The following Article is one of a series written by a Dutch woman who came to Panama to be an Au Pair for a Dutch family. She met and fell in love with a Panamanian, and hasn`t looked back.....
A trip to Pedasi is like a trip back in time?
Once you arrive in Pedasi you will notice right away that all the stress and worries from the city disappear from your mind. Driving onto the main street of Pedasi you see colorful little houses with red tile roofs, surrounded by flowers. You find the villagers relaxing in their hammocks after a hard day of work in the field; or just sitting on the front porch with family, friends and neighbors talking and laughing about their days.
The people of Pedasi are laid-back. They always greet visitors with a smile and great hospitality. I think these are some of the friendliest people you will find anywhere.
Pedasi doesn´t really fit in with the rest of coastal Azuero towns. Roads are better built and the whole town is kept nice and clean. This is presumably because of the town´s Photo most famous resident, Mireya Moscoso, the former president of Panama. She made some improvements to her home town, such as the park in the main square and the airstrip in Pedasi.
When you hear a loud, high sound; "heuwaaa heuwaaa", you should know that this is the traditional way the men greet each other on the street; nothing to be frightened of. It´s very common to see men, whom you might call cowboys, riding horses to their land, which they work in a very traditional way. Wearing traditional sandals [
cutarras], and a hat [which has different ways to wear it], machete in hand - a large knife to cut bushy obstacles on the land.
Most of the cowboys have cattle that keep the grass short and tidy. Sometimes they move the cattle to another piece of land and you can sometimes run into them crossing the road. There will be one cowboy in the front waving a red flag, leading the group of cattle and warning the oncoming cars - and one in the back to make sure the cattle stay together. Be aware of this when you are driving around.
You won´t see the women wearing any traditional clothes on a typical day. The only time that the women totally dress up and the traditional costumes come out of the closet is when there are festivities. When this happens, you will have a visual feast. They wear the customary dresses, called "polleras", in beautiful colors or just in plain white - decorated with golden jewelry. They decorate their hair with accessories called "tembleques" which you will also find to be very colorful and adorned with gold.
Another common thing you will see, not only in Pedasi but in the whole region, are the metal milk cans in front of people´s houses along the road. The milk cans are picked up by a truck early in the mornings and are returned refilled with milk. So the people can have fresh milk every day.
Pedasi is a small coastal fishing village that is surrounded by rolling hills. People say it resembles the Tuscan region of Italy. In the dry season, which is from December to March, the hills look like gold. There is a refreshing offshore breeze and you will find clear blue skies.
The rainy season, which is from April to November, brings out the lushness. The views that surround you, and the many different kinds of green will catch your attention.
Pedasi has a population of approximately 3640 inhabitants. I don´t know if that includes all the dogs that you see on the loose, or the black vultures that hang around not having any special request for what is the menu that night! Overall Pedasi is a place to relax and enjoy the laid-back life.
If you are interested in getting to know Pedasi, or any other aspect of Travel to Panama, contact
Douglas M. Choy at
ThinkPanama.com. They will provide any guidance and information you may need.
