|
Presents the
End of the Road Resort and Tour
Our far away resort is on top of the continental divide in the Coclé Province of
The Republic of Panama.
The view from the Oville Dining Pavilion.
Click here to see our video of the
tour.
The San Miguel Tour is a 3-7 day
glimpse of remote mountain life in
the far mountain jungle of Coclé Panama.
|
This
Tour Includes: |
-
The Cucua
Dancers will perform and the band will play into the
evening.
-
A day at
Mendoza Falls and fishing the San Miguel River.
-
Don Leonardo's Coffee field
and trapiche tour with fresh coffee drinking.
-
The Real Panama
Hat production series.
-
Daily artist
work in the Cardenas Artesian Pavilian
-
Mountain
climbing Cerro Viejo Mountain
-
Eco Tour
of local plant and wildlife including the
Oteo and Yuca fields.
-
A day in the
town of San Miguel and a baseball or soccer game.
-
Chicha Fuerte
production and party.
-
Wild Toucan and
rare mountain birds viewing tour.
-
Night life and
dancing with local musicians.
-
Traditional housing with running water.
-
Showers and
bathroom facilities.
-
Bilingual
guides with a 20 year tradition in the community.
-
Transportation
to and from Tocumen International Airport.
|
Cocle Tour
Directors, Blake & Meli
will be your personal guides
|
 |
Blake and
Meli are both fluent in English and Spanish.
Blake's first trip to San Miguel was 1988 where Meli was
the tour guide. Blake, from the Panama Canal Zone,
and Meli, from the Cocle Province, have a unique
experience to provide you the most complete and
entertaining tour of the Panama mountain region of Cocle
Province. |
|
Entertainment |
|
|
|
This is our only tour
that includes the Cucua Dancers. This ancient tradition is the
only one left in Panama that uses the real Cucua attire.
|
|
|
Mendoza
Falls and The San Miguel River |
|
|
Mendoza Falls is a 35
foot high waterfall on the resort grounds |
On our grounds is Mendoza Falls.
One of the day tours includes a morning tour of the San
Miguel River and how trout are caught in this mountain river
followed by a swim. After the drying off we retreat to a
relaxing lunch at the base of Mendoza falls.
|
The San Miguel River averages 30
meters wide |
|
|
|
Don Leonardo's
Coffee Plantation |
|
|
We
will take you to the century old coffee
plantation at the foot of the resort. The
next step is a walk down the San Miguel River
path to the horse powered trapiche which grinds
the coffee. Coffee is
still cooked in the traditional way. You will drink coffee
from Don Leonardo's 100 year old trees which have been in
the family for generations. The pillon is
the last leg of the coffee tour, this is a real
treat to see and maybe the favorite of the tour. |
|
Horse back
tour through Don Leonardo's Coffee Plantation |
|
Don Leonardo on the trail to his coffee |
|
|
|
In this part of the world
mountain climbing is a way of life. From
the youngest to the oldest, the local population
will out climb the some of the top mountain
climbing figures in the world. This is a
full day excursion starting early in the
morning. We bring lunch and rain gear.
This is one of the most fun days on the tour as
you will be astounded by the beauty and the
rigorous climb. |
|
 |
|
Mount Cerro
La Vieja is a great climb full of jungle birds
and wildlife. To reach the top is a
mountain climbing adventure you will never
forget. |
|
|
|
|
Some guest
make the mountain roads their dream cross
country course |
|
 |
|
The
mountain trails are green with
unique jungle vegetation. |
|
|
 |
|
The Panama Jungle - amongst the most luscious jungles in
the world.
|
|
The Real Panama Hats
and The Cardenas Artisan Center |
|
|
This Panama
Hat is over 20 years old and still used daily |
|
|
Panama Hats are amongst
the most famous hats in the world.
