We hiked up to this excellent swim spot and the waters were freezing cold

El Valle, Panama... the whole town is inside a giant, extinct crater.


We spent a morning at this fabulous local spa where we got to bathe in luxurious luke-warm, suspiciously yellow-brown waters (the attendent swore it was the beneficial minerals present in the water)....

... and with our $1 entry fee came a free mud facial mask, which turned into more of a tribal face painting activity (I later put whiskers on my face with the dark colored mud)