El Valle de Anton and Santa Clara

El Valle, a very small town in the mountains, is 2 1/2 hours from Panama City and an easy getaway for us.
Whenever I mention mountains in Central America I am referring to volcanic areas whether extinct or live. In Panama it's the extinct kind which I prefer. This town is peppered with beautiful well cared for homes and property both big and small. I had the impression that the folks here must have amazing pride of place but in fact these are all the country homes of the Panamanian rich. The rest of the town is very quaint and clean so in fact the locals do have quite a bit of pride more so than other areas that we have seen.
Ariel has the sniffles and I am feeling run down so we stay at a very comfortable hotel for two days. Although it's not in our budget the owner kindly gives us a break. The weather is overcast and rainy which takes the guilt away from my lack of energy.
The food at the two nearby restaurants is inexpensive, healthy, and tasty. This is a change from regular Panamanian fare often fried then deep fried. If it's not leathery they will deep fry it again.
The kids and I have fun at the thermal pools which include natural mud facials. Jordan and I hike above the thermal pools into the jungle and find a beautiful waterfall. These trails look easy but the wet rock, moss and ground make it a slippery venture not cool when you're hiking along the rivers edge.
I email other hostels looking for a suitable boat to take us through the marvelous San Blas Islands to Colombia. This has become a very popular way to travel to South America as there is no road connecting Central America to the south.
Some boats are party vessels and apparently the worst offenders can be the captains. Their elixir is not always of the liquid variety so I have to avoid getting stuck on one of these.

The next town is Santa Clara on the Pacific Coast but the weather isn't too cooperative for the beach. This town only has three hotels, really expensive, expensive and OK I can afford this for one night. As well there are few restaurants and they are all of the deep fried kind. My body is definitely on the revolt with this type of food. So one night it is and the kids have fun diving in the large pool. We meet a really nice family who live in Panama City but are from Venezuela. They tell us how their large family have all left Venezuela in the last two years due to security reasons, extreme poverty and they strongly blame Huego for their countries troubles. I have meant and spoken to enough Venezuelans to know we definitely will not be going there. In the night we all heard something drop from the dresser but we fall back asleep. The next morning we discover on the news there has been an earthquake in Panama City 6.2 and we slept through it except for the falling object.
The kids want to go back to the comforts and animals of Mamellana Hostel in Panama City and I need to kick the allergy problems with different meds or something. This won't happen in little puebla farmacias, I think I need a health food store also and an english speaking pharmacist.