Our two-day car adventure was nice. The road to Colon was not bad at all – getting out of Panama City however was insane. There are so many cars here—we think at least one-third of them are taxis. Traffic jams going and coming are a daily reality. On this day Google Maps had us switch routes several times but at last we were on our way.
Google easily directed us to Colon but it could not seem to get us to the visitor center at the Gatun Locks. We could see the roads to the canal on the online map but no turn-by-turn directions could be found. By merely following those unmarked roads on the navigation app, we made it to the old locks. In route there we crossed over the canal via the spectacular, double-span Atlantic Bridge. It is a sight to see and a beautiful piece of engineering art at its best! Across the original locks, the new locks could be seen on the other side of the canal. That’s what we came to see. We retraced our route back across that wonderful bridge and turned right on the first available road along the canal. No wonder we could not find the new locks on navigation, the visitor center is called Agua Clara. Hmmm.
We made it in time to see the last ship of the day go through the huge locks heading northwest toward the Atlantic. More ships would pass through the new locks today but they would be heading southward to the Pacific. It takes four hours for the canal path to clear and for workers to set up for passage in the opposite direction. Whew, lucky us! At least we got to see one make its way through. Just as smaller ships passing through the original locks do so with only inches to spare, the same is true for the mega-ships passing through the new locks. They fit perfectly with no extra space at all.
The Agua Clara visitor center though not nearly as elaborate the welcome center/museum at Miraflores, is very nice and was built to accommodate crowds. Covid killed that. In the past reservations were required to visit the center and watch ships. That’s gone at least for now. Besides us only one other family was visiting at that time. Still a live narration of the locks’ process was presented to us as if we were a crowd of a hundred. While things are slowly returning to ordinary operation, it takes a while for previous levels of tourism to resume. It cannot be soon enough. Have I mentioned that 80% of Panama’s population s vaccinated? Cheers to this country!
We had time to drive through the city of Colon. It sits on a natural deep port in the Caribbean with nearby beautiful natural beaches. It has an important shipping industry, a cruise ship port and it is home to the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. Potential for the city is unlimited but something went terribly wrong. It is in shambles. It could be a hub for corporations which could employ thousands of people, it could be filled with expensive beachside resorts that cater to the rich; it could be so important to Panama but it is not. In short history says the town was created by the Americans in the 1850’s as they built the first train in Panama as a short-cut for those trying to get to California during the gold rush. It had hotels, fancy restaurants, clubs, and dance halls.
The gold rush faded away but then the Canal came under construction. The productivity brought wealth. Once the Canal was complete the economy of Colon began to fail; the city’s demise was fueled by corrupt governments. Rich residents left for Panama City. Today the population is about 200,000. The prosperous families who stayed in Colon now live behind gated walls in gentrified communities. The rest of its people are extremely poor. Most are descendants of the West Indian black labors brought in to build the canal. These people did not and will not have the resources to leave. For us Colon was a scary place. We were warned not to walk around. First glance confirmed that. I was fearful of even rolling down the window to take photos. Sad; very sad. It bothers me.
We did not have time to visit historic Portobello which is also on that side of the isthmus. It is an important destination for sure but we will have to make it another day.
On the drive back to Panama City, rain came in torrents. Some drivers pulled off the side of the road. Just as we thought we might join them, we drove right out on to dry pavement. That’s Panama!
We hit the road fairly early on Friday. We literally flew out of town while long lines of traffic heading into town inched along. Lord, we were thankful to not be a part of that. The route to the Anton Valley is the same that we took weeks ago when we visited Punta Chame and Coronado, only just farther.
