west along the Panamerican Highway from Panama City. On the way we stopped off at a number of resort developments, but couldn't seem to find anything that took our fancy. We stayed overnight in Penonome, and continued the same sort of itinerary the following day. We were beginning to think Panama wasn't for us, but still held our optimism for Boquete, in the Western Highlands. Many Canadians retire there, but we were of a mind we would prefer to be on the ocean.

By about 4:30 in the afternoon we had dawdled so much we realized we wouldn't make it to Boquete before nightfall. The highway across Panama is a good one, but we didn't want to be driving into the town in the dark.

We consulted the guidebook and discovered there was one, 14 room hotel at a place on the beach called Las Lajas. We decided to take a chance that they would still have rooms left (remember it was Carnaval), although when we saw a sign that it was 18km off the highway, we almost turned around.

The road to the hotel was a good one (except for the last 100 yards). They had one room left (phew!). We checked in, took our bags to our room, changed, then walked out to the beach - life changed in that awesome moment as our jaws dropped when we saw the beach, the waves, the sun, the surf. It was PERFECT, and there was hardly a soul on the beach even though it was a national holiday. Our one night stay turned into eight! We discovered that the beach not only looked good, it was safe - no riptide (unlike Las Ollas a few miles away). I have a fear of water and yet I could frolic in the waves at Las Lajas without qualm. The water is shallow for a long way, the bottom is all sand-no rocks. The waves are huge, but once you've jumped over them you are in waist-high water.

After a couple of days we discovered there was a private development just two kilometres up the road, and the rest is history.