El Valle Panama - 25th Wedding Anniversary & Thanksgiving

Tropical Storm/Hurricane Otto literally put a damper on our El Valle trip. We left in rain and traffic was backed up from when we left Coronado all the way past the turn to El Valle. Once we got to the reason for the backup we saw bomberos there dealing with a truck that was totally burned out. So, we got a later start than we had hoped, but since it was raining it really didn’t matter. Since we arrived late we decided to drive up the back road to Altos del Maria, but the rain was so hard we bailed.

We attempted to go up the hill to Cerro Gaital, but first we encountered some vehicles stopped on the road. Greg got out to see what was going on and saw a flatbed truck with a large load in a bad position and it didn’t seem able to make it up the hill and had things behind the tires to keep it from rolling back down the hill. It appeared it was in danger of going over the cliff. So, we backed down the hill until there was a wide enough spot to turn around. We headed to Cara Iguana area to look for birds in the rain.

Acadian Flycatcher (notice the rain streaks) 

 Broad-winged Hawk - drying its' wings

 Broad-winged Hawk

 Variable Seedeater - male

 Seedeater - female

Seedeater - female

We stopped at Carlito’s for empanadas and pizza. While there the rain started pouring even harder. It was still raining a bit so we decided to try and make it up the hill again. The truck was gone, but this time we encountered a small herd of cattle being herded down the road. One guy had a bucket of food that he kept moving down the hill and the other guy was in a truck honking at them to coax them down the hill. We finally made it passed them and to Cerro Gaital. It kept raining sometimes pretty hard. We waited a long time in the car. We did see a couple of Toucans and some Chachalacas flying back and forth. Finally, we called it a day and drove down the hill to check into Los Mandarinos. http://www.losmandarinos.com/

 this guy was on the wall in reception

 our room

We have always had corner rooms on the other side of the hotel, but this time we had a regular room on the spa side of the hotel. Other than on day 2 the hot water stopped working and Greg had a cold shower, it was a nice room. Yes, it was still raining… We had a nice welcome cocktail at the Irish Pub and later had dinner at Triana. We had complimentary tapas and then ordered a few more to make it a meal with our complimentary sangrias. The food is always very good there.

 the Pub

Next morning it was still raining. We had breakfast and set out to bird from the car. We did see a Green Kingfisher at breakfast at the pond next to the restaurant. It was raining on and off and we decided to try hiking a trail in La Mesa. It was a challenge not to sink down into mud on the trail. I was doing pretty well and sunk down on the left side, but not enough to go over the top of the boot. On the way back (we turned around when it started to pour) I sunk down on the right side well over my hiking shoe.

 gentleman walking in the rain

 weed whacker in the rain

 Roadside Hawk

 Roadside Hawk

 man walking to bus stop

 spider

Yellow-faced Grassquit - male

On the drive down we spotted a very wet Merlin and some gray-headed Chachalacas all sitting on a dead tree. Also, some Blue-headed Parrots. We drove back to Cara Iguana area to see if we could find the same Seedeaters as one looked different and we had hoped for better photos. It stopped raining for a short bit, but not much longer than 10 minutes. We had lunch at Casa Tortuga. Then drove around the neighborhoods looking for birds…yes, in the rain.

 Merlin

 Grey-headed Chachalacas

 Blue-headed Parrots

 Blue-Gray Tanager

 a couple in the rain on their bike

 Prothonotary Warbler

 Ruddy Ground-Dove

 Streaked Saltator

 Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

 female Seedeater

 Wood-Pewee

 Broad-winged Hawk

 horses being frisky in the yard

 pretty street in El Valle

 Banded Longwing

 Bay-headed Tanager

 Silver-throated Tanager

 Red Bananas

 Bat Falcon (there were 2 in the tree)

Today is our anniversary (November 22) and we had reservations at La Casa de Lourdes. We have eaten there before and it’s a nice atmosphere and the food is good. http://www.lacasadelourdes.com/index_EN.html

 Fruhstorfer's Owl-Butterfly at the reception desk on Panamana Flag decoration

 Casa de Lourdes

 outdoor seating for better weather

 The server made our Heart Attack Brownie sundaes extra big with extra heart shaped brownies. YUM!

