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On the morning of Christmas Eve, we flew
Honey-Mooney to Panama City - back to Gelabert (or Albrook) airport
after an absence of nearly 5 weeks. We visited Jorge at the Mapiex FBO
to find out how he was progressing with our permits for Ecuador and
Peru. Ecuador was OK and he thought the Peru permit would come through
by the time we returned to Panama City on the 26th.
We picked up a rental car and drove southwest for an hour and a half to
El Valle, a pretty town nestled in the crater of an extinct volcano that
erupted 3 million years ago. Fortunately, the Interamericana highway was
in better condition than in Costa Rica and we didn't have to keep our
eyes peeled for potholes.
Since this was high season, we had also pre-booked at the
Rincon Vallero
hotel. In fact, it had been a struggle to get a reply from them so we'd
ended up phoning them. When they finally sent us their confirmation by
email, the manager apologised for the inconvenience, and offered us an
upgrade to a suite, space permitting. We waved the email in front of the
receptionist and, sure enough, we got our upgrade. The Rincon Vallero
was one of the nicest hotels we've stayed in on our trip so far. It used
to be a privately owned country house and reminded me of a Mexican
hacienda. The bathroom was the best feature of our room. It had stone
walls and the shower water flowed out from a stone ledge, like a natural
waterfall.
After a delicious lunch, we went in search of a real waterfall that was
mentioned in the guide book and eventually found it. We had a great time
swimming in the natural pool beneath it, allowing the current to push us
along until we hung on to the banks and swam back up against the current
again. And, what's more, we had the whole place to ourselves.
The next morning we hired a young Indian guide, aged 10, to take us to
La India Dormida - a section of the crater wall shaped like a sleeping
Indian woman, if one used one's imagination, that is! During the
pleasant 3-hour walk, we worked up a hearty appetite for our Christmas
lunch at La Casa de Lourdes, which was an amazing place. The house
looked just like an old Tuscan villa, but was built only a few years ago
under the direction of the owner, called Lourdes, and her husband
Edward, of English origin. While we waited for our lunch (which was
delicious), Edward chatted to us about his life in Panama. He was in the
market gardening business and exported fruit and vegetables. The poor
man didn't get much peace at the weekends, as he had to help his wife
run the restaurant. As a matter of fact, they were rather overwhelmed
with the number of clients who turned up for lunch. They hadn't been
expecting a full house and it was actually our doing. We had read about
the restaurant in our guide book and recommended it to a large American
family staying at our hotel. They arrived before us, hence the wait for
the table.
Thanks to the cheapest phone cards we've ever come across - about US$5
for an hour of calling to Europe - we were able to make long calls to
our families in Denmark and England. Just as well we were in Panama over
Christmas, as we later found that phone cards in Ecuador, Peru and Chile
only last for about 10 minutes.
On Boxing Day morning, we decided to try out the local Pozos Thermales
(Thermal Baths), where we applied 'healing' mud to our bodies. We were
told to wait for it to dry before rinsing it off and plunging into the
hot bath. It was all good fun, but I don't think the mud made the
slightest difference to my neck and shoulders that have been suffering
on and off ever since I strained them, pruning the cherry tree in our
garden in Geneva. |
Our bathroom in Rincon Vallero where the shower water flowed out from a stone ledge, like a natural waterfall
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