India Dormida — Attraction in El Valle

La India Dormida is on the more challenging of hikes in Anton if you decide to hike all the way up. Especially in the rain. The trail can be steep and rocky and a straight up climb on the “red” trail. And as one hiker warned us as we were coming down and storm clouds were overhead; “start heading back, because the trail will be a river and very muddy all the way back. He was correct. But we made it. All the guidebooks tell you to hike up in the morning for the view, but the real reason you hike up in the morning is because it can POUR rain in the afternoons. Especially in the rainy season. And with global warming, isn’t that “whenever” and no longer a specific time frame. Just expect it to rain in the afternoon. And hike this trail in the morning. The other good advice we got since trails are not properly marked and you can take several trails up to different waterfalls, is; stay to the left on the way UP if you want to go to the top. There were some great waterfalls and swimming holes if it’s a hot day too. It was not appealing for us once we were soaked and cold from the rain. But several kids were swimming in them. We ended up only doing this one big hike and skipping other swimming hole hikes in the Anton area because this hike did have it all; the falls, wildlife, views and challenging walk up. If we had more time I would have done more hikes to do a better comparison. Small entrance fee at the base of the mountain. I think it was 5.00. Trail was relatively clean in terms of no trash. That could be a pandemic result with fewer people hiking with the many closures in Panama. Bathrooms at the base of the mountain as well. When you arrive, you will be approached by hungry locals willing to dispense info and guide services up the mountain. You don’t need a guide if you are going up and have hiking experience and want to go at your pace. These folks just want to be tipped but they didn’t outright ask. It’s been a tough year for tourism in Panama with constant shutdowns, so be kind to the natives who may come off a bit confusing at first. They just want a dollar for their knowledge of the mountain. It’s the only place in Panama I witnessed this “tips for info” behavior. It’s a native destination so a bit unique in that way. **Our hotel gave us hiking sticks by the way, and while we didn’t need a guide, I was glad to have that stick in the rain coming down a wet...

We decided to go there for the sunrise, but we completely missed it since we arrived too late and it was rather cloudy. We tried to find the entry but went to the wrong place since it was dark out, note that the right entry is near the bus stop and well indicated. We parked in the street, there was a lot of space but we were there very early in the morning. The park was « closed » when arrived at 5:45, but there was no gate and we didn’t pay any fees. Don’t be shy to walk in the trail even though it isn’t open, just be sure you have a headlamp/flashlight if you plan on going in the dark, there are rocks, twigs, roots and water everywhere) We hiked in the dry season so running shoes were fine but rainy season would’ve made this hike much harder than it already was. Since it was dark we couldn’t see the indications on the way up but a local was going up at the same time as us and made sure we followed all along (even though we didn’t ask) (we crossed MANY locals in the path since some of them live in the mountain and all of them were friendly and answered our questions), before our paths separated, he gave us instructions (which we asked him to type in goggle traduction, a MUST) on where to go and it helped us a lot, without those instructions I don’t think we would’ve made it to the top. (At one point there is a chasm to the right, don’t go there, keep going in the other direction). Concerning the level of difficulty, I am 20 and in shape and found it a little hard, my mom and her friend found it very rough since it’s rather steep (900m in altitude For a distance of ~1.8km, but the hike is longer because of the zigzags). When we got to the top, it was really nice (but I don’t think it beats Cerro la silla) but also very narrow in some spaces and very windy (I don’t recommend at all if you have kids honestly). Unfortunately, we stopped at the head of the Indian to due lack of time because we had to leave for boquete, and that took us approx 50min to go up (in the dark) and 30 min to come back down (in the light) but keep in mind that if you continue the whole hike, it’ll be much longer since the rest of the body is also « humps » and you have to go back down in order to go back up. We loved the hike even...

I came here in June 2022 for my 46th birthday, rainy season and everything was amazing! The hike was hard, I barely exercise, so you can imagine how out of shape I was. We had a guide, very pleasant local young man, he was very kind and patient with me. What usually takes an hour to hour and a half took us 3 hours but he was kind, careful and knowledgeable. There were amazing waterfalls, great tropical plants, bugs and amazing birds to see. Some of the areas were steep, so with a bad knee at times I had to crawl my way up or down some areas. Other tourists, young as they were had zero issues with the climb of course. I wasn't able to reach the peak of La India, made it as far up as her "neck" but my sister, older than me and much more active than me was able to make it all the way to the top. This is an experience I will never forget and am glad my sister got me to do it with her. All in all, to enter the park was a couple of bucks, there are vendors at the bottom selling fruits, bottled water, plants and "Duros", please don't leave without having a duro, they are made of fresh fruit, water and are frozen, so make sure you take your spare change to purchase one...