Panama Day 1

We arrived in Panama late at night.  Our trip took us from Chicago into El Salvador and then into Panama.  God blessed us and we quickly made it through customs, finding a taxi immediately to take us to the Hyatt Place in downtown Panama City.

The next day started early as we awoke to our first morning in Panama.  With only one day in Panama City we were determined to make the most of it.  Okay, the truth was that I was determined, the rest of the family was dragging.  Dave and I finally were able to drag the boys out of bed, just in time for a ten minute breakfast and a quick one kilometer walk to the meeting place for our tour.

We boarded a passenger van and headed out of the city to Gamboa.  At Gamboa we loaded onto a small covered boat and headed out into the Panama Canal.  Gamboa is a small town that used to house the workers during the building of the canal.  Today, the many men who painstakingly dug the canal have been replace by machines that continuously dredge the canal to allow for the the thousand of boats each year to pass.  Currently they are working on widening the canal so that larger boats can pass.  Everything in this world is becoming larger and faster, as we want things sooner.

We continued down the canal into Gatum Lake.  The main purpose of this trip was to see the monkeys.  Along the way we learned about the history of the canal and the importance of the jungle to the ecosystem.  Our guide said that we could tell that the rainy season is coming because of the trees that had the bright yellow flowers.  They burst with color among the dark green jungle foliage.

We arrived a one of the islands (which really are the mountain top prior to the lake being made) and looked for a monkey.  Our guide found one but, he would not board our boat.

 We enjoyed the view and the scenery and kept looking for more monkeys.  We found another island and this time the monkey came onto our boat.  Ryan was trying to give the Capuchin monkey a grape, but instead the monkey took his apple.  Since apples do not grow in the wild here, the monkey did not know what to do with it and tried to break it open on a tree limb.  He thought it was a lime.

Here the monkey is trying to break it open on the branch. Either he did not like it or he accidentally dropped it, whichever one it was the result was the same and the apple plummeted into the water below.  

Because the monkey lost his apple, he was forced to board the boat again and take some more grapes.  He would load his mouth, his hands and feet and then take the grapes back to the trees.  There he would drink the juice out of the grapes and then discard the rest. 

We also saw Howler Monkeys and Tamarin Monkeys.  The Howlers stayed up in the trees and eat leaves and flowers.  The Tamarin monkey boarded our boat and enjoyed a meal of bananas.  The Tamarin monkey was very small but colorful.

Tamarin Monkey

Howler Monkey

We arrived back at our hotel and decided to go for a swim on the roof top pool.  It was a spectacular view of the city.  Then we headed for a late lunch.  After some down time and a nap, it was time to head to down to Balboa Ave and the bay.  Dave and Ryan completed a geocache and we enjoyed the city atmosphere.  

We then took our first uber ride.  The first one we ordered could not speak english and could not find us.  The second time I picked a English speaking ride and we succeeded in making it to CascoViejo.  Casco Viejo is the old city of Panama.  Our driver dropped us off at a restaurant that was closed but the roof top bar was open.  We went up, but the boys were not interested in the menu, so we continued exploring.  

I realized the we were close to the church of San Jose and the golden alter.  We decided to check it out and arrived just before they closed.  Then we wandered past an area with lots of cats.  We settled on dinner at the Red Lion in the square in the center of Casco Viejo.  Everyone enjoyed our meals and Ryan was entertained with the cats who kept trying to get him to share his diner.  

As we were getting ready to leave, Ryan found a couple with a puppy.  The puppy came running towards him and of course Ryan responded with glee.

Alas, we were all getting tired and it was time to head back to the hotel.  We could not find a uber close by, so we began to walk out of the old city.  We found a good spot and ordered our car and headed back to the hotel.