On Thursday, we rolled with our new friend Joe on a bus from Santa Fé into Santiago, and then for a short while on a bus heading towards Panama City. We watched and felt bad as he had to cram his legs into the seat when things got crowded, one of the few times in my life when I am thankful I am not 6'6". He continued on into the big city as we said goodbye and hopped off at the junction called Las Uvas. There at the bus stop, an old man assumed we were Dutch and tried to talk to us which confused us greatly. Then we crammed into a van with 25 other people that took us to the town of El Valle.
Rain was falling as we got dropped off in the Centro, luckily there were 3 hotels close by to choose from and we picked the cheapest. The bed was very firm and small, one of the many reasons why we searched for future accommodations while walking to find dinner. We found a hostel that looked like a warehouse painted yellow and the bald American guy with a southern accent showed us around. Still expensive at $33 per night, the pool, kitchen, free eggs & bread for breakfast, cheap laundry service, and gameroom complete with ping-pong table sold us on the place. We have come to terms with the high price of lodgings in Panama and save money by cooking and finding cheap food, like the $3.50 dinner plates we ate that Thursday night.
We awoke on Friday morning at our hotel that resembled an old mental hospital, loosely packed up our belongings, and walked the short distance to our new place called Windmill Hostel. After settling in, we found a cafeteria style eatery for lunch and walked the few kilometers to a waterfall known as Chorro de las Mozas. A small falls that runs powerfully through a channel carved into volcanic rock, it was okay but not great, not really worth the $2 entry fee. The coolest part about the area is that the whole valley of El Valle de Antón was formed when a large volcano erupted millions of years ago. The resulting crater filled with water forming a lake, eventually the water broke through at the spot where the falls now is and flooded the lands below. The valley is now flat and lush and surrounded by jungle lined volcano walls.
On the way back to town, we stocked up on groceries and bought some veggies from the market. Julia made spaghetti with carne molida (ground beef) and garlic bread for dinner. Later, we played foosball and ping-pong while a 1.5yr old blond Dutch kid stared at us and helped turn some of the knobs.
After a failed attempt to hike up a hill in Santa Fé, I had big plans for Saturday. Just west of the town center is the prominent peak known as Cerro Cara Iguana (see photo above). I researched the routes online and convinced Julia that it would be a memorable experience. I did not lie. We ate our fried eggs and toast for breakfast and began walking at about 10am. The roads to the trailhead weren't as clear as the map showed and we spent close to 40 minutes walking around town confused. Luckily the area was beautiful and lined with million dollar homes. Large plots of lands, gated entryways, and well manicured lawns with streams and gardens, the homes were cottage like and housed the wealthy Panamanians that look for refuge from the big city 2 hrs away. The scenery kept Julia distracted until I finally found the right path and we started walking uphill.
The trail started out clear enough. We came upon a dirt road at the top of the ridge and followed it for a short distance. The trail was supposed to spur off, continuing along the ridge but we were unable to find a well marked path. We ducked a gate and took a side dirt road that led to terraced off plots that were for sale. The groomed land quickly ended but we could see a point not much farther up where we figured a path could be found. We crawled through a hole in the barbed wire fence and made our way up through the long grass and weeds. At the top our destination was visible but the faint path was tight and overgrown. Hoping it would clear up, we followed the ridge, scraping our legs on bushes before we noticed a clearer path just across the next valley. Down we went into the jungle where it got dark and cool before we broke through, out onto a well worn trail and felt like the rest would be smooth.
Beginning of the trail
The good feelings didn't last long. Our smooth road veered off in the wrong direction and after some contemplation, we decided to stay on the ridge line and once again follow a faint overgrown trail. I usually love ridge hikes, but this one was a little too rough. The views over the city below and the Pacific Ocean to the south were amazing, but the constant grass and shrubs brushing against the legs make walking a little slow and painful. Long pants would have been a good idea.
The ridge line behind us and what the trail looked like
The route continued like this for another hour before we made it to the more traveled section and almost 4 hours after we began our hiking, we were on top of Cerro Cara Iguana. We looked down on El Valle below and could see the full amazing crater and tried to imagine what it looked like before it blew its top. The walk down was much easier as we used the more popular route which took us along the other side and mostly on a very rough dirt road. Back at the hostel, we joyfully jumped into the pool and enjoyed some rare afternoon sunshine.
That Saturday night, we ate leftover spaghetti and the hostel filled with locals (mostly young couples) coming in for the weekend. A parade with a band marched down the main road and we heard fireworks, celebrating some festival. With a packed hostel where sounds travels easily, sleep was tougher that night as a we either heard a man snoring or a puma fighting a jaguar. Plus we were awoken at 3am as a lady knocked on the hostel entrance and we could hear the American landlord shout "For the love of God!" and then explain to her that check-in isn't until 11am. He was not very happy.
Speaking of our landlord, he has an interesting personality. Originally from Memphis, he has lived here for a while but speaks less Spanish than we do. When we hear him show locals around, half of his words are English and in an unapologetic way. Just assuming they understand. There are other full-time residents who live in attached apartments, mostly Americans who might be running from things. One drunk man, who is buddies with the landlord, berated a local for drinking Budweiser, then told us he was going to steal a golf cart. He makes frequents stops at the ice machine to keep his rum and cokes cold.
