Page 166 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

164 The Azuero PeninsulA The road To Las TabLas
Iglesia San Atanasio
Northeastern side of Parque Simón Bolívar • Free
The central attraction in the main plaza is the gleaming white Iglesia San Atanasio, which
contains a series of magnificent carved altars – a profusion of spiralling columns adorned
with vine leaves, winged cherubs and flowers, all dripping with gold. Most splendid of all is
the main altar, framed by an even more opulent archway that predates the completion of
the church. Though the first stones were laid some time between 1556 and 1559, the
edifice was not completed until 1782. Note also the painted wooden tracery above the nave
and the life-size entombed Christ figure in the glass sepulchre, which is paraded around the
streets on Good Friday in a candlelit procession. The church is also the focal point for the
town’s famous Festival de Corpus Christi (see box, p.163). Although it is celebrated
throughout Panama, the festivities in La Villa stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Parque Rufina Alfaro
Av 10 de Noviembre, three blocks southeast of Parque Simón Bolívar
At the southeastern end of town, Parque Rufina Alfaro celebrates the possibly
apocryphal local heroine of the independence movement, Rufina Alfaro. A monument
to the plucky Santeña has her seemingly emerging from a swamp. The story has it that
she exploited the local Spanish commander’s affections and secured crucial intelligence
about when to attack the army barracks, and that she then headed the march there that
cemented the bloodless coup.
ArriVAl AnD DePArTure lA VillA De los sAnTos
4 By bus Local buses shuttle between Chitré and La Villa for La Villa (6am–7pm; hourly; 3hr 30min); for the return to
(6am–9.30pm; every 10–15min; 15min) and can drop you Panama City, or other major destinations, board a Chitré-
off at Parque Simón Bolívar. Direct buses leave Panama City bound minibus and change there.
ACCoMMoDATion AnD eATinG
Hotel La Villa A few hundred metres off the Carretera terminal T966 8276. Set back from the main road,
Nacional T966 8201, Whotellavillapanama.com. The offering compact, clean, functional rooms set round a
better of the town’s two hotels – though service can be grassy area. Filling comida criolla is served at the adjacent
indifferent and you’ll either love or hate the folkloric- restaurant. $45
themed decor – is a low-key place with good-value rooms Restaurante Los Cuates Main road, close to the
(a/c, hot water, cable TV and firm beds), ranging from fairgrounds T6755 2112. This gringo-run joint under a
singles to suites, in a garden setting with a pool and breezy rancho sells tacos, burritos and the like from less
moderately priced restaurant. $55 than $6, plus a menú ejecutivo on weekday lunchtimes. It’s
Hotel Restaurante Kevin Just south of the bus a good place for a drink, too. Tues–Sun 3pm–midnight.

Guararé
The somnolent town of GUARARÉ, 6km north of La Tablas, springs to life once a year
when enthusiastic crowds arrive in droves to enjoy the famous Festival de la Mejorana
(see box opposite). That aside, Guararé’s other claim to fame is as the birthplace of
Panama’s greatest sporting legend and one of the all-time greats of world boxing,
Roberto Durán, better known as Manos de Piedra (“Hands of Stone”).
Casa Museo Manuel Fernando Zárate
Five blocks north of the main square • Mon–Sat 8am–4pm, Sun 9am–noon • Free
The Festival de la Mejorana, first held in 1949, was the brainchild of a local teacher,
Manuel Zárate, whose nostalgia for Panama while studying abroad made him realize
the need to promote and preserve the country’s cultural traditions. The Casa Museo
Manuel Fernando Zárate chronicles Zárate’s life and the festival’s history. Walls are
plastered with photos, including portraits of previous reinas, some antique polleras
and menacing devil costumes.

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