Parita

One of the most picturesque and best-preserved colonial towns in the peninsula, Parita is just off the Carretera Nacional—the main road into the peninsula—which makes stopping here to admire its lovely central plaza and shady streets practically obligatory. Founded in 1566, it was the first Spanish settlement in the Azuero Peninsula, and it soon became one of the principal suppliers of food for the gold mines in the Cordillera Central. The grassy plaza that lies in front of that church is surrounded by long, colorful adobe homes with barrel-tile roofs.