On the first day we met a man with gray curly hair who lived most of his life in Hawaii and causally talked to us about his belief in conspiracy theories. He is one of those 9/11 Truthers who liked to talk about the width of planes compared to the damage left in the Pentagon and told us to watch a video online. He seemed harmless enough and shared his opinions in a calm way. We were polite and found a way to escape his company.
The Hawaiin man seemed sane compared to the other gray straight haired man we met that was originally from St. Louis but had lived here for 5yrs. Early in the conversation, he told us he was a writer who had lived in 12 countries and spoke 6 languages poorly, things that came out as arrogant when they were shared. We discussed traveling and he warned us about going to Honduras, we told him it was very safe. When the discussion turned to our trip to Cuba and the hopeful open relations with the US, he randomly stated that if he had a terminal illness he would assassinate President Obama. Again, if anyone in the government is reading this, this was said by a gray haired man from St. Louis who lives in an apartment in the Windmill Hostel in El Valle, Panama (I can get you the room number if you want). We do not endorse this man's opinion. We sat there stunned for a moment, not really believing what we had just heard. He said he is blunt because he finds most people want that. The conversation basically ended after that and he realized that he had interrupted what we were doing when he walked up and apologized. We were glad when he walked away.
I wished I would have asked that man what the POTUS had personally done to hurt him but figure he is just a man with problems. For some unknown reason, most of the old single US expats we have met in the last 2 months have had major issues. It scares me a little and makes me wonder if loneliness in a foreign country has made them that way or if they screwed up things back home and are running. Before I met Julia, I had sometimes envisioned moving overseas and living an exiting expat life. Appearing to be sophisticated and smart, being idolized by backpackers that crossed my path. Now maybe I wonder if I would have become a weird drunken man who complains about things and frightens young couples. Not saying it's guaranteed that none of this will happen now, but at least I won't be lonely.
Back to our travels: Sunday we did poached eggs on toast and walked out to a Golden Frog conservation center in the valley. Unfortunately it is located inside the zoo and you have to pay $5 a person to get in, so we cut our loses and walked the 1.5kms back to the town center. Next stop was the market which was in full bloom. They have a plant section, a veggie section, and a craft/souvenirs section. We explored but only bought fruit, then spent the afternoon reading back at the hostel while a storm rolled in. As the rain was coming down the hardest, we jumped in the pool. I finished my 4th book of the trip before making an eggplant pineapple curry for dinner. We finally used up the bag of rice I have been carrying around for 3 weeks.
Monday morning we ate French toast and watched as the hostel cleared out. By midday we realized we had the place to ourselves. We asked the landlord if that meant that all food items left in the fridge were up for grabs and he said yes. Upon hearing this, we felt a happiness that most people would find quite strange. The locals had come in over the weekend and left many good items behind. Potential meals raced through our heads so perfectly that it seemed these items were left here by some divine force. A box of pancake mix, frozen hashbrowns, tortillas, salsa, cheese, butter, BBQ sauce, a can of Balboa beer, 2 bottles of half drank wine, orange juice, pineapple juice, and chocolate ice cream.
That afternoon we walked 5kms out to a waterfall known as El Macho. We reluctantly paid $5 per person to enter and were disappointed by a subpar view of the 85 meter falls. Fortunately they have a freshwater pool that has been dugout and lined with a rock wall for swimming. We had it to ourselves and enjoyed the quiet respite.
View of El Macho waterfall
On the walk back to town we grabbed a tamale and some chorizo from a food tuck to tide us over until dinner. More reading and relaxing by the pool until the afternoon clouds came in and forced us indoors. Leftover curry was reheated and Julia turned the pancake mix into crepes to accompany our exotic meal. We played more ping-pong and billiards, it felt odd that no one else was around.
Tuesday morning (today) we took full advantage of our food bounty and made breakfast burritos with tortillas, cheese, rice & beans, eggs, hashbrowns, and salsa. I added BBQ sauce to mine and highly recommend it. Julia is more of a traditionalist. We had tentative plans to visit a nearby hot springs, but after reading bad reviews, we decided to skip it. Instead, we spent the whole day getting some things done online and plugging our travel costs into the Numbers app on my iPad. I just recently downloaded it and since both of us love numbers, it seemed like a logical thing for us to do together.
We finally got new roommates this afternoon, a couple from the Netherlands who have a rental car and are traveling for 3.5 weeks around Panama. It was good to share travel stories and get some social time in with people who aren't crazy. Dinner tonight was once more manipulated leftover curry and pancake crepes followed by chocolate peanut butter ice cream.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will finally leave after 6 nights in El Valle and venture into Panama City. Our time here has been good and the fridge has been cleared out. Our clothes have been washed twice and we feel ready to take on our first capital city since Havana, Cuba. We normally shy away from the larger towns since most have had little to offer, but this one is supposed to be good and of course is close to the famous canal. We will let you do some research and get back to you.
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