Valle de Antón

We had discussed to go to another island today, Isla Coiba in the Pacific Ocean. It's known for the diving and snorkeling spots. But it would have been a two hour detour and probably two days more because we wouldn't catch a boat today anymore. Also we need to figure out what to do with Ruedi to continue our tour in South America. Therefore we decided to go to the Anton Valley which is on the way to Panama City.

It was still a 4 hour drive so we started already at 7 in the morning. Right when we had set up a van pulled up and asked where we're from and if it's a converted van. I was confused (my brain doesn't function well in the mornings 😁) but Julia realized that he has also a converted van and just wanted to see what we've done. He showed his set up (with his wife laying sleepy in the back 😅) and a neat water construction. We gave him our stove as we won't be needing it anymore and he was super excited.

On the way to Anton Valley the road changed to the Panamerican Highway and a well maintained two lane road. In most parts the speed limit was at 100 buuut at a part going downhill it was 80 and I got into a speed trap of a police officer 🙈 He wanted to see my license and passport... He explained that I should obey the speed limits and let me off with a warning 😌 Afterwards I tried to stay below the speed limit and at least we weren't caught 😅 The drive to the valley was very scenic but that also meant narrow and winding roads for more than hour. When we arrived our first stop was at a hotel from where a nature walk led through a forest and pleasantly along a little river. Unique in the entire world to this Panamanian crater - and the reason why we visited, a group of cottonwood trees have grown with square trunks. There are about four trees that you can see on the walk buuuuut it's honestly not that visible 😅 Except for a pretty perfect right angle on one side of one of the trees they didn't look as baffling as advertised. But it was still a beautiful little walk to stretch our legs in the cool shade.

Afterwards we wanted to go to the visitor center but it was closed until later in the afternoon, so we went for lunch. We've had typical Panamanian dishes which means at least one part of the meal was fried 😁 Surprisingly they gave a portion of lentils together with the rice, which I haven't seen yet on the trip. Then we had a walk through the little town up to the pretty church in the center. Overall the town is very neat and clean with pretty houses. When we checked the visitor center again afterwards it still wasn't open so we continued on to Panama City which was still two hours away. But the road was good and traffic not too bad when we arrived at the Hotel Caribe, located conveniently between everything we needed.

After checking in and enjoying a welcome drink on the rooftop terrace we decided to walk to a nearby peninsula called "Casco Antiguo" with the colonial style old town of Panama. It was about half an hour walk and we got amazing views over the skyline and old town while the sun was setting. The streets and buildings on the peninsula were incredibly pretty and we walked for more than an hour through them in awe. Then we got a little hungry and checked for restaurants... As the best option came up a restaurant "Lo que hay" (something like "You get what there is", a common phrase when mom's are asked what's for dinner) and as there was quite a long queue it seemed like a good choice. After about an hour we got our table and I ordered a Panamanian dish while Julia had a vegetarian variant of filled tortillas (??). But the general vibe and unfortunately also the portion size was rather fancy. The taste was good but not as delicious and special as we had in the Octo two days ago. Also it didn't have typical Panamanian (or central American) components like fried banana.

On the way home we bought some snacks and then almost emptied Ruedi and brought the stuff upstairs to sort it out.Read more