canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
[personal profile] canyonwalker
Panama Travelog #14
El Valle, Panama - Tue, 24 Dec 2024. 1pm.

Only a few minutes after beginning the trail to La India Dormida we're stopping. ...No, not stopping entirely; just stopping for a few views!

Piedra Pintada (Painted Rock) in El Valle, Panama (Dec 2024)

Along the trail to La Dormida are a few native petroglyphs. They're called piedra pintada, or painted rocks (also a common American-English name for petroglyphs). The big rock you see in the photo above has petroglyphs carved near its base. No, there were no acrobatic graffiti artists in antiquity here to carve things implausibly high up the rock face, just people scratching shit into the rock[*} at arm's reach.

Piedra Pintada (Painted Rock) in El Valle, Panama (Dec 2024)

Modern scholars are not sure what these carvings represent. They don't have the structure of a written language, nor do they have the structure of petroglyphs. Academics' best guess is that it's some kind of a map of the valley. 🤷 There you go— prehistoric land use planning!

Just beyond the painted rock there's a small waterfalls on the stream we're following up the side of the ridge.

Waterfalls on the La Dormida trail in El Valle, Panama (Dec 2024)

That sure looks like a nice swimming hole beneath these falls. Guess what, though.... Not only did I forget my fancy camera back at the hotel for today's trip (still using my iPhone instead, as I mentioned on an earlier hike) , I forgot my swimming suits back at home. 😵

Now it's time to get back to hiking. There's only about 99% of the trail left to go!

_____

[*] If this was the US I'd get to give you an earful about The Antiquities Act of 1906. Be glad it isn't... unless you're into that sort of thing. 🤣



Profile

canyonwalker: wiseguy (Default)
canyonwalker

May 2025

S M T W T F S
     1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated May. 28th, 2025 09:41 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios