Road Trips from Boquete – Sitio Barriles – Volcan
Posted by Lee on June 5, 2007
Three of our children are in town for a couple of weeks and we have been sharing some of the treasures of Panama with them. We took a drive to Volcan and planned to visit the fabulous Finca Dracula but they raised their prices from $3 a person to $10 since our last trip and I despise being ripped off. We passed and with some advice from a friend discovered the Sitio Barriles, a far more engrossing if not amazing place.
To find Sitio Barriles drive into Volcan and as you pass Romeros on your right stay on the road do not make the turn to Cerro Punto. Drive about another 2 kilometers and look for signs on the left side of the road, turn left and drive 6 kilometers. This site is worth the trip to Panama if you have any interest in pre-Columbian history.
When you drive in you will find a small house with some parking, this is not a park it is a private Finca and the family has been there for 3 generations and involved with discovery and investigation of the Site.
Edna, was educated at Balboa High School and in California and speaks excellent english so do not allow language to inhibit a trip.
This stone carved in the shape of Baru as seen from Vulcan has a petroglyph map of roads and settlements of 2600BC Volcan.
One of the Barriles, a carved stone barrel perhaps used to roll larger stones down from Baru. There are several fine examples there as well as many other artifacts of carved stone dug out by the National Geographic Society in the 1950′s.
This Stone is rather amazing, also from this multicultural site it appears to be smoothly polished stone and it is.
After wetting it with a hose these images appear.
This site was excavated by German Archeologists in 2001.
It unearthed what to them appeared to be a ancient residence
The stones in the side are undisturbed from the original structure.
Follow me to more
Edna and her family with consent of the government cut into one other area unearthing a trench with layer after layer of what appear to be funeral jugs.
There is a room laden with artifacts removed from the trench.
Of all the places I have been so far in Chiriqui this site is most amazing. Three distinct cultures inhabiting this one area in a 2600 year span. Distinct cultures if their images and artifacts are indicative. It is theorized one was Asian and another African both in about the same time frame. And then Mayan at about 900 AD.
I cannot recommend this day trip enough if this bit of history is of interest to you. Edna takes her time to explain it all and answers questions. Oh cost, we never asked and even after Jennifer bought some trees and other plants and I gave a large gratuity the cost was far less than Finca Dracula.
Comments
8 Responses to “Road Trips from Boquete – Sitio Barriles – Volcan”Leave a comment, and if you'd like your own picture to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
Nice post. I will have to visit it one day.
How exciting! Great report…
Another question, is in Volcan any english speaking school? my husband is panamanian living in USA for 40 years, and we want to go back but need a school for my son
Any help
Thanks
We visited this site in march 2009. After having been travelling for 20 years to Panama we never saw this place before. It is a most interesting and amazing place. Mrs Landau is an excellent guide. She also makes excellent marmelades. We will certainly visit the site again.
Its wonderfull this place!!!!!
miss hugges i love, tomorrow i go to your home and kiss you