She Bought The Sombrero

Our days seem to be shorter and shorter as we passed the half way point of our adventure. On Tuesday we made the journey to Panama City, Tocumen International Airport to pick up our good friends. On the way we stopped at an outlet mall and checked out the best places for values on everything from home improvements and furniture to appliances, clothing and pharmaceuticals. We retrieved our friends grabbed some dinner and headed back to Coronado. Since they arrived we have had the best time taking them to share some of our favorite adventure places and great places to eat. We have also had ample time at the pool and even got in a few games of cards.

On Thursday we took them for an adventure to Valle de Anton. It was our second visit and we wanted to hit a few of the places we missed the first time and share the wonderful mountain destination with our friends. Our first stop was Hotel Campestre where the world famous square trees grow. We thought, based on our own research, that the square trees were growing near the hotel and we could spend a few minutes to check it out. Once there, we found the path to the square trees and paid the admission of $5 each. We embarked on the path for the short hike which turned out to be too difficult for our friend. The hike was nearly 45 minutes of steep, and often difficult terrain. Our hosts dogs accompanied us with only two of us completing the entire journey to the one square tree. The hike through the jungle was beautiful, however it would be easy for us to consider this stop a tourist trap. We are sharing the pictures of the square tree hike below and hope that all of you will draw your own conclusion. At the end of the hike we had the great treat to see a sloth. It was high up in a tree near the hotel. We couldn’t get a great picture even with a zoom lens.

Following the square tree adventure we took off for the butterfly habitat. All of us enjoyed our visit there.  The $5 per person price of admission was considered to be fair. The tour was guided and very informative. We learned that there are over 1500 species of butterfly in Panama with over 1000 in Valle de Anton. Our guide told us that the definition of Panama is abundance of species and the butterflies certainly prove that out. We will spare you the details of life-cycle of the butterfly and all of that, but we did want to share with you some of our pictures.

By the end of the butterfly tour we were ready for lunch. It seems that the fondas and restaurants in Valle de Anton may be geared more to the tourist business. We had a wonderful fonda lunch, but the price was almost double what we have paid for similar food at other fondas.

After a brief discussion, we decided to save the orchid exhibit, zoo and reptile house for another adventure. The girls wanted to return to the mineral springs and mud bath, while the guys wanted to make the hike up to El Macho Falls. We talked about the mud bath in the post from our first visit to El Valle so we will tell a little about the El Macho Falls. The hike was short and beautiful with difficult terrain and suspended bridges. The guy at the gate gave us walking sticks which proved very helpful. This is a hike that most people could do with no problem, and well worth the effort. There is a zip line through the canopy but it wasn’t open when we were there. I imagine that it would be great fun to zip line down from the top of the falls. We hiked up through the jungle and the falls were magnificent. When we returned to the base of the falls there were pools of cool mountain water where we took a quick dip to cool off. From there it was a short hike back up to where we parked. It was only about 5 minutes by car back to where we left the girls at the mineral springs and mud bath. We are sharing pictures of the El Macho Falls hike below. The video is only a few seconds long to give you the sounds of the moment. We were not allowed to film or use video equipment at the pools, but we were the only ones there, so there is a couple of pictures. I imagine that clothing is optional at the pools (we took our dip in swim suits). There is a 3 sided wood screen where people can change.

Pool at the bottom of El Macho Falls

We picked up the girls at the mineral springs/mud bath and made our way to the market. Jen bought the hat and we browsed through. The treasures and vegetables were nearly the same on Thursday as our original visit on Sunday. You may recall that the market at el Valle de Anton is called the Sunday Market. We were relieved that vegetables would be available every day.

It was time to head home. We had a message from an agent who would be available to show us through one of our top choices for a permanent retirement home. We wanted the opinion of our friends, so we made the stop. Rio Mar Pacific Tower is a beautiful, newly constructed 24 story (48 unit) condo. We looked at a 2 bedroom and a 3 bedroom unit and it is hard to not love this place.

Balcony of Rio Mar 18th floor 3 BR

It just may be a little above our comfort zone for price. It does include underground parking, a deposito (storage locker), 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, large laundry room (accommodates a full size washer and dryer), and appliances. We will share a couple of other top choices with our friends before they go back to Michigan.

We have been working on this post for 3 days now, and could go on for much longer. We will wrap it up here, though, because we do not want to ramble. Thank-you for following along. Once again, we want to express our gratitude for the kind comments. Please catch up, if you missed anything, by clicking on the archive links. We are pleased to have our blog and any portion shared. There has been time when we have shamelessly borrowed content from others. We consider it an honor when people enjoy our content enough to share.

For now, Buenos Dias,

Greg and Jen

 

 

Our Day at Valle de Anton was much too short

Our day started with a beautiful one hour drive into the mountains…destination Valle de Anton. We researched this place as a possible permanent home in our post of Today, Let’s Explore Valle de Anton in November of 2017. If you’re just joining the adventure, and want to catch up, it may be a great time to click the link and read about our research. When researching for our excursions we expected to find this wonderful place much further away. We chose to go on Sunday by design because the market there is called the Sunday Market. We now understand that it is open every day. This charming town is loaded with things to do and we didn’t know where to begin. The road led us to the mineral springs and mud bath. Our lack of fluent communication proved to be a small problem. We paid the $4 to enter only to find that it was only the mineral springs and mud bath, no paths to water falls. We embraced the moment and smeared mud on our faces and relaxed in the mineral baths for quite some time.

