With the daily rain in Boquete Panama in October I decided on a road trip to the beach. I went with some friends from David and they decided on Las Lajas a beautiful beach one hour east of David. The roads between David and Las Lajas, about 90 KM are excellent with construction in process and at least one speed trap. Although there are no signs up yet on the new portion the transito who pulled me over explained I should know that speed limit in populated areas is 60KM. Once again he waved the locals he pulled over on and was happy to write me a ticket. Driving the Interamerican is a process of guessing the right speed as it varies from 100km down to 40km usually with signs, but not always.
The last time I visited Las Lajas successfully was December 2006 and it was beautiful and quite. This time it was beautiful, quite and full of signs that those days are coming to an end. I have tried between but the last time I tried I could not find the beach so here are my new easy to follow directions that include clues of changes in the wind.
You drive from David east until the San Felix turn off and make a right under the huge Las Lajas sign. The have started work on the road from the turn off and it needs it. You then drive about 2.5 km to this harbinger of things to come.
Make a right and go about 9kn more on a very very deteriorated road allow 30 minutes and pull into the restaurant Estrella del Pacifico for your first cold beer. The restaurant has deteriorated in the past two years and so has the food.
But the beach is still stunning, beautiful and for a Saturday afternoon wonderful.
Take anything you might need to Las Lajas, there are no real facilities or stores. That is changing just past the tuen to La Estrella I saw a new motel under construction and I am sure much more will be coming. Tragically Lass Lajas has been discovered.
