3/30/13
When we got in the car, we decided we would stop overnight at the town of El Valle on the way back to Panama City. It was a long, but scenic drive to El Valle. We arrived around 9pm and spent the next 2 hours trying to find accommodation in the town hopping with Saturday night nightlife. Everything was booked!! It was Saturday night and the night before Easter at a popular and close get away for Panama City folk. Of the 4 of us, I'm the only one that speaks Spanish, so I jumped out and back into the car at every place in town, fancy or not, asking if there was any room at the inn. Everyone kept telling me the town was completely full, except for maybe the place run by Los Chinos (the chinese), but that this would be dirty. Darren would come in with me for moral support as the girls sat inside. Miranda was pregnant, so we thought using that line may help. But there was just no rooms anywhere. After we had exhausted every option in the town, we headed to the Peking Hotel. I went in and asked and sure enough, they had beds available. Darren and I did a little jig of excitement on the way back to the car, and the girls thought we were joking. They had been wondering just what would we do if we couldn't find anything. We had noticed a sort of racism towards the chinese (they tend to own the super and mini markets in towns), and it was no different in this town bc the hotel was inexpensive but immaculately clean and very nice. We were so excited and quite stoked on the chinese after that. It felt so good to find some beds for the night
3/31/13 Feliz Pascua! Happy Easter! El Valle is a town situated in the cloud forest at the bottom of an extinct crater. We woke up to a beautiful Easter morning. The first thing we did was go to a coffee shop so that Elisha could try some panamanian coffee as she had given it up for lent. After having some Easter breakfast, we headed to the Sunday market and got some fresh fruit, including mangoes. From there, we drove up to an area where we did a short hike through the jungle to a waterfall and then went swimming in a natural swimming pool.
It was then time for the short in distance, but long in time due to the high volume of traffic, trip back to Panama City. The 4 of us checked into our hostel late in the afternoon and then Elisha and I set off to explore the city a bit and get some supplies for our upcoming boat trip. We also attended an evening Easter mass at a nearby church.
Tomorrow, we leave for El Porvenir and then board a sailboat, the Delfin Solo for a 5ish day through the San Blas islands and then the Caribbean to get to Cartagena, Colombia. So don't expect to hear from us before then.
When we got in the car, we decided we would stop overnight at the town of El Valle on the way back to Panama City. It was a long, but scenic drive to El Valle. We arrived around 9pm and spent the next 2 hours trying to find accommodation in the town hopping with Saturday night nightlife. Everything was booked!! It was Saturday night and the night before Easter at a popular and close get away for Panama City folk. Of the 4 of us, I'm the only one that speaks Spanish, so I jumped out and back into the car at every place in town, fancy or not, asking if there was any room at the inn. Everyone kept telling me the town was completely full, except for maybe the place run by Los Chinos (the chinese), but that this would be dirty. Darren would come in with me for moral support as the girls sat inside. Miranda was pregnant, so we thought using that line may help. But there was just no rooms anywhere. After we had exhausted every option in the town, we headed to the Peking Hotel. I went in and asked and sure enough, they had beds available. Darren and I did a little jig of excitement on the way back to the car, and the girls thought we were joking. They had been wondering just what would we do if we couldn't find anything. We had noticed a sort of racism towards the chinese (they tend to own the super and mini markets in towns), and it was no different in this town bc the hotel was inexpensive but immaculately clean and very nice. We were so excited and quite stoked on the chinese after that. It felt so good to find some beds for the night
3/31/13 Feliz Pascua! Happy Easter! El Valle is a town situated in the cloud forest at the bottom of an extinct crater. We woke up to a beautiful Easter morning. The first thing we did was go to a coffee shop so that Elisha could try some panamanian coffee as she had given it up for lent. After having some Easter breakfast, we headed to the Sunday market and got some fresh fruit, including mangoes. From there, we drove up to an area where we did a short hike through the jungle to a waterfall and then went swimming in a natural swimming pool.
It was then time for the short in distance, but long in time due to the high volume of traffic, trip back to Panama City. The 4 of us checked into our hostel late in the afternoon and then Elisha and I set off to explore the city a bit and get some supplies for our upcoming boat trip. We also attended an evening Easter mass at a nearby church.
Tomorrow, we leave for El Porvenir and then board a sailboat, the Delfin Solo for a 5ish day through the San Blas islands and then the Caribbean to get to Cartagena, Colombia. So don't expect to hear from us before then.
1 comment:
Finally....some coffee again...yay!
Post a Comment