Journeys.... Let's explore the world by foot and take the highest road that has the most potholes...

We moored off of the coast of Panama City in the port of Fuerto Amador. Wow…what a view of the city that is! It was beautiful to see after coming out of the Canal going from no population to this huge city that just towers above the shores with lots of highrise buildings. I was amazed by it’s size. Not being “city folk” we decided to take our chance on getting a cab and going into the countryside. We left the port about 9:30 am and drove through the old American military zone. It covered an expansive area. The cab driver said that after the American’s pulled out in 2000 that it left a huge portion of the population in that area unemployed. It has just gotten back on it’s feet and employment is now where it was then. They have really done a magnificent job of using the old building for schools and other stuff (I’m so technical I apologize if I bore you). We then headed out toward El Valle (our destination). It took about 1.25 hours to reach the bottom of the mountains and head up into El Valle Highlands…great vistas! It was amazing how it went from dry to raining on the otherside side of the hills in just seconds. The interior side was lush and tropical…like a fairy tale. We went down into the Valley and stopped at the hot springs and got a tour of the bogs. After our little tour we were “hooked up” with an adorable little boy of about 10 years old who had been giving tours of this one place for 3 years (or so he said!). His name was Manuel. We were driven about ½ mile down the way and were then escorted out of the car and up this path that cost us .25 cents to enter. He spoke to us very rapidly in Spanish….we could only catch a few words here and there so we weren’t sure what we were going to see. We finally reached the top of the path and there before us was a very large flat rock that sat up on it’s side with pre-Columbian petroglyphs drawn onto them. It was very cool! I think even more so because of our adorable guide! He was all business during the whole expedition. We’d pass other little boys he obviously knew and we could see him trying to hold back a smirk. Well worth the $3 we tipped him! We left the valley and headed towards the beaches…nice but dark sand. Stopped for a drink, had a dead battery so stayed for an second drink, then headed back to the ship. It was a very good day. Today is a sea day so we are going to exercise and relax the day away. Cheers!