Pedasi Panama

As prime beachfront land in Pedasi Panama grows ever scarcer, investors and developers have been looking to this sleepy stretch of coastline on Panama’s central Pacific for the next wave of development, and discovering in the Azuero Peninsula the very heart of Panama.

Because Panama allows titled property right up to the waterfront, beachfront parcels are being snapped up at a dizzying rate in areas like Pedasi and Playa Venao at the very tip of the peninsula.  Despite its long, sinuous shape, Panama’s coasts offer relatively few truly golden beaches. Much of the Pacific coast is fringed with mangrove swamps, where clouds of mosquitoes billow up to prey on the unwary, while on the Caribbean side, where there is also a thick tangle of mangroves, much of the coast is battered with constant rains, or under the territory of Panama’s aboriginal tribes and not open to outside development.

While there are several excellent beaches close to Panama City, most of these are well-developed or well on their way. The first two hours’ drive west on the PanAmerican Highway are littered with signs for beachfront resorts, villas and condos, offering dreams of oceanview lifestyles, but many of these have taken on an almost suburban feel, as the developed stretches now begin to crowd and bleed into one another.

At the bottom of the Azuero Peninsula, however, one feels almost at the end of the world. There is a timeless quality to daily life there, a blend of the ultra-modern with the centuries-old traditional ways. Impeccably paved highways slink through endless green fields and tiny clustered towns, colourful and tranquil; because they tend to hug the highway, very few towns have sprung up along the many beaches here, and the waterfront is largely deserted but for the fishing boats that moor in shallow waters to haul their catches ashore.

The peninsula’s waters are known as the ‘Tuna Coast’, offering excellent, year-round fishing, with an abundance of yellow-fin tuna, red snapper, marlin and sailfish for the taking, and charter boats are available for sport and deep-sea fishing. Edible catches can be brought back to shore to be cooked up to taste at one of Pedasi’s restaurants, paired with one of Panama’s fine beers for less than a dollar.

Just half an hour from shore lies Isla Iguana, which despite its Pacific location, appears to be a perfect Caribbean island. An extensive coral reef surrounds the palm-dotted island, giving it a powdery, blinding, white-sand beach, and its crystal-clear, shallow waters offer the laziest snorkeling imaginable, as hawksbill turtles, cornetfish, and a myriad brightly-colored tropical fish nibble and dart about the coral branches. The island, named for its thriving colony of spotted lizards, is also the region’s only nesting site for the Frigata magnifica, the magnificent frigate bird, which swoop in thick flocks overhead.

Surfers can take advantage of some excellent breaks, the most notable of which is in Playa Venao, just a half-hour drive west of Pedasi Panama, and scuba divers can choose from a number of dive sites, including Isla Iguana and the Frailes Islands to the west. In addition to the many species of marine turtles, rays, eels and tropical fish that call the tropical Pacific home, lucky divers will spot hammerhead sharks school at certain times of year, and the whales and dolphins that haunt the coastal waters with their young.

Isla Cañas, just beyond Playa Venao and less than an hour from Pedasi, is also a major nesting site for several marine turtles. The mangrove-ringed island is home to about 700 residents, and boasts a 14-kilometer long beach where pregnant females lumber up during the night to dig holes in the soft sand, laying clutches of up to one hundred eggs. A little further afield, the Cerro Joya National Park offers hiking through pristine rainforest, with several waterfalls, monkeys and birds galore.

The Peninsula’s towns burst into festivity in the summer months, running from December to April, the height of which are February’s carnivals, when all the towns don their festive best to parade, dance, and celebrate day and night. Las Tablas, just an hour from Pedasi Panama, boasts the best carnival in the country, but there are few communities that do not participate, each with their own traditional costumes and variations.

With so many activities, natural beauty, charm and culture, it is no surprise that Pedasi, once Panama’s best-kept secret, is about to be its best-known ambassador.

Playa Venao

Untouched by the globalization of Panama City, Playa Venao offers the tranquility of an ancient world complimented by its 21st Century capabilities.

Live, relax, indulge in a paradise where you will be in harmony with your community and nature. The tranquility is undeniable.

Surfers can take advantage of some excellent breaks, the most notable of which is in Playa Venao, just a half-hour drive west of Pedasí, and scuba divers can choose from a number of dive sites, including Isla Iguana and the Frailes Islands to the west.

In addition to the many species of marine turtles, rays, eels and tropical fish that call the tropical Pacific home, lucky divers will spot hammerhead sharks school at certain times of year, and the whales and dolphins that haunt the coastal waters with their young.

Isla Cañas, just beyond Playa Venao and less than an hour from Pedasí, is also a major nesting site for several marine turtles. The mangrove-ringed island is home to about 700 residents, and boasts a 14-kilometer long beach where pregnant females lumber up during the night to dig holes in the soft sand, laying clutches of up to one hundred eggs.

