Santa Fe de Veraguas

Santa Fe sits at around five hundred metres in the mountains of Veraguas, right on the continental divide, and it is what Boquete was before the retirees and the coffee tours arrived: a small agricultural town in the hills with cool air, a Sunday market, and a set of rivers and waterfalls in walking distance. Orchids grow here in exceptional variety and several growers open their gardens. The Santa Fe national park protects the forest above the town on both slopes, with cloud forest, quetzals and a trail over the divide toward the Caribbean side. Tubing on the Bulabá and Santa María rivers is the local summer activity.

History

The hills north of town were a gold-mining region from the start of Spanish colonisation. In 1557 the Spanish crown authorised the conquest of Veraguas, and Captain Francisco Vázquez founded several towns, Santa Fe among them in 1558; the much larger town of Santiago was later founded in the mid-17th century by people from Santa Fe and Montijo (Wikipedia, Santa Fe District, Veraguas).

The landscape

• The orchid gardens - private collections open to visitors in the town.
• The waterfalls - Bermejo and others within walking or short driving distance.
• Santa Fe national park - cloud forest on the continental divide.
• River tubing - on the Bulabá and Santa María.

When to go

December to April is the drier season, though this is the divide and rain falls on the Caribbean side year-round. The Sunday market is the town's main event. Orchids flower across the year with a peak in the drier months.

Good to know

There is very little tourism infrastructure: a handful of small hostels and guesthouses, limited food and no organised tour operators of any scale. Roads to the waterfalls are rough. Trails in the national park are poorly marked and a guide is worth arranging. Spanish is essential.

Nearby

Santiago is an hour south; the Caribbean coast is over the divide.