Day 3. Yes, it’s still pouring rain. After breakfast we drove up the hill to Cerro Gaital again. My hiking shoes did not even begin to dry so I had to wear them wet. Greg had a second pair of hiking boots. We waited in the car for quite some time for it to stop raining but finally gave up and drove down the hill for lunch. Most restaurants in El Valle are closed on Wednesday, so we tried Pinocchio’s and had really good taquitos and a burger. The rain stopped while we were eating and the sun came out. I checked my phone at lunch and I had an email from my son that he received from Dad’s neighbor Verla saying Dad was in the hospital. So, I called him while we waited for our food.

The sunshine lasted about 15 minutes and we got to walk around Cara Iguana for about 10 minutes before it started to rain again. Ah well, birding was not meant to be on this trip.

 flowers at Los Mandarinos

 local church

 local church

 El Valle Market

 funeral

 truck is selling fresh fish

 a local store "the great success"

 Orange Chinned Parakeet

 The Ponderosa (no, not THAT one....)

 Cerro Cara Iguana

 Long-billed Starthroat Hummingbird

We checked into the Golden Frog Inn. http://goldenfroginn.com/

We were glad we only spent 1 night here. In fact, we joked that maybe we should just drive home. The hosts were super nice and couldn’t have been more accommodating. The grounds are beautiful and the place has a LOT of potential. Maybe it was just our room, but it smelled like cat pee in the sitting area and the bedroom smelled like wet dog. Roaches and numerous other bugs were crawling everywhere. The rooms were sparse and there was nowhere to set anything down. I called my son Scott and talked to him to let him know that I had talked to Dad. I had called Dad again after dinner in the parking lot of the restaurant since The Golden Frog’s internet was not working. I was telling Scott bugs were crawling everywhere. He asked "are you on the patio?". I said "no, sitting on the bed".

Day 4 we woke to birds singing and sunshine. Yes, no rain! We walked around the grounds and along the road getting some photos and searching for birds. Breakfast is served between 8 and 10 and it was very good. We had packed up and were glad to leave that room. (worried about how many of the bugs we brought home in our luggage.) We went for a walk after lunch around town.

 our room

 sitting area

 female Barred Antshrike

 Golden Frog Inn main house

 these guys lined the driveway to the Inn

 walkway to the reception and breakfast room/bar

 shared kitchen (for those that wish to cook for themselves)

 inside the shared kitchen

 the bohio area

 some of the rooms

 ours

 Bohio and walkway to Inn

 butterfly or moth???

 Owl Butterfly

 White-breasted Wood-Wren serenaded us at breakfast

Juno Longwing?

 Banded Peacocks

 Banded Peacock

 horses for rent

 San Antonio de Padua Church

 Diablo Rojo local bus

 Yellow Warbler

 Armed Tourist Police

 Chestnut-headed Oropendola

 flat snake in the road.....

 Peacocks in the road

 Keel-billed Toucan

 Greg taking a picture of me taking a picture of the flowers

Then, we drove back up the back road to Altos del Maria. Well, the weather was turning dark again and it started to rain not long after we got part way up again. We drove around town some more and then called it a day and had a late lunch at  Casa Florencia, an Italian place that had recently gotten new owners. Wow, some seriously good food. I had a Gorgonzola Gnocchi and Greg had Octopus & Pasta. The chef came out and made sure everyone was happy with his creations. We saved half to bring home for dinner and to make room for dessert. Greg had the Tiramisu and I had the “Chocolate Cake” which turned out to be a fudgy flowerless cake with fresh mascarpone cream. It was to die for and Greg helped me finish it.

 back in town, these people rented horses

 Yellow-faced Grassquit - male

 Yellow-faced Grassquit - female

 Red-crowned Woodpecker drying its' wings

 Yellow-throated Vireo

 Yellow-throated Vireo

 Lineated Woodpecker

 Roadside Hawk eating a snake

 one last pass through town on the way home

 Carlito's

 The Chef

 the Chef & Server (I'm assuming they are also the owners)

So, it was a nice getaway but unfortunate weather. We have had many great birding adventures in El Valle so it's not like it was "a trip of a lifetime". I have beautiful photos of Los Mandarino's with sunshine fro previous visits, that can be seen on my Web Albums site: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/116659709528973371528

As I type this we have 3 days left here in Panama. Sigh.......