El Valle- the mountains of Panama

This is the Chorro El Macho, one of the many waterfalls we hiked by on our way up the mountain in El Valle. It is a very pleasant mountain town about 1 1/2 hours by bus from Cuidad del Ninos this weekend with one of the other volunteers from Taiwan. During the week, rumors are that there are a few hundred people that actually live here, but the village swells each weekend with tourists, especially if it sweltering in the city. One cool fact about El Valle is that it is actually built in the crater of an extinct volcano! about 600 meters above sea level, but that really does make it quite a bit cooler. Many of the plants and animals are different as well.
When we arrived around 11:00 am, we hit the road hiking! Up the mountain, to try to get to the top of the head of the sleeping indian.

La India Dormida is a section of the mountains that circle the town, and with a little imagination, looks like a sleeping woman! The hike was about 3 hours long and, I can tell you it was up in the mountains with a cool breeze and all that, but WRONG! We are still in the tropics and by the time we reached the top we were wet all over from sweat! I am going to be so clean inside and out from sweating this summer! The most wonderful part of the hike was that we did not encounter any other folks on the whole hike except right at the bottom! It had been raining solid for the previous two days so the waterfalls were full and flowing in every direction. You can swim at the bottom of some of them which looked like a lot of fun but we did not stop. The plants here are spectacular-we may have some of the same ones at home, but the colors here are so alive!

This is a wonderful example of the colors! This plant was taller than me!
Near the bottom of the hike, we came across the La Piedra Pintada. It is a huge boulder with hieroglyphics. No one is sure what all the squiggly designs carved (not painted) mean or even who made them. Everyone warned us about the little boys that hang out on the side and, for some money, will share their theory!

By the time we returned to the Cabanas Potosi, it was dark and cool! The first kind of cool I have felt since arriving. The fireflies were out in force which is always fun to watch. We hung out on the porch in the hammock and talked for quite a while because it just felt great! MISTAKE! We should have gone to bed when we could have. The landlord had offered us ear plugs earlier, but we had not understood that at all times of the night there would be some kind of noise! FIRST, other guests just enjoying themselves outside too-no big deal. About 12:00- MIDNIGHT- a disco about a mile away turned up the music. I swear they were right next door it was so loud. They continued until around 3 or 4:00 THEN, the toucans started singing and they were even louder. Cool, but not at 5:00 in the morning. THEN, the roosters! YIKES! needless to say we did not sleep much.
Here is a great picture of one of the parrots outside the door and a sloth!


I thought he was so cute!
We proceeded in the morning to see how much more we could walk. We made our way to a little zoo called El Nispero. It is actually a plant nursery with a lot of birds, mainly, in small cages, but beautiful examples of what lives in the forests. It is also the home of the rana dorado-golden frogs! They were SO amazing! The El Valle amphibian Center, is supported by the Houston Zoo and houses about 40 endangered species. What a treat to spend time here.
Here are a few pictures of some of the most beautiful birds!



There were also these huge looking rats, capybaras, eating corn so loudly that I could hear them quite a ways before I saw them. Also Geoffroy’s tamarin=he was so ugly that he was cute! and a few different species of monkeys. My favorite? The golden frogs!

Their bodies are about two to three inches long plus their long, spindly legs. I thought they were plastic until they started moving. Unbelievable! Seeing them was worth the whole trip!
This was the sign outside the frog shelter. I thought it was pretty cool!

On the way out of town we had to do a little shopping at the outdoor central market and then we headed back to Cuidad del Ninos for another week of working with the boys.
Until next time, hasta luego!

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