El Valle de Anton

 First day in Panama! Yeay!

Bodhi Hostel is also renting out bicycles. I took one for a spin this morning - checking out the town.

Boy-oh-boy! That is a lovely place!!!

There is traffic on the main road, but still very little. Easy to cross, not too much noise, nor pollution. They extended the sidewalk and built a bike-path along the main-road. And, once you veer off that road, and turn into a side-road, no traffic at all anymore. Just peacefulness, birds, wind in the trees! Paradisical! 

Lots of people are riding the bicycle here. I also saw an expat riding an electric golf-cart or atv kind of vehicle. Great idea, I thought! Electricity is rather inexpensive, and the thing makes no noise, burns no fossil fuel, and creates no pollution...

The temperature is very comfortable! In the night it was cool enough to want to cover a little with a sheet. During the day, in the sun, it gets warm enough to want to take my shirt off to fill-up a little on vitamin D. Although we're in the rainy season right now, there hasn't been any rain - yet. We'll see how it continues...

I found a panaderia that has good bread (white, of course, that's all that's usually available in the country) and nice sweet bakery stuff, too. There are several mini-supermercados, and a Rey, as well, where you can get most of the typical foods I usually get.

I also noticed several hotels and guest-houses all over the town, and restaurants. Haven't tried any, because I want to try to cook myself mostly for my food...

I had packed the kelomat pressure cooker and the rice cooker, plus a couple of sets of indian food spices. Got some vegetables today - there's a lovely market just down the street from the hostel, where I found all kinds of fruits and vegetables - and cooked my first meal in Panama. By far not as nice as in a restaurant, of course, but good enough to not feel I'm missing out on anything. Well, I have enough food for the next several days, I guess!

The hostel also has a little coffeehouse attached. They have delicious ice-cream, and a good selection of teas. It's the first and only place in Panama where I found Tulsi tea!

It definitely is a place where life could be easy, peaceful, and simple. I still have to check how expensive real-estate - both buying and renting - is around here. Aside of this, I need to also figure out how I would make "my difference" before I can really add this town into the list of potential retirement places...