El Valle

On the airplane down from Washington DC, the on board program had a story on El Valle and its golden frog, so that clinched the decision for me to visit El Valle for sure.

On Sunday, Wendy and I took a taxi from our hotel to the bus terminal and caught a minivan transport for the 2+ hours ride to the town in the valley.

This place is also famous for its Sunday craft and flower market as well as some hiking trail in the hills around the town.

Wendy and I got there may be around 11. The market is already in full swing. But the sky was looked threatening. It pretty much showered on and off the whole time with some peeks of sunshine.

We purchased some handcrafts (the price here is a bit better than in Panama City) as well some passion fruits.

In order to explorer more of the area, one would probably need to stay overnight, I thought about it before the trip, but not possible with my mom's condition.

After the market visit, we walked to the nearby zoo to see the famous golden frog of Panama, endemic specie. The zoo is actually bigger than I expected: lots birds. No sure if they raise some for eating as there are lots chicken/turkey enclosures.

Here is also where I lost my tripod head nob. Not sure how it happened, some kid was touching it while I was photographing the frogs, maybe he took it off or it could be just yanked off when I snagged it on a tree branch, but there was no ruined thread. Anyway it set me back $26 for a replacement.

On the way back we hit major traffic jam as we approached Panama City, I guess everyone was heading home after weekend of fun in the country sun and beach outing.