Road Trip to El Valle

So today we left Panama City. I had rented a car, so we packed up and got an Uber to the car rental place. I was stressed about driving out of Panama City (huge busy metropolis) and 3 hours across the country. I’ve never driven in another country before; I was just glad the drive on the right side.
I had it all ready on Google Maps; once we got into the rental to get started. I just had to make a few right hand turns and get up onto the (what seemed like) straightaway. But Drivers in Panama City are pretty aggressive and I didn’t want to get into a fender bender right out side of the rental place. Long story short, we missed the turn, then missed the other turn, then missed the turn to turn. I got a fast hands on tutorial how to drive in busy traffic with massive roundabouts and motorcycles zipping in and out of traffic. After 25 minutes, we ended up right back at the car rental place. This time, working together and Mom following Google Maps and not looking at the signs ( they just confused me), we were on the PanAmerican Highway and out of the capital. We drove through little towns, and bigger towns with strip malls; we passed tons of policemen, big brightly colored buses and small little houses.
We stopped to buy a soda and pee; At a little Fonda. It was very clean, the food looked great and the lady who owned it was very nice.
After about 2 hrs, we make the turnoff up the mountain to El Valle. It is an extinct volcano that collapsed; and the town is settled in the crater. So all around you are mountains. The road is widely known for having a lot of pot holes and lots of twists and turns. But as you go up, it gets cooler and the scenery is beautiful. We finally got into town and having missed the turn to go to the hotel, we drove down the Main Street to look around. The streets were nicely paved, with wide sidewalks and a bike lane. Restaurants, grocery stores, schools, a farmers market lined the streets; and families, tourists and the neighborhood dogs all walked down the sidewalks. We stopped at a place to get lunch. It was delicious and very nice. The owners had 2 big Labradors, who came around and would sit next to your elbow hoping for a snack. After a few minutes they would flop down at your feet.
We are staying for 2 nights at The GoldenFrog Inn. It has great views of the mountains and is very comfortable. Mom and I are both in bed and I’m about to go look online at rentals in the area.Read more