From El Valle to Rio Maria

Having gotten settled into the hotel with plans made, lists created, and some materials packed and organized, the group piled back into the vehicles and headed into town for dinner. The small restaurant we went to on the main street was also a hotel that catered to young tourists. It was open to the front and to the side overlooking a lush garden. The lone server eventually showed up at our table (it was not exactly clear what took her so long as there was nobody else in the restaurant, but that is Panamanian time) and we ordered some drinks and dinner.

Panamanian food is unique; Americans might assume it is spicy, like Mexican food, but mostly it is not. As with all Central American food, rice and black beans are common. However, fried green plantains (patacones) are often served as a starch instead. Other common starches included potatoes and tortillas. The tortillas are corn patties that are substantially thicker than those common in Mexico. They are fried in oil and are very flavorful. There are a variety of meat dishes and beef is common. Chicken is served in several more diverse dishes. One of my favorites was chicken with garlic (pollo al ajillo). While most Panamanian food is not spicy, this dish is loaded with garlic, about a head of garlic per plate. Those who want chili head in their food can use the habanero pepper sauce that is regularly on the table. The food in the restaurant, while simple, was delicious.

After dinner we returned to the hotel and started going through lists of experimental equipment required for the next day. It took an hour or so to get ready and go over plans with Piet asking questions. We needed to charge up the batteries for field gear and make sure we did not forget anything because the 1.5 hour drive back to the hotel from the field site would preclude getting all our field work done if we had to return for additional equipment. After a rum nightcap, we headed to bed with plans to wake at sunrise.

It was an early start with a quick breakfast of fruit and cereal. Coffee drinkers had theirs, and I had a warm diet coke that I had picked up from the grocery store the day before, yum. We finally loaded the gear into the four wheel drive trucks and hit the road. The trucks are really well set up for the research. They are diesel, and have quite powerful engines, extended cabs, and take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.

There was actually a road going up along the crater walls through that looked like cliffs from the hotel. The dirt road to the research site wound its way up through the inside of the crater walls and eventually crossed the lip of the crater; the entire road was extremely steep and rough.
As we worked our way up the steep valley leading out of the volcano it became evident that a number of people lived in the valley. A few miles up the road there was a small store and a school. A small soccer field clung to the edge of the hill. A couple times a day, a small bus came along. Most of the small farms up the side of the hill used foot or pack animals to carry materials in and out to the edge of the road, some all the way down to El Valle. As we wound our way up the side of the volcano the jungle became more predominant and the farms farther apart.

Eventually we reached the steepest hill on our trip. At this point the trucks had to be shifted into low 4-wheel drive, and we needed to get a running start at the hill. The trucks are old-style 4-wheel drive and we got out and locked the front hubs before starting. Some of the more nervous (experienced?) passengers got out and started walking up the worst of the hill on foot. This road went straight up the side of the mountain and had deep ruts from winter rains and other 4-wheelers. The vehicles bounced up and down and rocks shot out behind as the wheels spun. One of the drivers did not start fast enough and had to back all the way down and start again. If driving up such a steep hill was difficult, you can imagine the danger of backing down.
We finally got to the top of the hill and wound our way over the rim of the volcanic crater. When gaps in the jungle allowed, we could see all the way down to the coast, and other hills and mountains in the distance. The view was spectacular. The jungle here is very thick and lush. It is a rain forest that catches moisture from the clouds that roll in from the ocean, and the trees are covered with moss, lichens, and epiphytes including orchids. This dense green vegetation occasionally opened up to frame views of a thousand foot high pinnacle created by old cinder cones (Picachao Mountain) on the edges of the volcano. Near the top there were several hundred feet of sheer vertical cliff face of rock, where the volcanic deposits that formed the ancient eroding cone were exposed, otherwise the jungle clung to the cliffs and hills. Flocks of parrots flew across in the distance. A small lake was nestled into the bottom of the pinnacle, this lake had formed when a secondary explosion opened a crater that subsequently filled with water.

After working our way a few miles down the outside flank of the volcano we started to catch glimpses of the valley for the Rio Maria, our research stream. The stream originates high in the steep outer walls of the ancient volcanic crater, as the rivulets combine it forms a large valley that winds its way down the mountain across the coastal plains to the ocean, 20 miles or so away. We parked our trucks near the edge of the bridge and we got out to look at the stream. The sound of calling frogs met us immediately. There were two golden frogs on the stream bank across from where we parked, and we started taking some pictures, but we needed to get our first experiments started so we did not spend too much time looking around.