The Lion Sleeps Tonight

It is Friday and we are off on another adventure. Our driver/guide Jose picks us up at 6:30 and we drive out past the Miraflores Locks to Soberania National Park. Here we will look for three kinds of monkeys and many birds. It is hot and humid, but no rain. We arrive to the park with its bumpy roads. We park and walk and walk and see nothing. We can hear parrots and toucans, but they do not show themselves. It is very exciting to hear a howler monkey bellowing from the treetops and a little scary too.

We did see some interesting vegetation and got a lot of exercise. Eventually we saw an large anteater slowly cross the road ahead of us.

And then Jose spotted a large sloth high in a tree gingerly picking leaves to eat. He moved so slowly and was so well camouflaged. Another interesting thing was a yellow chestnut nest which hung from a vine across the road. Also saw several agoutis which are in the rabbit family. We finally saw a hummingbird and a beautiful blue butterfly. The host plant for this butterfly has lovely red flowers and is called "Angelina Jolie lips."

 Bird Nest hung between the trees

 Angelina Jolie Lips

 Termite Nest

 Palm used for Panama Hats

Driving back we went over the  "Oh My G-d" bridge. It is a 150' bridge with one lane of traffic and train tracks. We were lucky to see a train hauling containers from one side of the locks to another. The car has to ride on two strips of boards with a large gap in the middle. Nearby we passed a minimum security jail where Noriega is incarcerated.

Next we stopped at Gamboa Resort and saw some coots and red and yellow tanagers. We recognized this place from years ago when we took a Panama Canal cruise. We had taken a shore excursion to see monkeys and the boats docked here.

Jose really wanted to find us a monkey and stopped at one more trail. No monkeys, but we did see a rare egret. He is a juvenile bare throated tiger egret. Very pretty and posed so nicely.

Now we head back to take a shower and sleep. We are soaking wet from the humidity and luckily no rain. About 3:00 we get up and head across the street to see the church of Carmen. We have been admiring the building from our window and want to go inside. It is just beautiful with gorgeous stained glass windows and a lovely altar. They are setting up for a wedding tonight and there are dozens and dozens of white roses everywhere. This will be a beautiful event.

We meet our new friends to explore the old city, Casco Viejo. We used UBER to get there and it is a pleasure. We walked around and saw four of the six churches in the historic area.

 The Famous Golden Altar

 Jeff with Janet and Loren

Truly passing the hat!

There is much renovation going on and the three story homes look a lot like New Orleans with wrought iron rails and balconies. Lots of little plazas with statues honor presidents and military. We found a cute little restaurant where we were the only customers and had a delicious dinner. I had Risotto with grilled shrimp on top. Jeff had linguini bolognese and we were happy. We sat in the air conditioning for quite a while and talked. Here you have to ask for a check when you are ready and there is no rush.

We used another UBER to get back to our hotel and now hanging out in our room. We need to get up early for a greeting before boarding the bus for our tour.

Buenos Noches!