El Valle, Panama

We only had one full day in El Valle, it was just a filler stop to break up the long journey from Santa Catalina to Panama City, but we actually really liked it here and probably would have stayed another day if we had time.

But the short time we did spend here was super fun. We were staying in the same hostel as the girls we had met in Santa Catalina, Liv and Rachel, and also saw two of the guys, Patric and Jamie, we had met in Bocas del Toro. We arrived late in the afternoon and sat in the hostel garden chatting, we were all too tired to do much else. It was Liv’s birthday the following day and our only full day here so we decided to pack it full of activities.

We started the day at 4am ready for a hike up a nearby hill to watch the sunrise. Well all of us except Patrick, he claimed the very idea of waking up early to do a hard walk was barbaric and that anyone who woke him would meet his wrath. Seeing as he was a good foot higher than the rest of us we left him be!

We hailed an open back collectivo to take us to the start of the walk, he seemed unsure when we got on of where we wanted to go, but insisted he could take us there despite us saying we could get a different collectivo. It turns out he did not know where he was going at all and took us 10 minutes in the wrong direction. Eventually we got him to stop and he admitted defeat and phoned a friend who gave him institutions. We got to the start a little later than we had hoped for but this turned out not to be a problem as the driver just kept on going up the path, off road, until he had taken us up about a quarter of the trek and the car physically couldn’t fit any further along. At this point he finally stopped and us four and 6 other people from our hostel doing the same hike got out.

I asked the driver how much we owed him and he said $25 USD and looked shifty about it but before I could question it further one of the guys from the other group was collecting $2.50 from each of the 10 of us and handed it over. The guy then asked if he could take a photo of us all and had already blinded us with a flash from his camera before we had a chance to respond.

When the lights had faded and the collectivo had finished it’s 90 point turn and headed off, we started the walk. It was a little strenuous but the hardest part was seeing where you were going in the dark, there were a lot of loose rocks prime for a twisted ankle. Luckily after carrying her head torch around for 3 and a half months it was finally Grace’s time to shine and put it to use.

Gradually we made our way upwards and as we went it started to get lighter enough to see a little, although the higher we got the windier it got too until we almost at the very top and on a thin path on the side of the hill, the heaviest of us were struggling to push forward into the wind and the lighter of the group we actually being blown backwards. Luckily the wind dropped slightly and we made it around the other side of the hill. The final part of the assent was up a thin path to somewhat of a peak. Grace, Jamie and myself didn’t quite fancy risking ourselves going up there as we already had a pretty cool view for the sunrise so we let the girls go on ahead while we found a good spot.

It turned out to be a pretty average sunrise anyway as there was a lot of cloud, but it was still nice to see.

Afterwards we headed back down the hill, this time in daylight and I must say it was much more pleasant and there were lovely views all around, although it was still slightly treacherous in the wind. At the bottom we got a collectivo back into town it cost 25cents instead of $2.50…. turns out our last driver had scammed us and then taken our photo as bragging rights!

The final part of the walk we missed off.

Once we made it back to the hostel we all took a nap for an hour or two. For lunch we decided to go to a pizza place Patrick highly recommended. Grace ordered a pizza but the rest of us went for a panini after hearing Patrick go on about how good they were for the last hour. Plot twist they were not good. Not even close. They were very anemic looking rolls with so little cheese that a mouse would have starved to death from eating there. A very disappointing birthday lunch for Liv!

In the afternoon we decided to visit some thermal springs, it was a good way to relax our aching muscles and they even had some mud from the springs that you could rub on yourself, so obviously we gave it a go and smothered ourselves from top to bottom. We then sat and played cards while the mud dried and found ourselves cast in the positions we had sat in… Once we had crunched ourselves up straight again we washed the mud off in the shower and had lovely smooth skin underneath.

In the evening we went out for a meal to celebrate Liv’s birthday and to hopefully make up for the awful paninis. We chose a local restaurant that was very tasty, and Rachel even managed to get a birthday cake made. Although something was lost in translation and it was huge and very very sweet with thick marshmello frosting, so it was hard to eat more than a small slice. We ended up giving slices out to everyone, the staff at the restaurant, some local homeless people and anyone who was around at the hostel when we got back.

We planned to go out that evening but apparently the one bar in town was closed so instead we stayed drinking at the hostel and playing drinking games and unfortunately our poor Costa Rica playing cards with frogs on ended up covered in beer! But apart from that it was a really fun evening and a brilliant end to our brief time in El Valle.

Next we’re off to Panama City, ready to be picked up for our tour to the San Blas Islands! Something I’ve wanted to do since our last trim and that I’m hoping will be the highlight of our trip! I can’t wait!

Tell you all about it soon, lots of love, Alice x

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