El Valle de Antón

The valley is the caldera of El Valle, the easternmost volcano of the Central American Volcanic Arc. In a huge eruption long ago its top collapsed into the empty magma chamber below, leaving a crater about 6 km wide; lava domes later rose inside it to form Cerro Pajita, Cerro Gaital and Cerro Caracoral. Until research in the early 1990s, it was thought that no active volcanism existed in Panama. Rain collecting in the crater formed a lake, and when it drained it left the dark, fertile soil, tierra negra, that still covers the valley floor and is sold in bags across the country.

People lived here long before the Spanish: the petroglyphs of La Piedra Pintada are the most visible trace. The town was long relatively isolated, and its first real road was built with money and labour from the community in 1927; it was repaved in 1997. From the early 20th century its cool climate made it a favoured retreat for established Panamanian families, and the town grew from about 4,900 people in 1990 to more than 7,500 by 2010. The forests around it later became known as one of the last habitats of the Panamanian golden frog.

El Valle presents itself as a piece of old Panama: one main street, a market, a parish church and a calendar of country festivals. San José is celebrated on 19 March, a handicrafts festival is held in March, and the town also marks Holy Week, patriotic parades, a farmers' week and festivals devoted to the golden frog and to the chayote, a local vegetable.

The Panamanian golden frog is a national symbol of Panama and an emblem of conservation. The forests around El Valle were among its last habitats, and the species may have been extinct in the wild since 2007; the town's amphibian centre, set up with the Houston Zoo, keeps collected frogs, toads and salamanders in clean conditions out of reach of the chytrid fungus. The orchid centre, founded in 2001, works to protect endangered Panamanian orchids, whose numbers in El Valle have been cut by poaching.

The town also draws people for quieter reasons. A number of settlers have come for its reputed spiritual atmosphere, offering yoga, massage and spa treatments. Some writers describe La India Dormida, the western ridge named for its outline of a woman lying on her back, as a sanctuary for meditation.

About 7,600 people lived in El Valle at the 2023 census. Some properties in the heart of the town belong to wealthy families from Panama City who use them as weekend or holiday homes, and the town's economy rests on these visitors, on day-trippers and foreign travellers, and on the produce of the valley's rich soil.

The pace is slow and the day is early. On the flat valley floor bicycles are the everyday transport, and at busy times whole families can be seen riding together down the main street. Life gathers along Avenida Central: small grocery shops, a bakery, a handful of restaurants and bars, the bus stops and the market, which is open every day but liveliest at weekends, when visitors arrive from the capital and the bars along the main street can turn noisy. When the sun goes down most of the town goes to sleep.

The forests and volcanic peaks north of the town form an Important Bird Area of about 10,600 hectares, home to black guans, olive-sided flycatchers and golden-winged warblers, and some of the forests around the town are protected areas. Cycling, hiking, horse riding and birdwatching are the town's everyday draws.

El Valle eats like the rest of rural Coclé: rice, beans, plantains and maize, with chicken and fish served grilled or fried, stews of local beef, and sancocho, the chicken soup flavoured with culantro, as the dish of choice on a cool evening. Bakeries sell bread and sandwiches, and fondas serve set lunches of rice with a stew or meat and a side of salad or beans.

The market is the place to see what the volcanic soil grows: fruit and vegetables, many sold by the farmers themselves, with crafts alongside. The chayote, a mild green squash, is common enough to have a festival of its own. A few Italian and Spanish restaurants and a weekend pizza maker cater to visitors from the city, and there is an ice cream parlour.

Breakfast in the central provinces often means bollos, maize dough wrapped in husks and boiled, or thick fried maize tortillas, eaten with fresh white cheese from the region's dairies. Hojaldras, fried dough, are another morning staple, and carimañolas, yuca fritters stuffed with meat, and empanadas are sold as snacks.