Monday, day one of our guided tour - El Valle

The Chinese monument to railway workers

Up early for an 8 o'clock start. The guide, Juan Pablo, was late. There are two German couples on the trip, and the Panamanian guide speaks German too, which made life a bit tricky. Our driver is Manuel.


We stopped to look at the entrance to the canal from the Chinese memorial. Their workers helped to build the railway.  We heard that Panama has been a democracy since 1990, and the canal zone was opened to Panamanians in 1999.We drove for miles along the Pacific Highway, over the Americas bridge, and then turned inland to El Valle. On the way we stopped on the road to help a sloth to safety. There we visited a small zoo and saw exotic birds, frogs and animals such as tapir, cayman and raccoon.

Sloth in the road - Manuel helped it back onto the grass verge

We stopped at two places in the rainforest to see a waterfall and walk along paths and bridges. I felt rather dizzy: the weather was very humid. Then we drove to a beach on the Pacific, and paddled in the warm sea. There was chance to get a belated lunch in the cafe there. It was a long, bumpy drive back to the hotel.

Manuel our driver, a man of many parts

For dinner we went next door to the Balboa Yacht Club and had fish (probably sea bass) with Chilean Chardonnay.