Chiriquí Chatter

David To Santa Marta

Apr 19th, 2008 by Don Ray

I need to drive to Santa Marta today. Do you want to accompany me? Santa Marta is just a few miles past Concepcion off the InterAmerican Highway going toward Costa Rica.

I haven’t done this before, but let’s take photos along the way and you will get a little idea of driving on the InterAmerican Highway and a little off road experience. These photos will all be taken as I drive, so if they aren’t as good as you would expect, blame it on my driving and taking photos at the same time.

In the following photo, we have just passed the Toyota dealer on our right, the Hyundai dealer is on our left and in front will be Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Hope you have eaten, because I am not going to stop.

In this photo you can see one of the pedestrian overpasses that allow people to cross the street without getting hit if there is a lot of traffic. It is not unusual to see cars and 18 wheelers going through this area at 50 miles an hour or faster.

Here on the left is the Cochez and on the right (though you can see it) is the Franklin Jurado store. These stores carry a lot of building materials, tile, bathroom fixtures, etc.

To the front you can see the green sign. You will turn left there, if you want to go to Optica Lopez, McDonald’s, the Nissan dealer, the Mitsubishi dealer or Airbox Express.

In the next photo we are about out of the city. I didn’t get a photo, but PriceSmart and the Chiriquí Mall were on our left and the Children’s hospital and Social Security hospital were on our right.

Coming up is the first bridge we will cross on our way to Concepcion.

Here is the second bridge.

I took this photo because the pickup has a long pole extending to his right. While you can’t see it from here, the passenger was holding it and at times it was more in the other lane.

Here you can see the yellow blockades. In front of the blockades is a bridge that has been out for over two years. I think now they are waiting for the next administration to provide the money to repair it. For a short distance, this will be a two lane highway.

We are now on the two lane road. If you think this photo isn’t too clear, it is because of the exhaust of the truck in front of the white car.

When driving you have to be careful about getting too close to the right side of the road. There may not be a gradual transition. It may just be a 6 – 8 inch drop. You also have to pay attention to people walking beside the road. At night people walking along the highway can create a very dangerous situation.

Here we are passing through Concepcion (also known as Bugaba).

I took this photo to show you that you always have to pay attention when driving. The blue truck is stopped. The red truck is going about 50 miles an hour. There are no traffic flares or other indication to tell you that the blue truck has a problem.

We have now turned off the InterAmerican Highway and are heading to a finca of a friend of mine. At this point the road is pretty good.

Here the road is still very good, but you can see that some recent patches have been made on the right side.

Here the lady is walking and the gent to the left of the house is on a bicycle.

Here the road has gotten worse. If your are not in a 4×4, your car isn’t going to survive many trips. Still, this is pretty good for in the country.

The road has gotten better. It is not unusual to find trees that are covering a lot of the road. The tree ahead has had a little trim to allow trucks to go under it without hitting.

Here we see a lady out taking her baby for a stroll.

What? You say ,”No way!” Well I will give you a closer look.

The tree on the left may look like it is having fall colors, but these are just some of the blooms that come out at the end of the dry season.

You can’t tell it very well from this photo, but we are leaving the paved service and it will be too rough from here on to take photos.

Hope you enjoyed the ride.

Posted in Panama Journal

15 Responses to “David To Santa Marta”

on 19 Apr 2008 at 9:06 pm1Sunshine

Many many thanks for the journey’s pictures. That is so so so informative and helps those of us yet to make it to Panama, to get a *real feel* for what it is like to travel in the country.
on 19 Apr 2008 at 9:12 pm2Don Ray

Hi Sunshine. Glad you enjoyed the trip.
on 19 Apr 2008 at 11:24 pm3Tuxi

The blooms in the tree make me think of what we called flame trees in Egypt. They can be quite pretty, but my daughter is very allergic to them — red eyes, sneezing, etc.

This doesn’t look too bad. I think I’ve bicycled on worse in Indonesia .
on 20 Apr 2008 at 7:05 am4Don Ray

I need to get some photos of some really back roads. They bicycle in some pretty bad roads here as well.
on 20 Apr 2008 at 8:22 am5Timothy Davis

Enjoyed the trip, Don
Thanks!
on 20 Apr 2008 at 9:48 am6Don Ray

De nada.
on 20 Apr 2008 at 11:39 am7jim

I AM THINKING OF COMING TO YOUR AREA IN PANAMA,AND I ENJOYED YOU TRIP PICTURES. COULD YOU HELP ME WITH SOME THINGS? I RECEIVE ABOUT $1500.00 ,SS, I LIVE BY MYSELF COULD I LIVE THERE ON THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY….?… AND WHAT IS THE WEATHER LIKE IN JULY/AUGUST……..THANKS ,JIM
on 20 Apr 2008 at 11:49 am8Don Ray

Hi Jim. In Chiriquí, you should be able to do fine on $1,500 a month. It all depends on if you have special needs that might drive the costs up. Some areas cost more than others. $1,500 will go farther in David than it will in Boquete.

Weather in Panama is basically the same all year round. There are two seasons. The rainy season which normally begins around mid April and runs into mid December. It will normally rain in the afternoons, leaving the mornings nice.

Temperatures will be based on the altitude you live in. Some prefer warmer and some prefer cooler.
on 20 Apr 2008 at 5:09 pm9Anne

How funny that bridge is still out! It was closed during our stay in Oct ‘06. We were surprised, but probably shouldn’t have been, that is was still closed during our Oct ‘07 trip. Oh well, the farmers take advantage of it. We saw them drying their crops on the closed off section of asphalt. We have driven back and forth from Volcan to David so many times, the pictures were of scenery we know and love. Thanks Don Ray!
on 20 Apr 2008 at 5:16 pm10Don Ray

Hi Anne,

I also have see the farmers drying grain there. Glad you enjoyed the photos.
on 20 Apr 2008 at 8:24 pm11Ron

Thanks for the travelog Don. I tried to send you an email yesterday and it bounced back. I’ll try again in the morning.

Ciao,
Ron
on 20 Apr 2008 at 8:29 pm12Don Ray

Second person that has told me some emails are bouncing.
on 21 Apr 2008 at 9:17 am13Mike

Hi Don, as always thanks for ride. Nice pictures. I don’t think they will ever fix that bridge. It has been like that for as long as I have known it.
on 21 Apr 2008 at 4:49 pm14Jerry

Thanks for the journey. Good pictures.
on 21 Apr 2008 at 5:45 pm15Melissa

Very good Don… nice pictures.
Only advice: be carefull when you are driving and taking pictures at the same time.