El Valle, Panama

The very picturesque town of El Valle is set in the crater of an extinct volcano and is surrounded by hills and beautiful bush. One of the local attractions is the thermal pools complete with therapeutic mud baths. Oddly the kids required more encouragement than Susie to get involved.
The jungle around the town has lovely walking tracks some of which lead to cool swimming holes. The changing sheds are sometimes rudimentary!
Ciaran and Romany waiting for a bus connection on the side of the road under the watchful eye of the Madonna. Having made the long hauls to get to Panama City we are now coming back to Costa Rica more slowly and this often involves several local buses dropping you on the roadside to flag down the passing bus going in your direction. An exercise in patience, heat adaptation and squinting into the distance to figure each bus´s destination.