EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

With a spectacular setting south of the Darién Highway overlooking the Golfo de San Miguel - where the silt-laden waters of the Río Tuira flow into the Pacific Ocean with rugged, densely forested mountains rising on all sides - LA PALMA is the capital of Darién province, a lively commercial and administrative centre despite its isolation. There's not much to do here, but it's a friendly place largely unaffected by the fear gripping much of Darién (though you should still register with the police on arrival) and a good base from which to rent a boat to take you along the coast and up the Río Sambú into the Comarca Emberá Sambú .