Middle-aged flash packers

Naturalmente Bungalows and Chantal turned out to be delightful.

In the evening, We drove into “town” (a small parade of restaurants and shops) and had delicious pizzas at the Naturalmente Pizza restaurant. (Run by Chantal’s brother-in-law.)The rain stopped so we were able to eat outside. It’s a popular restaurant – the pizzas are very good and reasonably priced.

The next day, we met Chantal who is very nice and not at all woo-woo. (She’s Swiss-Italian). She has created an excellent ambience of calm and comfort.

Our breakfast was delicious and very healthy with lots of fruit and homemade bread and jam. Just the thing for a day at the beach.

And what a beach! 7 miles long and only a handful of people on it. Marvellous.

We had a quick dip in the pool when we got back and a chat with some newcomers. (More our age and much more friendly than the younger ones, although they have defrosted bit.)

Dinner was in the restaurant that Chantal’s husband Giorgio runs. We had conger eel which was amazing. We got on very well with Giorgio, who gave us both a shot of Panamanian rum. I’ve never tasted anything like it. Much smoother than either whisky or brandy, it went down a treat but unfortunately at 1.30am S and I both woke up, unable to sleep while our livers went into overdrive trying to remove it from our systems.

After another divine breakfast, we were on the road again to our penultimate destination- the Anton Valley. It’s a town built in a caldera and billed as a trekking Mecca , we were looking forward to it, but also a little concerned that we might have booked too many nights. (4)

It was a 4 hour journey, the last 45 minutes a tough drive of hairpin bends and potholes.

Once we arrived in the town, we were very surprised. The houses here are gorgeous and the gardens immaculately groomed. The mountains tower above and it all looks very scenic.

Unfortunately, we are less than impressed with our abode. To be fair it’s not expensive and there was very little choice for our dates but the building our room is in is basically a very small bungalow with two other rooms crammed in. Some maintenance is required and the walls are paper thin. As I write this, I can hear the people next door very clearly.

The Main Street of the town is weird. Most of the restaurants close at 8pm! To make matters worse, when we went to buy some beer in the supermarket, we were told we couldn’t as it was a fiesta day.

We eventually found somewhere we could get a drink and some food that stayed open a little later than 8. Drinks are much more expensive here – the restaurant wanted $28 for an unexceptional bottle of wine ($15 elsewhere) and local beer is $3 compared to $1.50-$2 everywhere else we’ve been. Outrageous!

Looking at the houses and the cars here, I think this is where rich Panamanians have their second homes, hence the inflated prices.

The “fiesta” which was going to be so wild that alcohol must be banned, turned out to be lots of people walking through the town, carrying a float with a religious figure on it. They looked very serious and not at all like they were going to run riot but then again, who can tell?

Finally, the weirdest thing that happened in a generally strange and not that brilliant an evening was seeing two horses trotting down the quiet side street we were walking home on.

They appeared to be headed straight for us which was worrying, but luckily a car drove past which really spooked them and they ran off on to the high street.

On a more positive note, what was enjoyable about our first night in the Anton valley was listening to the frogs and looking at the stars as we wandered along. Nature usually overcomes disappointments here in Panama.

Will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.