April 2014: Capurganá, this remote coastal town in Colombia is just a short distance from Panama so we decided to take a day trip across the border. First we had to hike to Sapzurro, which is the town right on the Colombian border and then we hiked over the mountain to La Miel, the first town in Panama. Marko arranged for Daniel to be our guide to Sapzurro. Notice that Daniel has shoes but is not wearing them. He only wears them in town when he is trying to look good, so he tries not to wear them out actually walking in the woods.
It was a 15min walk to town (Capurganá), then we crossed through the town and started up the slope on the other side. This part of the country is very mountainous and the hike up was somewhat strenuous and longer than expected.
Close to the top we encountered a man selling fruit and drinks from a makeshift stand in the woods. He had carried everything up from town. We bought some cold water and he cut up some starfruit (carambola) that he had picked that morning. He put lime juice and salt on it. It was tart and sweet and salty and everyone loved it.
The views from the top of the mountain were spectacular. We could look forward towards Sapzurro or back towards Capurganá.
We then started the hike down, stopping along the way to watch leaf-cutter ants, army ants, small swarming bees, and termites, but no monkeys were seen that day. After a total of 1.5hrs, we arrived in Sapzurro.
We were hot and hungry so we bought some fantastic homemade ice cream from a lady named Chiva who claims to make the best ice cream in South America. She says that so many travelers have raved about her ice cream that some magazines and newspapers came and interviewed her. She makes the ice cream in a small tin cup with a popsicle stick stuck in it, then removes the cup when you buy it. An ice cream popsicle with flavors such as coffee, blackberry, coconut and caramel.
We now had the energy to cross over the hill to Panama. There were at least 200 steps to climb. They are painted with an array of colors.
At the top of the stairs was a makeshift passport control building with several border patrol officers. They wrote down our passport information in a spiral notebook. No stamp, unfortunately. Leila and Aiden enjoyed standing with one foot in Colombia and one foot in Panama.
The steps down into Panama are not as well-maintained as those in Colombia but it was nice to be going down instead of up. We arrived in the very small town of La Miel. There were several abandoned houses near the water with just the concrete structure intact. We followed a paved path that heads out to the beach on the point. This was our destination – Playa Blanca. We have read many reviews about the spectacular beauty of this beach.
On Playa Blanca, there are about 8 small restaurant stands and a large duty-free warehouse at the end of the dock. We selected the tienda (restaurant stall) that seemed to be the most popular to eat some lunch. They served one drink – beer and one dish – grilled chicken. You can not expect lots of options when you are near the middle of nowhere. The water was beautiful, clear, and warm so the kids decided to do some snorkeling.
As we sat on the beach, I noticed that there was a tremendous amount of small bits of trash in the sand and floating in the water. I was saddened that this beautiful spot is slowly being overrun by human trash. After several hours, we packed up, purchased some rum and wine at the duty free shop and hiked back over the mountain to Colombia.
In Sapzurro, we had some more world famous ice cream from Chiva, and then located, Rocky, our boat driver who took us back by lancha to Capurganá.
The boat ride from Sapzurro to Capurganá was shorter and easier. We did get to sit in the back this time so the bumps were not so bad but we were soaked by the waves. Another great day on our vacation.
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