April 11th

El Valle


El Valle, officially known as El Valle De Anton, is a picturesque town nestled in the 5 km. crater of a giant extinct volcano, surrounded by forests and jagged peaks. Like the town of Boquete in the province of Chiriqui. El Valle is a popular weekend getaway for urbanites wanting to enjoy the fresh air and scenery. Exploring the various activities in the area, i.e., hiking, horseback riding, we have discovered an extensive network of trails leading from the town into the hills and around the valley. We have seen many bird watchers with their binoculars walking about. El Valle is home to an impressive set of waterfalls as well as some rare golden frogs.


El Valle
Having discovered a very nice hotel yesterday at which we stayed for the night, we learned that our television did not have cable consequently, no English-speaking stations. As we have been without any news of the world for a few days, we were disappointed to find this out. However, we found that the hotel next door did have cable and a room looking out at the mountains for the same price, in addition to a beautiful rooftop terrace with hammocks, comfortable chairs and a frig. So tonight we are staying in this hotel and for the next couple of days.

This morning we slept in until 7.00 a.m., had a leisurely breakfast, moved our things to our new hotel and set out for a hike to the Orchid Conservation, Aprovaca Orquideas. Here, some 32 volunteers work to maintain the flowers inside , the greenhouse and the grounds. A lovely young Japanese man, who is working here on behalf of the Japanese government, which funds the project, gave us a tour showing off 96 varieties of orchids cultivated. As many of these orchids are in danger of becoming extinct they are cultivated here, then to be replanted in their nature habitat in the mountains. Panama´s National Flower is the terrestrial orchid known as the flor del espiritu santo or the holy ghost orchid. This stunning flower is shaped like a red-spotted dove emerging from the ivory petals is endangered due to poaching. Its natural habitat is in the forests around El Valle.
Leaving the orchids, while difficult, we proceeded with our hike.


a local orchid

Walking along our hike, we found a beautiful luxury hotel in an amazing setting. We had lunch here and took some pictures.


if you get tired hiking

Today was a hot, breezy day, but not too humid, as we are in a mountain valley.