Panama Day 3 Pineapples & El Valle de Anton

 You know it's gonna be a good day when the day starts at a Pineapple Farm!

We learned so very much about pineapple farming! They are rated on a scale of 1 - 10 based on size. The juice of each parcel is checked for its sweetness and rated on a sweetness scale. Each individual pineapple is dunked and washed to be sure that the quality is right - floating pineapples are less ripe and can withstand longer trips to the customers, sinkers are more ripe and need to be consumed sooner. 

Wondering how to grow one? All you need is the crown and you can grow your own, personal, pineapple!

Pineapple Bathtime

Do you know how much pineapple your kids can eat? I didn't either, but today, Gretchen gave it her maximum effort. It turns out she is maybe a little bit allergic to pineapple when she eats multiple whole fruits. Luckily, I know my way around a farmacia.

As it turns out, the pineapple farm grows a whole lot of other things too. This little guy hanging all alone is a star fruit. 

And this wacky tree, or bush, is what a dragonfruit plant looks like.

I could have guessed 100 different things before I would have gotten this one right. This leafy, bushy plant is what black pepper looks like when it's coming out of the ground. Those little black beads in your peppermill, they come from here:

There were more than a few surprises on this tour. It makes a whole lot more sense to me why pineapples are a more expensive fruit. They take up a lot of space! Each one of these plants is one singular pineapple. Then you get to the weight of transporting each one, and the labor associated with planting and harvesting them, and the price is understandable. 

That incredible visit was just the appetizer to our day. From there we traveled to Valle de Anton, where we braved the lunchtime rain and hiked another jungle path alongside the river. 

What started out as getting a bit damp from the rain quickly escalated in everyone in our group venturing into the river. I was a sissy and only went in up to my legs. A few of the girls completely submerged, fully dressed, into the chilly river. According to our guide, we were the first group in his seven years of experience to get in. "I never thought the first group would be a bunch of girls!"

The trip itinerary arranged for a meeting of our troop with a local, family run performance group. These local kids, some as young as 5, dressed in traditional dresses, shoes and hairpieces, added modern-day masks and showed us a group dance. This gave our girls a chance to speak with other kids using the Spanish that they know, and they outfitted each girl with a skirt and hairpiece of their own. They were all available for purchase if you were interested. 

We had an hour or so to spare, so we wandered the Valle de Anton Mercado. There were fruits, vegetables, trinkets and souvenirs. It was colorful and fun, and it was great seeing Gretchen navigate her way around the market using her language skills. 

There was not a moment wasted on the trip. On our way home we stopped to try the "best empanadas in Panama". There was a line, which is not unusual for this small roadside place, but after years of living in Argentina I have become an empanada snob, I'm sorry to say they didn't hold a candle to their South American counterparts. 

Another successful day followed by a much needed rest at night. Farewell Day 3!