El Chorro Macho

While we were staying in El Valle de Anton in Panama, we took a jaunt out of town one day to visit El Chorro Macho, a nearby waterfall. There is an outfit that runs a canopy zipline tour there, and they've capitalized on the natural beauty of the area, so we had to pay to hike their trails and see the falls. It was a good opportunity to talk with the kids about how our taxes go to pay for trails and maintenance of public lands where we live, but that's not always the case. Our admission fee included the use of nice wooden walking sticks, and the kids thought that was fun!

We enjoyed walking through the thick forest.

There are many waterfalls in El Valle, as it's nestled in the crater of an extinct volcano. This one is El Chorro Macho, the Male Waterfall! There is a nearby Maiden waterfall as well, which I can only assume is more dainty than this one!

The abundance of growth everywhere was amazing! It seemed that every tree supported many, many other types of plants, both small and large.

I love to look up through the canopy when I'm in the forest. The leaves against the sky are so beautiful!

Near the waterfall was a natural swimming pool with water diverted from the stream. We enjoyed cooling off in its waters after hiking through the forest.

Peregrine made a friend! Yikes, that is one big bug!

These were some lovely baby mangoes growing by the side of the road.
We had taken the bus out of town to the waterfall, and planned to take it back as well. After waiting for some time,  we decided to start walking and flag it down when it came by. We walked, and walked, and walked, and finally the bus caught up with us as we reached the edge of town. It was a fun outing. My Gramps used to say he never met a waterfall he didn't like, and I often think of him when we visit waterfalls. I love carrying on the spirit of adventure and exploration that has been passed down to us.