Sunrise on Shelter Bay…yum.
Our last breakfast and a tour of the galley that has produced all that lip-smackin’ delight. Bags out and a reunion with José 1 who drove six hours through the night from Panama City to pick us up and return us to the Hotel Central.
First we had a treat - a walk through the jungle leading up to the San Lorenzo National Park. The humidity has definitely increased as we are now right on the Caribbean where the annual rainfall measures 200 inches!!! Here, they have 1-½ months dry, and the rest of the year is wet (meaning several small rain storms every day). The flora and fauna are incredible! We are truly in the rainforest now, but thankfully the rain which was predicted STILL has held off. As a matter of fact, it’s rained only about 30 minutes and that was the time we were having lunch on the Discovery. Another thing - we have yet to see the first mosquito in Panama. We truly picked an ideal time to visit!!
This very small kitchen is where all of those terrific meals were prepared.
We had to take a ferry to the other side of the Canal to start our journey back to Panama City. This wildly decorated bus had to get off before we could get on.
He had some sort of mechanical issue, but it afforded us a solid look at his hood ornamentation. Yikes!
José dropped us off along a dirt road with huge pot holes, and we started walking and listening for jungle sounds. Roberto’s ears are finely tuned for this purpose. Soon he identified a tropical mockingbird and soon thereafter a troupe of howler monkeys.
We definitely dropped in on this large group of howlers. These are technically golden-mantled howling monkeys. They make a loud grunting which is amplified in the males. They mostly eat leaves and travel in groups around 29 in number. Like their cousins in Costa Rica, they seem to delight in throwing their feces at unsuspecting tourists below.
Yikes, this old fellow on the right needs to find some fig leaves…and not for eating!
Now, here’s a sign I didn’t expect to find in a rainforest in Panama. The patina on the sign speaks to the amount of moisture…and maybe the presence of howlers.
The ecosystem and unique plants here just fascinate me with their odd adaptations.
Walking out of the jungle canopy, we were suddenly faced with an ancient Spanish fort and LOTS of cannon!
…and LOTS more cannon. We had walked into Fort San Lorenzo - a VERY strategic point of defense.
The government began many restorations of this fort, but 10 ½ months of rain every year have definitely made this difficult. Being designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site has greatly helped the effort.
The confluence of the Rio Arenal and the Charges River. These are the marine freeways used by generations for at least 500 years.
It was suddenly VERY hot and the smiles were resplendent as we climbed aboard our air-conditioned bus and were handed bags of cold fresh fruit by José! There may have been a few naps on the long road back to Casco Viejo for our last night.