The next day began with a Mud Bath.
This place of el Valle was known for their mineral springs and mud baths,

so we got hooked up. Michelle and Charmaine accompanied us. This was a list of all the known elements and all in the mud we were about to slather on. It didnt take much to get us sold on the idea. The admission was one american buck. The place kinda looked like a minature water park, with a couple of small pools and wet areas to sit and relax. There was a dark mud and a white one to lather on, the dark one was for healing and the white for beauty. Having enough of the latter I put the dark stuff on, everywhere. After waiting around for about 15 minutes for the stuff to settle in we washed in a little warm shower and then relaxed in a mineral bath. This last part was for 45 minutes which was almost amazing. Now there were some floaty things and if you drank the water yu might get the ´diareehas´ but it was a small price to pay for luxury. A couple of us bought some of the mud for future cleansing. This is a shot of Andy getting his white on.I felt like my pores were released from all their blackheads and nasties. I felt like I had just had a roll in the hay with a LOOFA.

After this and a little bit of shoppng we went for the all important COMIDA. It was a small joint in town and they had the promise of a good double decker burger. We checked it out and to our surprise we saw the other two groups that were at the baths with us the same morning. A promising sign of good food. My burger was soso considering it had a bun made for a quarter pounder and a patty the width of a couple of beer coasters, but for two bucks and a priceless picture it was worth the post.

But this does give me the opportunity to give praise to the all mighty BATIDO. This is something that we have all come to love about Panama. Some might say it has become the alternate beverage to bottled water. It is a fresh fruit drink that is made on the spot blended with ice. It comes in pineapple, Melon, peach, Strawberry (rare), Poopaya, Watermelon, and a cople of flavours I am forgetting. i have even found a hole in the wall that makes it with Corn Flakes. And since we have figured out the way to say NO SUGAR and NO MILK. It has become a treat for any time of the day. Some of our SFU bretheren have even been known to drink more than one in a day.

And for anywehre from 50 cents to 2.00 it has become hard to resist. They even make them superman-sized for the gargatuan liquid appities of a guy like ANDY. I think the next batch of Panamaninanites will be buying blenders for their hotel rooms instead of kettles.

What I find amazing is that they are available any and everywhere, even at roadside shacks, they got their blenders all ready to go. revved.Here thy go sucking bakc on some before we get on a bus ready to come back home.