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Written by Matt Landau
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Monday, November 05 2007 |
We got out of the car at the base of a long stretch of
rolling hills, atop from which were supposedly the most spectacular ocean views
in the entire province. Tied up were a team of horses, and as if choosing a
taxi driver, I petitioned for the quiet one...
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Last Updated ( Monday, November 05 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Monday, February 05 2007 |
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Chitre is anomalistic. Its large, bustling town square, modern grocery stores, and bevy of restaurants and hotels are perhaps more urbanized than any other pueblo in rural Panama. This capital of the Herrera province is vibrant with an odd farmer-meets-city charm, and its maze-like streets will swallow you whole if you don't know where you're going.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, April 21 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Tuesday, January 09 2007 |
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Pedasi at first reminded me of a ghost town on Percocet. Streets of symmetrical little houses painted clementine-oranges and apple-greens, perfect little squares with fountains and beautiful flowers but all the while, not a person in sight. I came to two foregone conclusions when I saw all the town people and town dogs crammed into the pews of an open-air cathedral: either they were all there gathered to test drive the new 328i, or church was in session.
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Last Updated ( Friday, May 11 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Tuesday, January 09 2007 |
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Las Tablas is one of the most traveled towns in the Azuero Peninsula. Not unlike a primed fraternity brother it is most famous for its wild parties during which people from all over the country pack its tight streets like meat in an overstuffed sausage casing. From rum, to vodka, to national grain alcohol, upon visiting Las Tablas you can rest assured you'll be welcomed in good spirits.
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Last Updated ( Monday, May 28 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Friday, December 22 2006 |
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For some, the small Azuero town of Tonosi is known to be the subject of travelers remorse—this far away and seemingly-imaginary community near the bottom tip of the peninsula that is not nearly as exciting as it could be. For me though, a trip down to Tonosi is a charming jaunt back in time.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, April 21 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Thursday, December 21 2006 |
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It's a region of unrefined beauty where jagged shores meet smooth rolling hills, where humble farmers go about their business as if this was how beautiful life was intended to be. It sits about 3 hours from cosmopolitan Panama City but appears to be a world away. Its virgin coastline of secluded beaches and waterfalls mysteriously resembles those of Costa Rica, Belize, and California: a developer's topological pipe dream. This is Azuero.
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Last Updated ( Friday, May 11 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Friday, December 08 2006 |
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Being hungover is such a funny phenomenon because while the body is unable to do even the simplest of things, like tie a shoelace or put together sentences, the brain is capable of such deep and evocative thought that sometimes you are too profound for your own good. It was during one of these stupors, these dizzy and mischievous dazes that I decided to effectively make myself disappear.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, May 03 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Monday, July 31 2006 |
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I had been wanting to get away from the everyday annoyances of working in the city—the car horns and the phone calls and the 6 AM roaming broom merchants. More specifically, just over the past week or so, I had been exhausted from that fast-paced work atmosphere of the city, of pesky people scheduling meetings. I hate meetings: “Rome didn't create an empire by having meetings,” I'd tell them. “They did it by killing people.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, May 07 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Sunday, July 30 2006 |
 After a breakfast of ripe mangoes and lychee nuts, we packed our bags and headed out for more adventure, stopping at the island store to buy our wonderful hosts some cookies and soda—probably the last thing that those energetic squirrel children needed. Before we said our goodbyes, all the little kids brought us going-away-presents of freshly-caught sand crabs. Since Greeny and I had no use or real hunger for them we declined the offer, leaving more for them to enjoy. As we left, the kids and their tiny fluttering crab bodies waved adios.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, April 21 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Saturday, June 10 2006 |
 We decided to stop for the night in Santiago—Veraguas Province—a province named for its hearty rainfall during the winter months. Fittingly, when we arrived, water was coming down so hard that gum wrappers and potato chip bags and even some boots were floating down the street. Even the Panama road map that we were living in had even gotten wet. I was getting ready to get out and enter our hotel when Jim said something that threw me off.
Jim represents a very small demographic on this planet. Originally from Garret, Texas—a town of about 150 people—he now resides in Costa Rica and Panama, owning the title of the fastest man in Central America over the age of 65. He's captained boats around the world, managed boutique hotels, designed residential homes, and at one point during his 30-year stint in Costa Rica, lived without keys or shoes for seven years.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, April 21 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Sunday, June 04 2006 |
 Panama culture is quirky and counter-intuitive so it
seemed fitting that my decision to venture to the southern-most tip of the
country—the remote and seemingly inaccessible village of Cambutal—evolved from
the lone reason that most people won't go there.
If you picture the country of Panama as a stubby, wavy
version of an uppercase “T”, Cambutal sits neglected at the bottom—the part
where you pick up your pen and move on to the next letter. It lies approximately
seven degrees above the equator on this knobby peninsula that juts out into the
Pacific Ocean.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, April 21 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Sunday, June 04 2006 |
 Continued from
Part I: The Road to Cambutal The annoying yet somehow endearing bark of the hotel
rooster woke us up around six. After a breakfast of champions—steak—we set out
south for the last little leg of our trip to Cambutal. The dirt roads were
pothole-ridden while chickens and puppies scampered in and out of our path. We eventually
came to what we had been searching for—a fork in the road—a checkpoint we were
to meet a man in a black Nissan Sentra. This man
Campo, which means “field" or "farm” in Spanish, was a small little farm owner who was looking to sell a lot of
over 300 hectares. He stood welcomingly and asked us to follow him
to his ranch.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, April 21 2007 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Sunday, June 04 2006 |
 Driving through the countryside of Panama is adventurous and as an explorer of Panama I could ask for no more.
It's wholesome. A simple drive from one destination to the next is bound to
discover scenery, people, and animals that to me, at one point in my life, were
reserved for independent films and the pages of National Geographic.
We left the small town of Tonosi, with a full ride. In the
front sat Rebecca and I, and in the back, three full-grown farmers showing us
directions to their properties up for sale. I don't have a whole lot in common
with rural farmers, or middle-aged men for that matter, so topics like the
disappointment of this season's Real World cast nor the clarity of Sony's new
plasma TV were subjects that would get anywhere.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, April 21 2007 )
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Azuero 
