This past weekend, we left at a reasonable hour to go to Anton Valley. This is back up in Coclé. The drive wasn't too bad. Shortly after we got on the road we stopped for food. I shared a pizza with the guys, so I continued my trend of failing to get Panamanian food at restaurants.
In addition to not leaving at the crack of dawn, we were also staying overnight at a hotel, which purportedly had wi-fi. This was great because I had my computer with me. I wouldn't normally take my computer but I was planning to go to my great aunt's house again, after the excursion, and wouldn't be stopping back in my host house.
The hotel was in the country side again. It was weird, because the area seemed really rural with little bursts of something more urban. Overall it kind of reminded me of one of those after the end stories, where society has started anew, so you've got the cool mix of modern, antique, and alien.
The hotel was very interesting. I think we or at least I was expecting more of a Holiday Inn kind of hotel, this place was more like a jungle resort type thing. The rooms were very simple (and I didn't have to share with anyone), but the actual hotel part was pretty fancy.
There were lots of animals which I loved.
There were turtles.
A koi pond (with more turtles)
And giant bunnies!
There were also birds in cages, but as those are less interesting to me than giant bunnies I didn't get pictures of them. I did get pictures of the geese that are just roaming around though.
Anyway, even though we finally left later, the boys, as always, were tired and they wanted to nap. Vanessa was a bit annoyed, but we made the best of it and went exploring without them. First we went to the downtown area. We went to a little souvenir store, so Vanessa could look at a map. Everything in the place was very nice but it was also crazy expensive. So then we went to a partially indoor, partially outdoor market. I was able to buy reasonably priced souvenirs and made a little friend.
Then Vanessa wanted to go to an orchid reserve. So I guess the boys being lazy bums worked out for us, because we wouldn't have gotten to go otherwise. That was pretty cool and I got great pictures. I don't take enough time to do things like just look at flowers. I wasn't expecting us to have a guide, visiting gardens always seems like the sort of thing you do independently so you can look at what you want in your own time but we had one. I suppose it wasn't too bad, we were probably shown things I would have overlooked.
First she showed us pictures of flowers which I thought was redundant, but took pictures of regardless. Then she showed us preserved insects. I think it's a testement to my professionalism that I took pictures of the gross, icky, bugs in addition to the pretty butterflies.
After that we actually got to walk around and see real orchids. So I'm going to spam you with pics of those. I took my inspiration from those coffee table books, with the detailed, close-up, pictures like you're looking at some sort of flower porn. I hope I did a good job with it. Toward the end there are pictures of more traditional looking orchids.
But first! In addition to the orchids, they had these trees with some kind of melon on it that was the size of my head.
And what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't actually prove they were the size of my head.
Pictures I try to take of myself are usually even worse than this.
On to the flowers.
I call this one Treenus
I call this Treenus 2: Electric Boogaloo
This plant is angry.
I call this one, potted plant.
Also check it out. Panorama! 
So that was our quaint little trip to see the orchids. Then we went to pick up the boys. Well first we rallied the geese so that they would be outside the door when the boys came outside. Then we let them in the car before they would be mauled, because we are good people.
We ended up going on two hikes. The first one was at a place called Canopy Adventure! (emphasis theirs). There were actual rope bridges and they give you a cool walking stick before they send you out there on your own. So that was great, I was pretty much like a real adventurer.
There was a waterfall, we could have swam, but I don't think any of us had bathing suits.
And if you look closely around the middle of this picture you can see zip lines.
The next place was hard to find because that's how the middle of nowhere works. But eventually we got to it. It was operated by these two big ladies with a tired dog. The actual tour guides were kids though.
Ours was this adorably serious short kid. He was all business and he explained the history of the area. Here's a video of him talking about this fancy rock back there.
After that we left to get food. We ate at a place called Brushetta and got...well brushetta but we got other food too, and wine. I made friends with another dog and everyone got mad and me for feeding him.
And that was pretty much all that happened. At some point after we got back at the hotel we had a night cap with Vanessa. Apparently alcohol makes Vanessa sleepy so she bought a Kahlua so she'd be able to sleep that night. And she drank like literally a quarter of it before she had enough. It was adorable.
We didn't do much the next day. I think we were supposed to do some more hiking after we checked out, but ended up leaving after breakfast. We fed the turtles and koi part of our breakfasts so there's that.
I got some choice pictures of the landscape on the way out.
After that I went to my Aunt Bobbi's house again. And later that night my grandma flew in from South Carolina. It's her first time back in the country in something like 39 years. So that's been pretty nice. Her birthday was this past Tuesday!
Anyway that's all for now. I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend. I assume ISA will have another excursion, but I haven't heard anything for now. Somehow I don't think I'll be doing anything particularly exciting for my birthday, considering how little I've gotten out so far. But that's okay, I suppose that just means I'll need to have an actual celebration when I get back to the states.
Alright guys. Until next time here's Rarity
