travel

The nouth of the Chame River and Chame Bay in the distance

Looking out from Cerro Campana

photos and text by Eric Jackson

The lower reaches of Cerro Campana jut out into the way of the Pan-American Highway between Capira and Chame, making for a curvy drive up and down a big hill that's probably the most dangerous part of Panama's main road. If you turn off and head north from the highway, about five kilometers up the winding hilly road you get to Parque Nacional Cerro Campana.

This is a national park that was founded with people living in and around it, so along the way you will pass farms, many of which sell plants or flowers or fruit by the side of the road depending on the season. A right turn at a certain point will bring you to a little neighborhood that was once popular for canal pilots and their weekend cottages and is now full-time home to more than one retiree. Down at the end of the road, about 12 kilometers in, is the little town of Chica.

The park is a good place for hiking and rock climbing, but you probably shouldn't go hiking in flip-flops like I once did, even if that fer-de-lance I encountered along the trail did leave me alone as snakes usually do. The place looks like a wonderful hang-gliding locale, but I am told that treacherously shifting winds make it deadly dangerous for that sport.

Even if you have neither the time nor inclination for any of those stenuous activities, you will want to catch the view from the lookout at least once.

      Getting up to the top of that bell-shaped hill and back is a good day's exercise

For some the walk up the steps to the lookout is strenuous enough, which is

one of the reasons why ANAM, whose ranger stations can be seen off in the

distance, has provided this convenient bench for visitors. It costs $1.50 to get

into the park if you are a Panamanian citizen, and $3.50 for foreign visitors.

The hue will become much greener as rainy season comes

Panama was for the most part formed when a string of volcanic islands arose from

what is now the Caribbean Sea, merged into one and drifted on tectonic plates until

it plugged the gap between what are now North and South America. Panama's volcanic

origins from millions of years ago are still visible in the rocks of Cerro Campana.