Completely hand made, the Panama Hat takes a
minimum of 30 hours of hand labor to make |
|
 |
|
A new
Panama Hat |
|
|
Each day a local guest
artist will be on hand to show you their style
of sculpture, painting, carving and many more
styles of art. the featured pieces are made of
soap stone and the turtle is made of bone. A
traditional Cucua artist will be on hand one day
to show this unique form of art based on the
Cucua Tree. |
 |
|
|
|
|
This
tour, lead by our resident
green thumb, Veto.
You will learn how different
plant life grows at
different altitudes and the
San Miguel River ecology
system. |
 |
|
Gardenia flowers grow at the
resort. |
|
 |
|
The Otoe plant, shown above,
produces a root, shown
below, used in soups and
casseroles. |
 |
 |
Coffee
production is not the only
coffee production in San Miguel
Centro. Shown here are
thousands of coffee plants ready
for transport to market. |
|
Agriculture
is the majority of the
local market. Veto
and his crew work the
year around growing
season. Depending
on the season you will
learn the agrarian
culture that has been in
place for a thousand
years. Below, Veto
inspects his rice field.
This is the only rice
field in San Miguel
Centro. |
|
Lead Ecologist Veto is
sought our by the Peace
Corp for his knowledge. |
|
|
|
If
studying insects is of interest
to you we have some of the most
interesting bugs in the world.
the San Miguel Centro jungle
environment host insects that
are studied by the Smithsonian
Institute because of this unique
ecology. |
|
 |
|
Walking Stick
walking a string at the
San Miguel Centro Resort. |
|
|
|
|
|
Toucans and Mountain
Birds |
|
|
Panama is
the largest sanctuary of
migratory birds in the world.
this is due to the south
hemisphere migrating north and
the northern hemisphere species
migrating south. Rare birds are
every where and our
strategically placed birdfeeders
with give you close and
designated locations to take
photographs of all the birds. |
 |
|
|
Cocle Toucan in the wild on the
San Miguel Centro Resort grounds. |
|
|
|
|
The San Miguel
Centro Excursion |
|
|
The
town of San Miguel Centro is a
small quiet town at the end of
the road into the Cocle
mountains. Either baseball
season or soccer season are
usually in play and the local
athletes are used to the
Americans visiting their game.
The school and church are always
busy and open for a visit. |
 |
|
San Miguel Centro has one store,
Kiosk style. |
 |
|
|
|
The Resort
|
|
This traditional
mountain estate consist of 6 dwellings
including community kitchen, shower and
bathroom. The resort accommodates
up to 30 people comfortably. |
|
|
view from Casa Cholo |
|
 |
Clean running water
is provided from our mountain well. Our water is the cleanest
in the country of Panama. The water system was installed in
2004 and consistently delivers exceptionally clean running water and
has good pressure as well. |
|
All
San Miguel Centro Resort lights are battery, kerosene or solar.
All walkways are lit with sidewalk lights and each dwelling
has multiple lighting fixtures for entrance, living room and
reading. Each person is provided a flash light or extra night
lumination. We have 4 different flashlight styles to chose
from. |
 |
|
Resident Chef, Jose Carlos, is a culinary
master who is sought by many restaurants in
Panama City |
|
|
 |
|
All food is
brought in fresh from the province capital by The Real Tours
of Panama management. Each meal is prepared in
traditional Panama fashion. Meal planning is part of
our simple questionnaire to meet your culinary wishes. |
|
|
Here one of Jose Carlos's assistants chops the wood
for
the traditional "lenia" cooking preparation |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
River Trout is a specialty |
A lite lunch is
served daily |
|
|
|
Dinner under the Cashew trees
is a favorite at San Miguel Centro Resort. Indoor
dining is served at the Oville Dining Pavilion. This
open air facility has traditional pencá roof
and overlooks The San Miguel valley. All
food is served in a totally clean family
style environment. The servers will never let your glass
go empty. |
|
|
Our resident
Tour Guide Veto Mendoza |
|
