Spending the weekend in the mountains of Panama was calming and lovely. Hiking to the top of this mountain (right), was challenging and slippery and cold, but gave me a sense of accomplishment.
Before we started the serious hiking, we took a group photo by a trickling waterfall (2 hours later, when we crossed it again on the way out, it was a raging torrent that hide all of those pretty rocks we are standing on). We look clean, energetic, and ready to face the Sleeping Indian Girl mountain.
Forty minutes before reaching the top, it started to pour cats, dogs, lizards, and spiders. All of the rain made the mossy rocks very slippery, and I made it the last 20 minutes on sheer determination alone. This is the view of the entire valley town of El Valle from the 'nose' of the sleeping indian girl mountain. It was pretty in the rain, but I bet it would have been outstanding on a sunny day.
To get back to our hotel for a well earned hot shower, all of us hopped in the back of a pick-up truck taxi cab. I don't know if the phrase 'drowned rat' comes to mind when you see this picture, but that's how I felt. But the townspeople loved seeing a taxi full of gringos drive through the one street on the town. They laughed and waved and smiled, which made a bit of the challenging part of the hike seem funnier.
