Blogs from El Valle de Anton, Coclé, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 2

Back again! I´ve been in Panama for a week now and for the majority of the time it has been raining..... Not just raining as I could cope with that, but absolutely pouring down!!! Everything got sopping wet including my entire pack and all my clothes and they are only just drying now after the third day of sunshine! For a while there it was getting a bit miserable as I was unable to really enjoy each town, but have now had three days of hot sun and have enjoyed every single minute of it!!! We crossed the border into Panama from Costa Rica about a week ago, having to walk with our packs over a rickety bridge that was about 200 metres long over a river and was only just wide enough for both pedestrians ... read more

After kind of a bummer in Panama, and just feeling like I'd wasted too much time there I headed to El Valle. It was just what I needed. It was a very quiet mountain town. Not too many tourist and not much else to do but hike and explore. The first hike I did was to see the square trees it was a lovely hike and I was feeling better already. After that I went to a garden/zoo and was reminded why it is I don't go to zoos, the animals were kept in horrible conditions. I went to some natural hot springs which weren't so pretty as they were just in a concrete pool, but I was able to get a natural mud mask which was nice. That nite I ate at an outside ... read more

What a relief to get out of the city! After 4 days in the heat and humidity of the coast, the cool mountain air of El Valle is a very welcome change. We´re only 96km from Panama City but we could be in another world. El Valle is a bit like Shangri La: a beautiful, prosperous little village set among lush green mountains where everything seems to be just about perfect. It´s barely more than one main street with a few roads leading off either side. The neat, tidy houses are all painted bright colours and flowers of all sorts, especially bougainvillea, orchids and hibiscus, grow in abundance all around. All the houses have well-tended, flower-filled gardens so the whole place reminds me of an English village in high summer. It´s very quiet too (apart from ... read more