A little further afield, the Cerro Joya National Park offers hiking through pristine rainforest, with several waterfalls, monkeys and birds galore.

With so many activities, natural beauty, charm and culture, it is no surprise that Pedasí, once Panama’s best-kept secret, is about to be its best-known ambassador.

Located in one of the driest regions, the Azuero Peninsula has just two seasons, one golden and dry, the other green and lush. In the golden season you find clear blue skies and crisp offshore breezes, while the green season hosts intermittent rain and sun to bring out the lushness for which Panama is so famous.

Playa Venao will offer an exciting mixture of old-world touches with modern amenities and luxury set within an eco-friendly community.  Set at the foot of rolling hills on a majestic bay, Playa Venao is a premier and unique community, being designed with every comfort you may desire while preserving the environment.

Los Santos

Los Santos is a province of Panama. The capital city is Las Tablas, which is famous for its carnivals, the Festival Nacional de la Pollera (National Festival of the Pollera), and the Festival of the Patron Santa Librada; and the Festival Nacional de la Mejorana in Guararé. The province Los Santos and Herrera are important in Panamanian folklore because they are believed to be the birth place of the Pollera, the traditional Panamanian dress.

Las Tablas is the capital of the province, one of its biggest attractions is the church of Santa Librada, considered a national monument.

The city lives all its splendor during the Carnival celebration that lasts 4 days and 5 nights, being the headquarters city of Las Tablas Best Carnival of the republic, where one of the main attractions of the carnival in Las Tablas, are famous or culecos mojadera, which is sprayed with water (clean and purified) to the participants of this activity from sisternas cars (especially pre-sterilized for this activity) located throughout the park and surrounding streets are where the carnival, while can admire the tour of the queens of both streets, street up and down the street on spectacular floats, and suitable for this activity packed day.

The notes of the contagious and famous and well known murgas of Panama (which also have its epicenter in the town of Las Tablas, where the best murgas the country), do jumping and dancing for joy to young and old alike, unable to contain her joy and excitement following the queen with the most sympathetic all day without stopping or until the forces accompanying the activity takes place during four days of carnival.

The attractions of this carnival is wasteful luxury and splendor of the costumes shown in the queens and their ladies, and the designs and finishes epectaculares floats of both daytime (from culecos or mojaderas) and evening, reaching its greatest splendor Carnival on Monday, his grace and charm of women represented in their Tableña and queens in ladies of his court to make the carnival Tableño one of the best and most famous carnavals the world.

Another well-known celebration is Corpus Christi, a religious holiday which dates its beginnings to the colonial era. It commemorates the institution of the Eucharist in the mix with pagan festivals represented by different dance, which today form part of the folklore of the region, this activity takes place in the City of La Villa de Los Santos.

Isla Iguana

Just fifteen minutes from the shores of the Andromeda Ocean Estates lies Isla Iquana, a national park and wildlife refuge boasting extensive coral reefs and a colony of frigate birds.  Isla Iguana blinding white-sand beaches and extensive coral reef, luring snorkelers and divers to laze with a wealth of marine life, including sea turtles, rays, dolphins and a myriad tropical fish. This palm tree dotted island with white sandy beaches and crystal clear, shallow waters offers the laziest snorkling imaginable.

Nearby, Isla Canas can receive hundreds of pregnant turtles in a single night to lay eggs along its fourteen kilometer beach.

Playa Venao, just thirty minutes drive west from Andromeda Ocean Estates, is one of Panamas best surf spots with a consistent south swell that attracts surfers from all over the world.

Pedasi and the Azuero Peninusla

Pedasi is a quiet, traditional town tucked away in a beautiful part of the Azuero Peninsula, the cultural heartland of Panama.  It is a place of green, rolling hills and shining blue waters resembling the tuscany region of Italy.  With its pastoral ambience, charming local cultures and a diversity of activities to suit the adventuros and leisurely alike, Pedasi Real Estate  is quickly making its way to the for front of the worlds top vacation and retirment destinations.

The Azuero peninsula features towns that were founded hundreds of years ago.  Strong spanish colonial influence can be seen in the beautiful churches and towns plazas, as well as in the well kept homes with their pastoral colors, colonnaded verandas and tile roofs.  Las tablas is located thirty minutes from Pedasi and the provincial capital was founded in 1671 and boasts the most famous carnival in all of Panama.

Nearby, the colorful town of Pedasi offers cafes and restaurants, supermarkets and souvenir shops. The bigger towns of Las Tablas and Chitré, with more extensive amenities, are just an hour’s drive on impeccably smooth roads, and Panama City with its first-world modernity is just 4 hours on the Pan-American highway. A regional airport also receives several domestic flights a week to Pedasí, and is currently under expansion to receive larger charter flights.