panama pt 2
Continued from part 1…
After a fun drive along highways, coast and through rolling hills and winding backroads, we arrived in Valle de Anton. This laid back small town in the middle of a huge flat crater has basically just one main road of restaurants, market stalls and shops, surrounded by various accommodation for tourists and of course homes of the locals. We stayed our couple of nights there in a lovely homestay with very welcoming hosts. First plan of attack was a hike but as we couldn’t find the trailhead and then it started looking like rain we abandoned the plan and asked our hosts for a dinner recommendation. They sent us off to an Italian place, it’s actually at someones house so off the main road, on a residential street. A tiny restaurant with 4 or so tables arranged on the patio outside their home. The food was reeeeaaalllly good and the chef and his wife who run it were very charming, (so much so that we ate their our other night for dinner as well!).
Next day we headed out for a longer hike, it was pretty epic, climbing up through the jungle and coming out on one of the edges of the crater which the Vallee sits inside - the views were amazing! On the way back down we took our time, discovering a cool orange and black grasshopper looking thing, swimming (well one of us) in a pool below a waterfall and playing with our macro lens on teeny flowers that we found. We then headed to some hot pools just up the road from where we were staying, they were extremely rustic but very charming. There was a mud ritual where you rinsed in one shower, then covered yourself in this mud, then sat in this other place while it soaked in, then washed it off in this other water and then you could get in the hot pool, we played along for laughs but didn’t really notice any effects!
Waking up on our last morning in the Vallee we headed for another hike which was supposedly on our way back to Panama City. Whilst trying to find the trailhead, faithfully following Google maps, we found ourselves on one of the coolest roads I have ever been on. It was probably a private road and it probably would eventually taken us where we wanted to go. But we felt very much like we were not supposed to be on it and we were kinda driving on someones driveway, we were far up in the hills away from much civilisation but there were houses/huts now and then, and sometimes kids or an animal wandering along. Some parts were very skinny, very steep or very curvy, in any case we could only ever drive very slowly. There were some great views and it was really interesting to see how they live up there in the hills but in the end though we felt pretty uncomfortable and decided to backtrack, finding a place to turn was an adventure in itself but we figured it out then got back on the more main road through the hills. We then thought we saw another route we could take so tried following that. We then ended up on I think the steepest road I have ever been on in a car, I literally thought we were just going to fall off the road, it seemed to steep to be possible to drive up it, Mr Confident kept on pushing through despite my freaking out. We made it to the top and found a huge guarded gate where we were told that only residents could get in. So we back tracked again, while I curiously googled what on earth this place was… turns out its a rather fancy kind of rural living type place where they advertised things like 24-hour security, internet capability, golf course etc. Maybe somewhere that a rich person living in Panama City has their weekend home. Aaaannnnyway we were now a couple of hours into the day with no sign of the trailhead so we decided to head for the beach instead. We got there, it was private, parking was complicated, the weather was packing up, so we headed back to Panama City. It was one of those times where nothing went to plan but it was totally worth it, those adventures on the 2 backroads were unforgettable.
After zig-zagging back and forth across Panama, the last part of our trip was 3 solid nights in Panama City. It was nice to have a bit more time, to explore at a slower pace. Having wandered the streets of Casco Viejo thoroughly already we expanded our horizons this time. We had been recommended a cafe by the cabin crew on the flight from New York and tried it out already once, it was great so we headed back there for a lazy breakfast one day where I ordered a very interesting local platter of puffy pastry-bread type things, a huge chunk of cheese and some sausage type things, sounds random but was delish, as were their donuts. We also spent a bit of time shopping - for some weird reason we are both much better at shopping when on vacation.
