A Village Nestled in the Crater of an Extinct Volcano - Of Course There Is!

 A Village Nestled in the Center of an Extinct Volcano - Of Course There Is!

A beautiful hour and a half drive inland from Coronado led us to the village of El Valle (El Va-yay) in Anton Valley. The temperature reading on the car went from 33 degrees Celsius (94 degrees Fahrenheit) to 24 or 75 degrees Fahrenheit. I’m rarely one to seek cooler air but this was nice! 

This area was an interesting mix of jungle and mountain. There were groves of pine trees as well as palm trees. The rolling hills somewhat resembled Ireland with the many shades of vibrant green but then a rocky outcrop would make us think of the Rocky Mountain foothills. Whatever this tundra is, it’s gorgeous! 

Trails cover this landscape and what is interesting about them is they aren’t really hiking trails but walking paths the people who live here use to get around. We were huffing and puffing our way up a beautiful and very vertical trail that followed a series of waterfalls and were often passed by entire families: parents, little tykes and even pups were on their way home or to a relative’s house, another village or who knows where. More than once, we thought we were on the trail / road only to find ourselves in someone’s back yard. The second to last picture in this sequence is of a giant boulder with pictographs on it. (I’m pretty sure Kirby deciphered the message.) Mother Nature can be kind - in the last photo, Julie takes advantage of a quick shower a la waterfall. 

We booked a night at Casa De Pietra in El Valle and would recommend it to anyone coming this way. Alfredo and his father were the best hosts and very interesting to visit with. Alfredo’s father built the 6 room chalet we stayed in - once again we were the only guests there. 

The Waze app helped us navigate our way back to Gamboa - alerting us to pot holes, policemen and vehicles along the side of the road. We decided to stop at the K99 supermercado in Arriaján for groceries and here learned a very valuable lesson - stay off the streets anywhere near quitting time. I’m sure the Christmas holiday played a part in the traffic jam we found ourselves in but we won’t forget to include time of day in future trip planning. It probably took a half an hour to go the 4 blocks from the parking lot back to the freeway. There was no room for midwestern hospitality in this situation. Kirby learned to nose his way into traffic and tailgate with the best of them to keep from being overrun. I’m not sure these pictures will accurately depict the predicament we found ourselves in. 

Traffic was backed up on the freeway in both directions. In the pictures below, we were Northbound and very glad not Southbound as the following pictures were taken 12  - 15 miles down the road in the opposite direction of what we now refer to as “The Jam.”

My pictures really don’t tell the story. I should have pointed my camera to the right and the sea of yellow cabs vying for our place in line and to the unending line of cars behind us. In traffic like this, vendors don’t waste an opportunity to score a sale - hawking wares in between the lanes on the freeway. Luckily we weren’t on a schedule and managed to laugh our way through it. 

Gamboa, you sure look good tonight!