The most important festivals in Azuero are Carnival (Feb/March), the Ocu International Fair in Herrera (Jan), the Azuero International Fair (April/May), The Pollera National Festival (July) and La Mejorana Folklore Festival in Guararé (Sept).

Azuero is cattle country, and is part of the "Dry Arch", the driest part of the republic. Small hills with semi-arid savanna vegetation merge with fertile river courses and coastal marshlands.

The region also offers many opportunities for eco and adventure tourism. El Montuoso, in southwestern Herrera, is a green forest reserve excellent for camping. Isla Iguana, off the coast of Pedasí in Los Santos, is a natural sanctuary for many species of birds and sea creatures.

If you go fishing you will catch more than you can handle and will get tired of hauling them in. Fishing trips and lodging can be arranged through Pedasi Fishing, a company which offers small open boats called pangas ( call 6673-1112)

Herrera province has a desert, Sarigua National Park, an 8,000 hectare arid coastal plain.

The region is also known for its fine pottery. Handicraft hunters will enjoy visiting the town of La Arena, which is known throughout Panama for its excellent pottery works, as well as for its delicious bread, baked in old-fashioned adobe ovens.

Small, but interesting museums in the towns of Chitré and Las Tablas cover everything from the pre-Columbian period to the role of both provinces in Panama's independence struggle.

On the eastern tip of the peninsula, just outside the community of Pedasi is an exclusive "Petit Hotel" run by Gilles Saint-Gilles, a French architect who designs mansions for the titled, the celebrated and the very rich. His presence there is no accident, because those people are "discovering" the region.