I moved places and now amd staying at Hotel Don Pepe in El Valle. It is much, much, much nicer. I actually feel clean here. Well not right now, as I hiked some 6+ miles in the sun today...but the fact that I can get clean here is nice.
Yesterday and today were great. Yesterday, I walked over to the thermal pool. For a dollar, I got to use a mud treatment for my face, and soak in a nice warm, nutrient rich thermal pool. What a bargain! The grounds are pretty -- you are surrounded by lush vegetation. A great place to relax. Afterwards, I walked around the town for a long time, and ended up walking about 6.5 miles.
Today, I went hiking for about 3 hours straight with a 20 minute break for brunch. I hiked over to Chorro Mozas - Waterfalls of Women(?). Well, I don´t know if I actually found the real waterfalls or not -- hiking alone still creeps me out a bit, so I went so far as finding a set of waterfalls that was nice, then hiked back. No one on the pathway, a bit lush out there, so if something happened, no one would ever know.
I hiked back to the road and then at a junction, decided to hike up to Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross). It was a pretty good hike up a 4x4 road, all the way winding uphill. I finally got there and stood before a gorgeous view of El Valle. I brunched at the top, then headed down back to town. And on my way back, I finally saw a resplendant Quetzal. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, then watched in the trees. A very beautiful bird, it is...
El Valle is a nice place, up in the mountains. Not too far from Panama City. It is where an old volcano existed, and millions of years ago, the top blew off creating a crater. The crater filled with water creating a lake, but has thus drained since then, creating the waterfalls around here. Now, the previous volcano edge is lush and green, and the small town of El Valle sits at the bottom of the crater.
It is not so much a backpacker´s place given the cost of things. But I thought I would check it out anyways. Yep, breaking the budget, but oh well. It´s nice here, I could stay for much longer and just hike around all day. Two more nights here and then I will move on...
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