Anton Vallee

Who can tell, indeed? Those serious looking people carrying the religious icon yesterday turned out to be wild fiesta types after all. Both the white noise machine and ear plugs had to be deployed as the noises of serious partying went on and on and on.

We blearily awoke just before 7.20am and I toyed with the idea of going back to sleep, but no, there were hills to be climbed. Today was the day of Cerro La Silla. This is a hike with several routes, but most people go to the peak and back, rather than the much longer circular route.

We decided to avoid any weekend parking issues by walking to the start of the trail from our accommodation. From there, we ascended and descended each hill, probably around 400m in total.

Now in the UK, absolutely no problem, all very easy. But… the sun was extremely strong and there was no shade anywhere. I noticed S dropping behind a little bit and the first thing that alerted me to a possible problem was his lack of enthusiasm for my suggestion of doing a sunset hike to Indian Dormida later on.

A few minutes later and S was in full heat exhaustion mode. We really should have thought about this beforehand, after the Cinque Terre issues we had previously where S was on the brink of passing out.

Unfortunately we had made the decision to carry on to Roble, which meant another 1.5hour’s walk back to town. S was wobbly and faint, and I really doubted whether he could make it. We climbed up a steep path which led to a track. I was thinking about ringing the owner of our b&b and asking for help when, clearly sent from heaven, a hilux truck drove by and the driver offered us a lift to the vallee.

I have no idea what the chances of this was – the track wasn’t even a road- but the owner already had a load of people in the back of the truck so we clambered in and apologised while we squeezed ourselves in.

Our arms and backs ache now from hanging on. The “road” was so rough that we were thrown about like rag dolls. The locals however calmly continued to sit effortlessly, the kids didn’t even hold on to anything. We were obviously of interest to everyone but only the children met our eye. I don’t think this was rudeness, in fact quite the opposite.

S was able to repay some of the karma by noticing one of the men had dropped his wallet and pointing it out to him.

We got out of the truck in town, paid the driver (he charged us a dollar each, I’d have paid $100 if I’d had to) and immediately got a cold drink and sat in the shade. When we got “home”, S had a shower and laid down in the cool. (Thank goodness for air conditioning).

Although S is much better, the plan now is to decamp to Panama City. The weather tomorrow is forecast to be as hot as today and it would be foolish to try and hike in it again. Also, in the unlikely event S is actually unwell and needs medical attention, PC is the best place to be.

What a shame. We had begun to warm to Anton Vallee , despite its quirks. I particularly like the tranquil garden where we are staying with all the bird life and lush flora. However, we can hear music again from not far away and our new neighbours, although lovely, are three lively young German lads who no doubt will be crashing in and banging about quite shortly. Every cloud and all that …