Panama

To you loyal (or not so loyal) readers you can probably tell I have been playing a bit of catch up with our blog lately. What can I say? Life has been hectic!

So here is one of the many things I have been meaning to blog about...our wonderful trip to Panama this summer. Why Panama you ask? Well, I had read a bit about it a few years ago and it sounded intriguing. We had the opportunity to go to Costa Rica in 2005 and absolutely loved it! Panama seemed to have similar things to offer. Since our adoption didn't happen this year, we had some extra vacation that needed to be used, plus we wanted to do something special to celebrate our 15th anniversary this year, ... so we decided to go for it. We booked our flights and planned the trip just a month before we left. It was a bit hectic putting all the pieces together, but it was worth it because we had a wonderful time! Panama is a country of contrasts. Panama City has a very modern and cosmopolitan downtown with towering sky scrapers, but not far away you will find dilapidated multi-story slums. Panama also has a lot of history. Long before the canal Panama was already an important trade center, and the Spanish had built a road from coast to coast to transport their good and people between the 2 oceans. We spent a few days exploring the capital Panama City and some of the nearby historical sites, and then took a puddle jumper airplane to the Pearl Islands which is about 40 miles off the coast. The Survivor TV show has actually been filmed in the area 3 times. We spent lots of time on the beach there. Then we went back to the mainland to see the canal, which was fascinating, and then headed out to a little town called Gamboa in a rainforest area where we stayed for a few days. There we did hiking, biking, kayaking, and drove out to see some other historical sites, including old forts that were built and destroyed during the pirate era. Camden really enjoyed the "pirate ruins". Our final destination was a small town called El Valle which is situated in the crater of an extinct volcano. Here we visited some waterfalls, a zoo, a serpentarium, and generally enjoyed the cooler weather due to the higher elevation. Everything went pretty smoothly, and we really had a great time. The natural beauty is maybe a notch below Costa Rica, but the big city and the history make it a different experience. The roads are also better! :) Below is a small glimpse of our adventure.

Panama Viejo, which is the original site of Panama City until invaded and destroyed by Henry Morgan. Now it is preserved as a historical site. The first photo is looking back toward Panama City, hence the sky scrapers:

The Bridge of the Americas at the Pacific entrance of the Canal. For many years after the construction of the canal, this was the only crossing:

Cosco Viejo, a historic area in Panama City:

My boys! In the background you can see the ships that are waiting to enter the Canal:

The President of Panama lives here. I couldn't believe it...they let us walk right in front of it.

Camden enjoying his Chinese food. Panama is a melting pot of people and food. We enjoyed all kinds of yummy food while we were there:

Here we are in the Pearl Islands:

The background here was the view from our breakfast table each morning. It was gorgeous:

As you might have imagined, soccer is very big here. Everywhere we went people were playing soccer...beaches, fields, historical ruins:

While on the Pearl Islands, we befriended a family from Spain. Their daughter Marta and Camden had a great time together:

Doug taught Camden how to play chess on this giant chess board at the B&B where we stayed:

The Panama Canal was an amazing sight! We spent hours at the Miraflores Locks watching the huge ships come through and perusing the very nice museum. We also enjoyed dinner at a restaurant which was about 4 stories off the ground and had a wall of windows where you could watch the ships go by:

Hiking through the beautiful rainforest in the Gamboa area:

We saw some pretty funny signs, man this kid sure looks strong:

Camden taking a turn with the camera:

Kayaking near the Panama Canal. Ships were going by in the canal just beyond the bridge you can see in the background:

Pirate ruins! Arrr:

The small town of Portobello on the Caribbean side of Panama:

This is in El Valle, a beautiful small town built in the crater of an extinct volcano. It was surrounded by mountains, which are the rim of the volcano. Can you tell what they call this mountain? "La India Dormida" - the sleeping Indian woman. The flowers there were just amazing:

Here are many more photos ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/starico32/PanamaHighlights

Panama's Plants & Animals

One of the many things that Doug and I love about traveling is the different plants and animals that you find in other areas of the world. They are simply amazing. Of course we also enjoy attempting to capture them on film. Sadly we never quite do them justice.

Here is just a taste of some of God's creation in Panama:

These beautiful birds are Amazon parrots. Not only were they gorgeous but they had a beautiful song. We greatly enjoyed looking for them all over the country. This trip we also spied our first Toucan in the wild but he was too quick to catch on film.

Doug found this fella out in the Pearl Islands:



Camden found this puffer fish on the beach one day:

We enjoyed these monkeys. Well, all of us except Doug. They tried to steal his sunglasses TWICE, right off his face. Cam & I were chuckling. But let's just say Doug had a few other choice words for the cute little monkeys. "Hey, you little..." :)
These bats were right outside the door of the old canal house that we stayed in at Gamboa. We couldn't believe they were just out in the open.

These are howler monkeys. They make quite an amazing sound. When you are alone walking in a dense rainforest it almost sounds like something out of a horror flick. This is absolutely one of our favorite things to do...hiking in the rainforest looking for animals.

This is a mother with a little baby clinging to her back. So cute!

This little snake completely freaked me out. I walked right next to it thinking it was a stick. Doug loved it and as he does with most snakes (at least the ones we know aren't poisonous) he plays a bit with him. Ugh..this gives me such anxiety when he does this.

These were at an Orchid farm:

Ahh! Look at that sweet face. He actually jumped on to our boat for a banana.

It's a huge gourd (or something)!

This is a hanging flower, they were quite large.
This peacock was showing off for the chick that was in the cage with him.

Here are more of the plants & animals we enjoyed in Panama:

http://picasaweb.google.com/starico32