From Uvita in Costa Rica I had a couple of big travel days. First, a long drive back to San Jose to turn in my rental car and to spend one night. The next morning I was on a plane to Panama City, then a quick Uber downtown where I rented another car and then braved the Panama City traffic west for about eighty miles until I reached Anton Valley high up in the mountains. It was a busy couple of days, but welcome to Panama, folks!

I started my exploration by finding my way up the confusing twisting residential roads to find Petroglifo Cariguano, seen above. It’s just a hint at the ancient history of the area. I read about this rock on the internet, but there is no sign or any indication that it’s even here in person. It’s just a non descript rock, half buried on the side of the road with ancient petroglyphs on it. I had to walk up and down the street three times before I spotted it.

The pic above and the following pics are of a different set of petroglyphs, Piedra Pintada. This giant rock marks the start of the India Dormida Hike. No one knows what the markings mean or anything about the people that made them. There are theories, of course, but it’s really just a big mystery.

Anton Valley is known almost solely for its plethora of hiking trails, which is precisely why I came here. The India Dormida Hike is the closest one to town and arguably the most popular, so it seemed like a good place to start. After Piedra Pintada the hike climbs up past a few small waterfalls until you get to Piedra del Sapo (Frog Rock). It’s named that after the only glyph on the thing that’s decipherable, a frog.

In case you can’t tell, the frog glyph is seen below left.

From there it’s a steady climb up to the top and an incredible view of the whole Anton Valley. This valley was a volcano that collapsed a few million years ago.

Coming down I enjoyed some crazy trees and more of those Rolling Stones flowers I’ve seen all over Central America.

Also very close to town is the Arboles Cuadrados Hike. These trees which grow round trunks everywhere else in the world, for some reason start out with square trunks here. They call it Bosque de los Arboles Cuadrados (Square Tree Forest), though I only saw two, one of which was dead. A third was labeled as a square tree, but I didn’t get it. Maybe if I ate a bunch of the mushrooms laying around and looked at it from just the right angle (no pun intended)? I don’t know.

I’m including a mention of these leaf cutter ants because I cross their paths several times each day. They’re fascinating! These have got to be the hardest working creatures on earth.

This guy decided to skip the cutting part and just carry the whole leaf. He was struggling, but he wins the championship.

They also carry whole berries apparently. They’re just amazing! My question is, if one of them decided not to work and just go goof off all day, and then came back to the nest at sunset like, “Oh my Gawd! What a day?! Amiright guys?” Would they even know? Ha!

There were also a ton of butterflies flitting around. Square trees aside, it was a really nice walk.

And then I came to this bridge. I’m probing the recesses of my memories trying to recall a scarier bridge crossing and I can’t come up with one. Just look at that thing lean! There’s a sign by it that states “No jumping on the bridge”. Yeah, no shit!

I had some extra time one day, so I hiked up to Cerro la Silla. I wouldn’t call it a pretty hike. It was dusty, exposed, and I was staring up at cell towers for most of it, but the view at the end was pretty awesome.

From the top I could stare out at the Pacific Ocean in one direction.

And in the other direction I could see back towards Anton Valley. Anton Valley is on the left in the pic below, beyond the cell towers and before the ridge covered with clouds.

Next I drove lots of twisting and turning roads until I reached the tiny little hamlet of Pozo Azul high above Anton Valley. There the roads got to be more than the little Kia I rented could handle, so I parked it in some bushes and started walking the two miles to my next goal, Cascadas las Pailas, a nice collection of five waterfalls. The first waterfall was from a side stream that I crossed on the way down.

Once down to the river I could see the first three waterfalls. I didn’t even realize there was a fourth until I climbed up to number three and spotted it around the bend. Awesome!

It was a little tricky crossing the river over the top of waterfall two and then climbing up the rocks to the top of waterfall three, but I got my picture of number four. After that I went back down and went for an extremely refreshing swim in the pool at waterfall three. I had the whole place myself.

I know you’re all wondering so I won’t make you wait. After my swim and a quick look back at waterfalls one and two, yes, I had to climb up some steps of doom.

Unfortunately, two of the waterfalls I had intended to visit here turned out to be on private land. The area was gated with security and they absolutely would not let me pass in the car or on foot. Bummer! Instead I found another hike to a spectacular viewpoint nearby, Cerro el Gaital. It started by passing through a bunch of farms with a lot of flowers.

I don’t know what this guy is, but there were a lot of them around. He looks like an ant of some kind, but not one I’ve ever seen.

Once past the farmland the trail took me around a giant poultry farm and then finally, up the mountain.

The viewpoint sits on a saddle between two volcanic peaks. Both peaks are pretty technical and require equipment to get there. It was tempting to try and climb since they really weren’t that far up, but I was satisfied with the view from here. It was also a super nice spot for lunch before heading back down.

In the pic below you can see part of the giant poultry farm bottom right.

My final day here, I took a trip to the next valley over for a day of waterfall hunting. First up was Cascadas las Filipinas. I read that four wheel drive was required to get here, so I thought I was going to have to hike more, but apparently, they’ve smoothed the roads out recently. Or those reports were written by people who don’t know how to drive. It was bumpy, rocky, and I had to go slooow, but that little Kia did alright. I paid the two dollar entrance fee to the nice lady sitting on her porch and off I went up the trail. A nearby dog started walking up with me. The lady told me to just follow the dog, he’s my guide. Haha!

The trail was pretty simple and I found the waterfall easily. After taking it all in I started to walk back down the trail, but the dog started climbing further up. He stopped and looked at me like, “Where are you going? This way”. So I followed him and sure enough, a short ways up the trail was a second waterfall. I guess I needed a guide after all.

Back in the car and a short distance further up the road I found the other end of that private land. I thought maybe I could get to those waterfalls from this side, but apparently not. Instead I took in the view of this other valley with the town of Sorá below, ate my lunch and then moved on.

Another bumpy, rocky side road took me to Cascada el Manglarito. The road was very long and slow going, but that little Kia did another good job. It was still a bit of a hike from the entrance, but I was glad to not have to walk that long road on foot. Cascada el Manglarito is sort of a two tiered waterfall and the trail actually leads to the top of the waterfall looking down first. Then you walk further down and descend.

After walking down to the bottom of the falls I realized I was REALLY alone here. There wasn’t even anyone at the entrance to give money to. This was MY waterfall! So I took off my shirt and shoes and enjoyed a very long refreshing swim in that little cove underneath my waterfall and it was amazing!

On the way out and on my way back to Anton, I made a quick stop at Los Cajones de Chame.

Here the river narrows between the rocks for maybe a quarter mile or so. It’s a very simple place, but really photogenic.

This was a very good day! And Anton Valley was a very good stop overall. I’ll spend one last night here, then I have a long drive west to my next stop tomorrow. It’s a good thing to, because my legs could use a break after all that hiking. See you in the next post…