We were able to meet up with our new friends from the San Blas boat who were back in Panama City (after having nothing but sunshine for the rest of their days on the boat!). We started with drinks at a great rooftop spot and then headed to a really special restaurant. Donde José has space for just 16 people at a time, with their tasting menu served in a very atmospheric old building. We took the wine pairing for maximum indulgence and had an incredible meal. For the foodies - this is what we ate, with the wines coming out at the right time for the pairings:
“Neither bread nor butter”
A cheese filled tiny donut type thing which we filled with a tomato-ish sauce
“With Carribean Flow”
3 parts
raw piece of fish with some species on it, to be wrapped in leaves, like sushi, then followed by a shot of vinegary passionfruity delicious liquid
crazy spiky shells served on “sand” (think it was made from cauliflower) - we were told to stuff the sand into the shell then empty it all out and eat it - the shell had some sort of liquid and shellfish in it
lamb, leek & wasabi dumpling with soy sauce
Palate cleanser: Piece of pineapple with electric plant and basil
“Carnavales in Penonome 1986”
Beef cooked over a flame beside our table served in a tortilla with flowers
“Ceviche”
No fish - rather squash with a vinegary sauce, corn, “caviar” from black quinoa, sweet potato
“Fish & Chips”
Eel, tiny fried squares of something similar to potato and a creamy cashew sauce
“Everyday Stuff”
Half a baby chicken with rice in the middle and tomato, feta and mole sauce
“Shaved ice for the heat”
Honey comb
Squash pieces that tasted like plum
“Coffee with my grandpa”
Coffee with cheesecake broken up inside it (made with feta and biscuits)
Wines: Bubbly, Awesome Red, Gewurztraminer, White Crisp, Red Intense, Floral Desert Wine
To finish it off the guys got some crazy ass whiskey cocktail with fire and smoke and orange peel and spices. If you are ever in Panama City this place is an absolute must if you love food and wine! We then rolled out of there to a bar/club type place with a live band and drinking and dancing. It was some seriously interesting people watching and I am unlikely to ever forget the moment that a local woman came over to me to try and correct my dancing, then was very disheartened when she couldn’t fix it!
We also visited the Panama Canal, specifically the Miraflores lock, and (along with hundreds of other people) watched a huge ship go through the lock. Doesn’t sound super exciting but it was actually really interesting and impressive. There was also an IMAX theatre where we watched a documentary about the building of the canal - such a crazy feat.
We ate two evening meals (apparently when we like something it turns us boring) at a really really good local food place Fonda Lo Que Hay. Amazing fish with fried plantain, soups with yummy breads, fried chicken, soups, ceviche. Literally everything we ate there was excellent. They use some really different spices and cook/serve things in a special style - also highly highly recommend.
Our last day in Panama City was spent on the canal, we had read a lot about the cool animals you can see in Panama but hadn’t encountered too many yet so we signed up for a wildlife photography tour. It was EPIC. We took an uber out to a rainforest sanctuary, where they have things like walking tours to try spot sloths, and a huge luxurious hotel. There we met our boat driver and photography instructor and climbed onto their awesome custom-made boat. The boat is set up 100% for taking photos from it. There are spinning seats with a special contraption for holding the camera in such a way that you can really easily change the height and angle as you move around. We got given an awesome DSLR camera each and taught the ins and outs of how to use it, as we sped along in the Panama Canal. Passing a huge container ship making it’s way down the canal made us feel very teeny tiny but gave us our initial photography practice. We then turned off down a little channel and started trying to spot some animals, the boat driver had an amazing eye for spotting things and a really great driving style to get us up nice and close without scaring the animals away. We saw crocodiles, monkeys, turtles, lizards, birds, dragonflies aaaaaand a sloth (in the canopy of a tree but still!). It was such an awesome way to get out on the canal, enjoy the sun (as our sunburnt thighs showed), see animals and learn some photography skills.
We had an amazing time in Panama, well worth a visit and we didn’t even get to all the “must-see” spots. The people were friendly, the culture was interesting, the food was delicious, the nature was stunning - a decadent 10 days for sure! Next stop - NYC!
