Finally... Altos del Maria, Panama!

Sorry for the delay; the wifi has been down for 2 days and before that, we were off doing things.

Altos del Maria is a private mountain community/development about 1 1/2 hrs. west of Panama City. It's located 30 min. from several beach communities. The weather is perpetual spring-like with the temps in the 70s this time of the year. The roads are very steep, the vistas supreme, and the air is fresh and clear. It's winter here, so "weather" comes in most every afternoon. Outdoor adventures, miles of nature trails that border the Maria River, bird-watching stations, gardening and other activities are available. There are about 200-300 houses nestled into the mountainsides, but you'd never know it because most are hidden. Our vrbo rental house is situated on the hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean with miles and miles of vegetation in between. We are in one of the highest areas. To get to our place we roller-coaster ride up and down several mountains (all paved with bumps and potholes). We are renting a home from an American woman who lives/works in Alaska. This is her retirement home. Bob found it on vrbo.com. We've been here with a week.

We went on a hike in the development with Candace. We met her the first day we used wifi at the Recreation Center. She and her husband are renting here for a year. She invited us to go hiking along the Maria River. The developer made a cement walkway and swinging bridges all along the river. It was a fun beautiful hike. Names have been placed on trees so that you identify them. We saw a deer, loads of leaf-cutting ants and other insects. Luckily, no vipers! It was a beautiful day.

Sorry that we didn't get much on the blog before now. We live far far away from a town of any size. We never did find wifi in the Coronado Beach area. Right now we're at Jan's (the gal who is helping with the vrbo and lives in the area) house, having a Feliz Navidad drink and using her wifi.

morpho-butterfly

Picacho Peak

Our Rental

Brooms at the ready for the vipers!

We saw numerous cascadas.

Neat! Falls off the trees like a leaf.

Don't get strangled by the fig tree.

I probably won't get another blog written until we get back to Panama City on Sunday. Our hotel is suppose to have wifi. I have lots of photos to share.

We fly out to Quito on Monday.
Feliz Navidad,
Mary and Bob