Today I visited Bella Vista. Not Bella Vista, Panama City, but truly a bella vista: beautiful view. We hiked up a decidedly tortuous trail through the mud and thicket and up the sides of a mountain overlooking Base Camp in the valley, and after a solid half hour of batting branches out of my face and feeling my feet squish through the mud (did I mention it was raining?), it all became worth it. From where we stood perched I saw the entire valley sprawled out in front of me, with patches of forest, rolling hills, and great mountains looming over the horizon shrouded in mist from the rain. I wish I could hold on to that image forever, I know no photograph could hope to do it justice. The sheer size of it all was awe inspiring.
All of this just moments after crossing a tiny ant highway, where thousands of miniscule leaf cutter ants running back and forth through the jungle has formed a perfect, clear dirt path no longer than three or four inches across but stretching on and on seemingly endlessly. From the tiniest ants to the great mountains, nature’s beauty and complexity is overly apparent everywhere around us here in the valley.