We decided after the mineral springs to visit the Sunday Market. We hadn’t prepared properly for the order of events. Perhaps it would have been better to go to the mud and mineral bath last. The Sunday Market was great. We found all the things described in our previous research. There were many cool paintings, granite figurines, and hats to mention a  few. Jen found a hat she liked, however she was unable to negotiate the price to where she wanted.

You may recall that the vegetables are not too impressive here near our beach home. When one drives to the interior of the country there is a climate difference which is more conducive to vegetable growth. We got some nice fresh vegetables that are not available in the grocery store here. We will be making periodic, future visits to this new found place to further explore and buy vegetables. We had a great, late lunch at Carlitos before heading home. If you remember our previous post, we did not explore the butterfly sanctuary, zoo, waterfalls, or see the square trees.

This morning we had our 3rd session with the Spanish tutor.Her name is Jasmine and she is a wonderful teacher. As it turns out, everyone around here knows Jasmine and she deserves to be mentioned. If you’re in the Coronado area, and want help with your Spanish skills, give us a message, and we will provide you her contact info. This afternoon we are hanging out at the pool on the roof, and relaxing. Tomorrow, we will be heading to Panama City. We have to be at the American Embassy at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning to start the drivers license process. We hope to have our Panama drivers license by mid afternoon Wednesday before returning home. With any luck we will be able to make our next post on Thursday.

It looks like we are getting about 100 hits a day on this thing and we are finding it humbling that so many are living our adventure vicariously through us. Please feel free to share any or all of our posts. We love the few comments we are getting and all the likes on Facebook.  Please, if you haven’t, subscribe by e-mail to get our blog delivered directly to your in box.

Chao,

Greg and Jen

Today, Let’s explore El Valle de Anton

Today we are researching what we may find in El Valle de Anton. This village is located about 2 hours west of Panama City. It offers sports like hiking, horseback riding, and ziplining through the rainforest. We will also find sightseeing adventures such as the El Nispero Zoo and Serpentario (snake habitat). El Valle de Anton is the site of the worlds second-largest extinct volcano. We will also find a well known open air Sunday market.

The Sunday market is one of the biggest draws to El Valle de Anton. We will be able to shop for vegetables, fruit, ornamental plants, flowers and orchids. We will also find handicrafts such as wooden bowls, bateas (wooden trays), woven baskets, hats, paintings on wood, carved and painted totumas (cups made from squash), trinkets made from acorn, hammocks, baskets and ceramics.  The Kuna Indians offer their handicraft like colorful molas (blouses) and jewlery. The market is in the center of town, under a roof that was recently rebuilt.

El Nispero Zoo is more of a nursery than a zoo. That being said, we will find very well maintained trails and an extensive array of tropical plants, which include the country’s national flower – El Espiritu Santo. Orchids Center (Aprovaca Orquideas) concentrates on conserving endangered native orchids and promoting ecotourism and environmental education. The Zoo is also the best place in El Valle to observe the famous golden toads. Most of their natural habitat has either been destroyed or is inaccessible, so it’s virtually impossible to view them in their natural habitat.  A frog exhibit, which is managed by the Smithsonian Institute, has a large showcase for the famous golden toads and additional exhibits for other frog species. It offers visitors an opportunity to see these reptiles up close.

Outside the Hotel Campestre we will find the famous square trees. They are members of the cottonwood family. Saplings of these trees are now being grown at the University of Florida to find out if they will retain their squareness in a different environment. It is believed, however, that the shape is probably due to an unknown but purely local condition. That is indicated by the fact that the tree rings, each representing a year’s growth, are also square.

We have read that it has been around 5 million years since Anton Valley had a volcanic eruption, so it is highly unlikely that there would be another eruption anytime soon. The valley does, however host many hot springs that evidence continuing volcanic activity. These hot springs are a naturally occurring phenomenon caused by hot magma passing through tiny fissures before contacting fresh water. This produces a warm, therapeutic, mineralized water.   Anton Valley’s Public Hot Springs provide a rare natural product that treats several skin problems while leaving your face and body perfectly clean and feeling great. This is a destination that we will certainly visit.

A short walk from town, we will find the Petroglyphs (Piedras Pintadas). All of these writings can be found on one large vertical rock face. They are at the base of the trail that leads to the Sleeping Indian (La India Dormida).  The Sleeping Indian, who acquired her name based on local legend, is a chain of hills who’s formation resembles the shape of just that, a sleeping Indian. These hills help form part of El Valle de Anton’s volcanic rim.

The town of La Mesa is located nearby in the Valle de Anton. It is the site of the Chorro el Macho waterfall. This 280 foot waterfall is considered one of the most beautiful areas of the valley. It is a short 30 minute walk north through the lush rain forest. At the base of the falls we will find a large natural pool where people are welcome to swim. Walking paths throughout the area will allow us to explore the area. There are suspension bridges that cross the river providing views of the falls. For the more adventurous, (Jen says she will never do this) there is zip lines through the treetops that provide breathtaking aerial views of the Chorro el Macho waterfall. If we hire a guide they will point out the local birds, animals, butterflies, and other points of interest.

This area sounds like one of the best opportunities for adventure. It is perhaps a strong contender for a place we would eventually like to live in Panama. I borrowed most of the adventure content from various travel websites. Once we experience these first hand, we will give detailed reviews of our experiences.

Today’s Spanish lesson should help us in the market: ?que’ es la costar de la fresco el vegetal? Translated…What is the cost of the fresh vegetable?

Thank-you for continuing to follow. We continue to be excited about our upcoming adventure. Please remember to like, share, and comment. You all are what makes this incredible adventure worth sharing. Buenos Dias.