Laura arranged dinner at Tinajas, a restaurant that features folk dancers. Good dinner and this was where I met Laura's extended family, 12 fun-loving Canadians.
On the first day of the Expat Explorers tour, we boarded our luxurious coach (there were 23 of us, all of them Laura’s family except for 9 expats who live in Panama City and me), at Las Heucas Hotel after breakfast.
Our first stop was at Quesos Chela (about an hour from the city and famous for it’s American-style bread and yogurt) The baker learned his trade in the
States and
Panamanians love his bread, because it is NOT filled with sugar. Then we headed for El Valle (a mountain community situated in the an extinct volcano) and took a walk to the El Macho Waterfall and toured an orchid research station (funded by Japan) responsible for replenishing native orchids in the surrounding mountain forests. The guy on the suspension bridge is Juan Alberto, our guide. We ended touring today at a family-owned zoo where the endangered golden frog is
being preserved. This frog is only found in the jungle in this region of Panama. I also included a picture of a shy taper and hawk eating dinner.
We stayed the night at Rincon Vallero, a picturesque hotel in El Valle, a region where expats who love country living in cooler climes have homes. The hotel was across the road from a goose farm and they served as our alarm clock at 4:00AM. Rincon Vallero has a stream running through it and you can enjoy a meal watching gold fish swim around, or in the evening step outside and listen to frogs chirping or count fireflies as the wink hello.
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