Two hours after leaving the city, we reached Valle Anton. Immediately we could tell we liked this beautiful place. We both casually commented, “If we ever move to Panama, this is where we will live.” I seriously doubt that will happen but that’s how much our first impression agreed with us. This quiet, picturesque and well-kept community lies inside the caldera of an extinct volcano. The circular sides of the volcano are quite visible. Green, oh and is it green! The broken edges of caldera circles the broad valley from far above with interesting mountains tops. Just as images can sometimes be imagined in clouds, it is easy to picture faces and objects in the curvature of the caldera. One such image is even named. It is called La India Dormida (Sleeping Indian Girl). A popular trail leads to the top of India Dormida. We hiked it.
AllTrails is a very useful app for finding and assessing hiking trails all over the world. It offers a bit of info on each trail, sights you can expect to see, a few photos, its start to finish length and a difficulty rating. I just cannot agree with its rating system! The Hidden Waterfalls hike we did a few weeks ago with Jill and Gary was rated Moderate – I thought that might have been a small error because the hike was muddy, nearly 100% vertical and hard to maneuver. Climbing down backwards as on a ladder was necessary. It was the most difficult, perilous hike Stan or I have ever encountered. La India Dormide was nearly as difficult and very dangerous! It was steep, muddy in places, purely rocky in places and at one point after it left the rainforest to a clear hillside, we crawled over a short path that had a shear drop-off hundreds of feet deep on one side. Yes, AllTrails rated this one Moderate as well! For the life of me I cannot imagine attempting a trail with a Difficult or Challenging rating. Lots of people stop at the hillside point. We met a young couple traveling from Paris. While they were far more sure-footed than us, they too had a bit of difficulty with the trail’s intensity. Just before the very top, a big flat jutted out. We climbed on it and lying on our bellies looked over to see nothing but air! The reward at the end of the trail though was like standing on top of the world. We stood on one of the highest points of La India looking down on the spectacular green bowl below us. Clusters of colorful roof-tops of houses were sprinkled in the valley and up the hillsides. Ahh, what a sight! We just sat for a while, just the two of us, and took it in.
While finding footholds to go up the trail was difficult, dangerous and physically demanding, going down was far more dangerous. A fall with injury in the middle of a rainforest in Panama is something to be avoided! I crab-walked all the steep parts.
Tired, hot, soaked with sweat and hungry, yet feeling a great sense of accomplishment, we happily left the trail head and drove back to the town center. Valle Anton looks much like a resort-town. It has lots of good restaurants and a lively market. We had hoped to see its butterfly center and zoo but after a lovely lunch it was too late in the day to do anything else. Instead we strolled through the market place where there were booths of local colorful handicrafts, ceramics and mounds of fresh produce – always my favorite. We bought a couple of empanadas and a slice of lemon pie and headed back to town. Just before leaving city for this trip, my friend Danella, who taught my first Pilates classes, by some chance, saw me sitting in our rental navigating our trip as she and her boyfriend passed on the sidewalk. She excitedly stopped to say hello and said we should definitely try the empanadas while we are in Anton Valley. They were the best in Panama, she said. Later that night when our lunch had worn off, we heated them up, one pollo curry, and the other carne picante. Danella was right! Now I see why people like them.
One more cute thing. The Delta gas station is just down the block from us. We filled up the gas tank there when we rented a car the first time a few weeks ago. At that time Stan did his crazy, funky friendly thing with the attendants, speaking almost shouting the most broken Spanish you can imagine. The Delta guys had fun. It broke up their day. We bought gas from them again both Thursday and Friday nights this week. What a commotion! Stan’s favorite guy, Luis, made a special point to come say hello my brother, and say Weeks!! Semanas! He asked where we had been and where we were going. He wished us Feliz Navid and Vaya con Dios. We did the same. The other attendants joined in but it was all about Stan and Luis. Beautiful things like this just happen. They just do.
Huge squared! 
Amazing Atlantic Bridge 
Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Colon 
This makes me ache 
Bananas in the wild 
Catching a welcomed breeze 
So beautiful; so worth it 
Pre-Columbian drawings. What do you see? 
Real Poinsettias
Love this market 
Bananas, papyas, dark green avocado, plantains. bagged oranges, melons, tiny banana and red saril blooms 
