A reader wanted more information on the agricultural tour we took outside Panama City. So maybe others do too. We visited a cashew farm and a sugar cane factory in the Province of Cocle near the towns of Nata and Aguadulce , about 90 minutes west of Panama City. The cashew farm is part of the Panafruit Company. The owner is organizing an agro-tourism circuit in southwestern Cocle including companies producing salt, sugar and shrimp, for tourists interested in tropical farming and food production. For more info see: http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20070617151703712
The reader suggested visiting the Abuelo/Sec distillery (southwest of where we were, in the Azada Pennisula, in the town of Pese) which I gather produces rum. I just checked and this is the brand of rum my husband bought (for $6.50 a bottle) at the duty-free in Panama City. The distillery may also make seco, a sugar-can-distilled alcohol that I gather tastes like vodka. (Add milk and ice and you have Panama’s most famous drink, mostly in rural areas. We didn’t try – it reminded me of a White Russian- but my husband did grow fond of Balboa beer.)
One word to the wise: remember that if you buy Rum or any other liquid more than three ounces at a foreign airport – and are making a connecting flight in the U.S. – you’ll have to pack it in your checked luggage (at least for the flight within the U.S.) Otherwise – as we learned the hard way – security will confiscate it from you when you board your connecting flight in the U.S. (In our case, my husband rushed back to get his soon-to-be-rechecked luggage so he could pack the rum inside. He didn’t end up doing this. Instead, a helpful airport ambassador boxed it for him and put it checked it as a second piece of luggage, at no extra cost.)
TakeBetsywithyou 