THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Panama - page 286

ARRIVAL AND ACCOMMODATION: FINCA HARTMANN
By bus Take the Río Sereno bus from David via Volcán and ask to be let off at the entrance
to the finca .
By car The finca is signposted right at the entry to Santa Clara, just after the petrol station,
up a 1km dirt track (high-clearance 2x4, or better, required) to the farm.
Ojo de Agua Cabañas The finca 's two rustic cabins are tucked away in the forest. The
smaller one-bedroom cabaña is cosier and has a kitchenette whereas the larger six-bedroom
two-storey cabin with full kitchen and fireplace is more of a bunkhouse that can accommod-
ate up to ten people. Both have hot-water showers (though neither has electricity - gas lamps
and candles are used) and are regularly visited by howler and white-faced capuchin monk eys .
A sturdy 4 WD is necessary for acc ess , or you can arrange transfers. One-bed cabaña $90 ,
bunkhouse $140 , for up to four, plus $10 /extra person
Cerro Punta and around
Shortly after leaving Volcán, the road to Cerro Punta starts to twist and turn, threading its way
up a mist-filled ravine, through which the Río Chiriquí Viejo gushes, flanked by almost ver-
tical pine-clad slopes dotted with alpine chalets, some established by early European settlers.
Roadside stalls overflow with locally produced vegetables; stop off and gorge on a heaped
bowl of strawberries or blackberries and natilla (a local creamy custardy melange) or pick up
a pot of home-made jam.
Cerro Punta
Set almost 2000m above sea level in a fertile basin-shaped valley - the scarcely recognizable
crater of an extinct volcano - surrounded by densely forested, rugged mountains, CERRO
PUNTA is the highest village in Panama. In the ninety or so years since it was formally
settled, partly by Europeans, agriculture has expanded so rapidly that the area now supplies
over sixty percent of all the vegetables consumed in Panama, with fields forming a tapestry
of produce from lettuce, onions and carrots to commercial flowers and strawberries. This ag-
ricultural boom has come at the expense of the surrounding forests, but the village, frequently
swathed in cloud, and surrounding fields are still undeniably beautiful, filled with abundant
flowers and buzzing with hummingbirds. The spectacular scenery, together with the cool,
crisp mountain air (temperatures drop to well below 10°C at night), makes Cerro Punta a su-
perlative base for hiking , and the pristine cloud forests of La Amistad and Volcán Barú na-
tional parks are both within easy reach.
Guadalupe
Three kilometres beyond Cerro Punta, you arrive at GUADALUPE , an enchanting flower-
filled hamlet of around four hundred inhabitants, dominated by the rustic Los Quetzales
Lodge & Spa . From there, the road (and bus) sweeps round to the left in a wide loop, passing