That is my balcony railing with just a hint of the hammock in the lower left corner. Talk about paradise! But I get ahead of myself. We spent about 2 hours travelling through the countryside to get from Panama City to Colon. Colon is Spanish for Columbus, as in Christopher. If you have visited Panama by cruise ship and stopped at port - it was in Colon.
This is a Seaborne cruise ship docked in front of the Radisson hotel in Colon - the safest place in Colon!
Caravan began tours in Panama about 6 years ago. For the first four months they stayed at the Radisson in Colon for a two night stay. Our guide said every single night he was helping guests file reports with the police about thefts of wallets etc.
Gerardos said they used to beg guests not to leave the resort property. They revised the tour to include two nights at the Gamboa Rainforest and am I glad they did! It was interesting to see Colon - the second biggest city in Panama. Clearly the barbed wire atop all the fences speaks to the poverty and crime of the city. Many holes in roofs and in my 14 year olds words, "it was nasty, dirty and sketchy". Oh but for the grace of God go I - thanks be to God for being born in Canada.
We then visited the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side of Panama. We got a much closer view of a ship transiting through the canal.
I tried to take a picture of the lock gates after they closed; they had people walking on them and give you a great perspective of their since!
After the Gatun Lakes locks we continued our drive to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort where we had lunch with a stunning view. We turned around and took a fast motorboat up the Chagre River, onto Gatun Lake to see Monkey Island. J and P sat in the front row of one boat (and saved us seats but we were busy changing Grandma's life jacket from a child size to an adult size!). E and I sat in the third row of another boat. E found the high speed part of the boat ride really loud with her hearing aids so she covered her ears for the fast parts.
We stayed on our boats as we toured around Monkey Island. We saw Capucin monkeys first, then Howler monkeys and then Tamarind monkeys. Amazing views encouraged by guides putting grapes on the front deck of the boats.
This is a Capucin Monkey pictured above.
We then returned to the rainforest resort to Check in. We were assigned rooms 310 and 311 - both with stunning views of the rainforest, pool and river beyond. We have a large size verandah with two chairs and a sturdy hammock too. I am swaying in the hammock typing this in the dark at 9:30 pm and it is still 30 C! This is pretty idyllic right here in this spot. J leans over his balcony railing to chat too!
After supper we watched a portion of a documentary on the making of the Panama Canal , but we had to leave early to catch a night safari bus. The guide has a big spotlight roaming through the trees to spot wildlife. We spotted a capybaras sp? A big rodent with two babies, a few sloths in trees and a snake.
It was such an exciting day - it has been hard to summarize! J and I plan to get up to bird watch at 6:30 so must sign off. What a glorious day it was!
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