A Week at Hawk’s Nest: The Panama Stay We Were Looking For
We wanted somewhere quiet, local and well off the resort trail. What we found in the mountains above Panama’s Pacific coast was a place that felt less like lodging and more like staying with friends.
Leaving Panama City was probably the most stressful part of the drive, and even that wasn't particularly difficult.
Traffic leaving the city was what you would expect: three lanes, plenty of cars and small motorcycles slipping between them. If driving in an unfamiliar city makes you nervous, this might be the part where you reach for the metaphorical Xanax.
For me, it was no big deal.
Once we were clear of Panama City and onto the main highway, the traffic thinned and the drive became easy. Eventually we reached the Las Lajas area, turned away from the main road and started climbing toward La Laguna.
That's when Panama began to change.
The roads became smaller. Houses became fewer. At night, there wasn't much lighting. From the main road in town, it took us roughly 15 minutes to reach Hawk's Nest.
You knew you were getting out there.
And that was exactly what we wanted.
Up the Mountain
The entrance to Hawk's Nest was well marked, and the final approach is one of those little details I still remember.
You come around a sweeping right turn, climbing uphill, and there it is.
Then you walk through the house and out onto the back patio.
That's when the place makes sense.
The property sits high in the mountains with an enormous, almost unobstructed view across the valleys toward the Pacific. From the patio, the landscape seemed to wrap around us.
There was an infinity pool, with a hot tub a few steps below it. A covered seating area had a sofa, chairs, a hammock and a small refrigerator that kept the beer cold. Nearby was a small gazebo with a tall table and four chairs where we sometimes ate breakfast.
This wasn't a place where we dropped our luggage and immediately started looking for something else to do.
The place itself was somewhere we wanted to be.
Comfortable Without Trying to Be a Resort
Our room was simple and comfortable.
We had a large bed, plenty of closet space, room for our luggage and a private bathroom with a big shower. There was Wi-Fi, but no television in the room.
We didn't miss one.
There was no air conditioning either. In late March and early April, we didn't need it. We kept the windows open, ran the ceiling fan and had a breeze moving through the room most of the day.
The property had only a couple of guest rooms plus a small detached casita, so it never felt crowded. Several mornings we shared breakfast with another couple, and one morning with travelers from Europe.
Most of the week, though, it felt as though we had the place to ourselves.
That suited us just fine.
Coffee, Breakfast and Randy & Wanda
Our mornings quickly developed a rhythm.
I'd get up, make coffee and head outside. Often Randy & Wanda were already awake, so we'd talk while I waited for Gina to get moving. Eventually I'd bring her a coffee too.
Breakfast was fresh and straightforward: fruit, an omelet, toast and juice.
The hosts, Randy and Wanda, are Canadian expats, and they became a large part of why we remember Hawk's Nest so fondly.
We had originally found the property online, but I contacted them directly and asked whether we could book with them rather than through a booking platform. As an Airbnb owner myself, I know how quickly third-party fees can chew into a stay. Randy offered us a discount for paying cash.
Worked for him. Worked for us.
But the relationship quickly became something more than host and guest.
I'd chat with Randy in the mornings. When Gina and I headed into town, I'd sometimes ask whether they needed anything. Most evenings, Randy and I ended up having a beer together.
They also had two very friendly dogs. Jake was one of them, and before long the dogs were simply part of the scenery too.
It began to feel less like staying at someone's property and more like visiting people we knew.
We Didn't Come With an Itinerary
This was one of those trips where we deliberately didn't build a daily checklist.
We'd have breakfast, get in the car and see where the day went.
We visited the hot springs at Termales, toured a coffee plantation, had hot-stone massages, wandered through a farmers market, visited a small zoo and even got pedicures.
Other days we simply drove.
We took random roads through the mountains. We stopped at waterfalls. We found scenic back routes toward El Valle. We'd head somewhere for lunch, explore for a while and usually return to Hawk's Nest in the late afternoon.
Sometimes we'd swim.
Sometimes we'd soak in the hot tub.
Sometimes we'd do very little at all.
And that was rather the point.
One Big Day, Plenty of Small Ones
We did have one deliberately big excursion.
For Gina's birthday, we drove to the Gamboa area, visited the Panama Canal and saw the IMAX presentation before having dinner at Kandela that evening.
It was a full day and a great one.
But it wasn't how we spent most of the week.
We didn't even make the beach a priority. We live near a beach at home. We did have lunch near the water one day, but flying to Panama just to sit beside another beach wasn't what we were after.
We wanted to experience ordinary life.
Drive the roads.
Eat somewhere somebody recommended.
Stop when something looked interesting.
Talk to people.
Then come back up the mountain.
Dinner With the Hosts
Hawk's Nest offered meals if guests wanted them, although there were plenty of restaurants down in town.
We had pizza there one afternoon.
And the pizza wasn't good for Panama or good considering it was made by a Canadian expat.
It was good pizza. Period.
One evening we decided to eat dinner at Hawk's Nest as well. Randy and Wanda were going to serve us, but by that point that felt ridiculous.
We asked them to sit down and eat with us instead.
Dinner was beef stir-fry with rice, and it was very tasty.
Another afternoon there was cake and tea.
These weren't grand travel moments. Nobody was checking a bucket-list box.
They were simply good moments with people we'd come to like.
That distinction matters.
Know What You're Booking
Hawk's Nest won't suit everybody.
You really should have a car. One couple arrived by Uber, stayed overnight and took another Uber to their next destination. It worked for them, but I wouldn't want to experience this part of Panama that way.
The freedom to drive was a huge part of our week.
If you want nightlife outside your door, this isn't the place.
If you want a big resort, a hotel loyalty program, room service and the predictability of the same major chain you use everywhere else, this probably isn't the place either.
And that's not criticism of that style of travel. We met travelers who preferred exactly that.
It's simply not ours.
We like places with personality. We like small properties. We like being able to talk with the people who live there. We like wandering down roads where we don't already know what's at the other end.
At Hawk's Nest, we had privacy when we wanted it, good Wi-Fi when we needed it, a comfortable room and people around when we felt like talking.
There were no bug problems that I remember. A few lizards wandered around, because Panama is Panama. We occasionally saw stray dogs and cats along the local roads, but not roaming the property.
And I never felt uncomfortable driving there, including after dark.
The Part You Remember
At night, we could look down toward the distant lights near the coast.
One evening the moon hung above them.
That's one of the images that stuck.
Not because it was something we'd researched months beforehand or scheduled for 7:30 on Tuesday.
We were simply there.
By the end of the week, Randy and Wanda didn't feel much like innkeepers. On my way out each day, I'd sometimes grab the household trash from the kitchen and carry it downstairs to the large garbage bin.
Why wouldn't I?
When we left, there were hugs.
Randy and I are still connected on Facebook and occasionally comment on each other's posts.
That tells you more about the stay than a list of room amenities ever could.
Would We Stay Again?
In a heartbeat.
But there's an important wrinkle.
If we return to Panama, we'd probably explore a different part of the country rather than repeat the same trip. There is simply too much we haven't seen.
That's not a knock on Hawk's Nest.
It's probably the highest compliment I can give it.
We went there hoping for a quiet place in the mountains where we could slow down, explore Panama at our own pace and avoid spending a week sealed inside a resort bubble.
We got the view.
We got the breeze.
We got the dogs.
And somewhere along the way, we got Randy and Wanda too.
That's the part no booking site can put in the amenities list.