Weekend Excursions

Panama has some of the most beautiful scenery! Our first weekend, we went to Playa Obierto to stay at a hotel called La Luna. It was absolutely incredible! The hotel was a huge white villa with a spiral staircase. Our room overlooked the pool and we had a great view of the Pacific Ocean. The owner of the hotel was so nice and he cooked every meal for us. We had fresh fruit juice, seafood caught fresh that day, chicken, pineapples and chocolate, and so much more. We went to a little restaurant down the road that had tiki huts and access to the beach. Other than a little sunburn, we had so much fun laying out at the pool. I didn't want to leave!
The next weekend, we went to El Valle in the moutains. It basically looked like the tops of the mountains were in the clouds! The first day, we hiked up a mountain and most of the girls went ziplining. Then, we rode horses but all my horse wanted to do was eat grass! We also went to a mineral spring and did mud facials. Our hotel had hammocks on the balcony and it was so nice to lay up there and look at the mountains.
Today, we took canoes down a river in the rainforest to hike to a waterfall. It was awesome at first, even though the canoes were a little rocky. When we got to the hiking spot, no one else had gotten there yet and we waited for so long. Finally, our guides went to look for them and one of the canoes had tipped! Once everyone got back, we went hiking and some of it was pretty difficult with slippery rocks. Swimming in the waterfall was amazing though! Then, we went to the Embera Village where the indigenous people live. They made us fried fish and plaintains, and tons of amazing fresh fruit. They also did traditional dances for us and showed us their artwork. I really wished we could have stayed longer, but it was raining so incredibly hard that we had to leave before the current got too strong. We were all completely soaked and freezing and so glad to get back to the bus! Overall though, it was a really great experience.