Travel Journal:

Panamaniac - Resort town


Resort town 2-28-05
 
We found this town called El Valle by looking in Lonely Planet and choosing somewhere between Las Tablas and Panama City (because Anna flies out on Thursday). We got here just after dark last night and had a bit of a panic because we couldnt find a hotel room since there are lots of people in town trying to get away from Carnaval cities (which was the reason we came ... no more sleeping on floors!) but this SUPER nice man at Don Pepe Hotel knew were screwed and called about 16 different places for us, including families he knew who might give us a place to stay. Finally it turned out that the hotel next door to them (their competition, no doubt) had one room left for $38.50. At that point I would have paid $100. It´s a REALLY nice room with hot water and two beds and a TV and lots of space, and free coffee in the morning. Score. We needed it after that dirty ass place in Las Tablas. I won´t even get into what the bathroom looked like there, much less smelled like after 3 nights of frat boys partying. This is another town for Panamanian tourists. It´s in the crater of an old volcano, up in the mountains, and considerably cooler. There´s a big artesan's market in the center of town.

Today we woke up and had breakfast, did some shopping at the market for souvenirs and gifts. They have lots of Panama hats and carved wooden figurines and jewelry and painted wood pieces and wooden trays and woven baskets and hammocks and molas and etc. plus a flower market and fruit & veggie market. We bought a pineapple, a canteloupe, tomatos and bread for lunch ... all amazingly delicious. Then we walked to this rain forest park to see El Chorro Macho (The Manly Waterfall) and we got harnessed up and rode a cable above the canopy. It was only like 50 feet, but really fun. Then we saw the waterfall, which is beauitful, 80 meters of rocks with water rushing and spraying over it, and we saw some toucans flying in the trees above. Also we had to walk over several of those bridges like in Indiana Jones, which was really cool. They also had a swimming pool built into the stream. It was man made of stones, but the water flowed into it from a stream in the woods and flowed out on the other side back into the forest. We were already soaked from the drizzle (which is unusual during the day this time of year) and walking past kids with hoses on the way there (at this point, I want to kick all of them in the face) (thank god I brought a ziplock bag for my camera) so we abstained from swimming, but it was pretty. Tonight is the last night of Carnaval, and I am glad it will be over.

Tomorrow we will head back to Panama City to meet up with Caleb and Tyler (oh yeah, Tyler arrived from Costa Rica on Friday as Carnaval was starting and immediately fit right in with the frat boys, he didn´t want to leave Las Tablas, he said it was "too much fun"  ... ummm OK ... but we did actually see him on TV on a Carnaval recap news show ... too funny). Then the plan is that Tyler and I will fly to San Blas (we´re both so sick of buses) to enjoy the beach for a few days before he heads back.
 
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Panama City Journal : Panamaniac - Resort town Travel Photos
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