El Valle de Anton

Saturday, the four of us hired a driver/guide for a day trip to El Valle de Anton (Anton's Valley). It's only about 1.5 hours north of Panama City and gave us a nice opportunity to visit the countryside, see some rain forest and see some of the village culture. It was a lovely day of well deserved shore leave.

Our guide was named Bo and he was great. He his an industrial engineer at the local power plant, but is a tour guide on the weekends to keep his English up and make some extra money. He loved all kinds of sports and knew almost more than Jon about college and professional sports. He has never left Panama. He told us that Panama was an indigenous word, not Spanish, and meant "Butterfly, Tree, Fish."

El Valle is a lush valley today, but about 3 million years ago, it was a huge volcano crater, created by a violent explosion. The valley now is home to a small village and is surrounded by forest covered mountains. It's quite beautiful there and the pace of life is much calmer and slower than Panama City.

After breakfast at a roadside cafe (breakfast was either chicken or beef, empenadas and yucca), we stopped at the market, where there were fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables, and crafts made by the indigenous peoples of Panama as well as local artists. The people were very friendly and eager to show their products, but they were not too pushy if you did not want to purchase anything.

Below, Bo is showing Jennifer bougainvilleas. There were colors I have not seen before in the United States. Maybe they exist at home, but I have not seen the orange and pink ones before. They were my favorite.

Guita bought a woven bracelet from an artist and Jon and I purchased a "Mola." Molas are traditional pieces of cloth used for blouses and are made by the Kuna women. They are made of multiple layers of colored cotton, by hand, and reflect traditional symbols of their tribe. I think they are beautiful. Here is a picture of the mola we bought from the lady who made it.

After the market, we went to a small park that protects a rain forest. It was much cooler in the forest and they gave us walking sticks to make the hike. We crossed swing bridges and ended up in front of a waterfall. Some of the trees are quite large and have huge roots exposed to the sides of the mountain or creek banks. Jon is standing on a root, just to give you a sense of the dimensions.

After the hike, we cooled off in a swimming pool that was a partially damed up creek. It was very quiet, except for the chirping of birds and the humming of frogs. We were visited my numerous butterflies, some quite large and exotic.

After a delightful lunch, we ended the excursion with a visit to the nearby hot springs, where people come to bathe in the warm mineral waters. They also put mud on their faces and bodies, let it dry and then wash it off. All in all, we left El Valle de Anton quite relaxed and tired. We come back to Balboa Yacht Club via a different route, which brought us across the new Pan American Highway Bridge; the bridge in the photo of me during our canal transit.

Tomorrow morning, February 23rd, we leave our mooring at Balboa and head about 30 to 50 miles southwest for the Archipielago de Las Islas Perlas (The Pearl Islands). That will be our launching point for leaving Panama and heading to the Galapagos Islands.