Page 163 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

The cenTral peninsula The Azuero PeninsulA 161
ArriVAl AnD DePArTure PesÉ
Regular buses leave Chitré bus terminal for Pesé (6.30am–6.30pm; every 15–20min; 30min).
eATinG
Restaurante Marithel C José Varela Blanco, 50m from shady patio draped with foliage and hibiscus flowers, serves a
the church T6648 9901. This friendly restaurant, with a decent beef stew and the like for around $4. Daily 7am–3pm.

Ocú
Twenty kilometres west of Pesé, the larger village of OCÚ makes up for its lack of quaint
charm with its festivals (see box below) and its hat-making – above all the distinctive
white sombrero Ocueño, with a thin black trim, which is still produced in home-based
workshops. Try Artesanías Ocueña (daily 9am–4pm; T6458 4529), a women’s
cooperative in the centre of town, on Plaza Sebastian Ocú, which also produces fine
polleras, montunos and other embroidered items.
ArriVAl AnD DePArTure oCÚ
By bus Buses leave Chitré bus terminal for Ocú via Pesé Chitré at 7pm. Buses from Santiago terminal also run to Ocú
(6.30am–6.30pm; every 20min; 1hr) with the last bus back to (6am–6pm; every 20min; 1hr); the last return bus is at 6pm.
ACCoMMoDATion AnD eATinG
El Punto Ocueño Main plaza opposite the church. Busy by the church T974 1374, Wresidencialocu.com. A
cafeteria dishing up an inexpensive menú del día or cena for dozen simple en-suite rooms with cold-water showers are 4
$4 or plates of roast chicken or chow mein for around $4–5. set round a nice shady patio with rocking chairs and
Mon–Fri 6am–6pm, Sat & Sun 6am–noon. hammocks. Rooms are spotless and offer a/c, local TV and
Residencial Ocú 50m downhill from the main square, beds with decent mattresses. $28

Las Minas, Los Pozos and Macaracas
Though Pesé and Ocú are the more common day-trip destinations in the central
peninsula, it is a pleasant drive, by car, to cover the further 30km through LAS MINAS
and LOS POZOS before returning to Chitré or continuing southeast to MACARACAS
– by bus you’d probably need to return to Chitré and take another bus back out into
the countryside. There’s nothing particular to see or do in any of these places, except
chill out and watch rural life unfold. The party most likely to attract outsiders occurs in
Macaracas; celebrated in the church plaza every January 6 for almost two hundred
years, the Fiesta de los Reyes Magos (Three Wise Men) features a two-hour
dramatization of the Adoration of the Magi.
ArriVAl AnD DePArTure lAs MinAs, los Pozos AnD MACArACAs
By bus Buses leave Chitré for Las Minas (6am–6pm; every 25min; 45min) and Macaracas (6am–7pm; hourly; 40min)
30min; 1hr); Los Pozos, via Pesé (6am–7.25pm; every en route to Tonosí (1hr 30min).

OCÚ’S FESTIVALS
The Festival del Manito (second week of aug) is Ocú’s premier event. apart from the usual
parades, there are two stand-out elements: the tamarind duel (duelo del tamarindo) and the
peasant wedding (matrimonio campesino). The latter is a wonderful sight: following a mock
church wedding, the bride, decked out in an all-white pollera, is paraded on horseback through the
streets while the groom holds an umbrella above her head to protect her from the sun (or rain). in
contrast, the tamarind duel harks back to the bygone days of testosterone-fuelled fights to the
death over women, family honour or simply from overdoing the liquor; such fights are re-enacted
with swords and sabres in the centre of the plaza. The town’s other five-day extravaganza, La Feria
de San Sebastián (late Jan), is an agricultural fair honouring the patron saint.

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