Thewesternprovinceblog

Hola a todos! Today for my last blog on Panama I will tell you about a cool little boat tour I did on the Panama Canal. So I booked a tour online for £35 which was a 4 hour half day tour. It was a slightly early start with the bus picking us up at 0600.

Up I got and went to the meetup point and it soon tips up. There are about 8 of us on this tour plus the guide. He does it in both English and español and does it very well. Mario his name is and would highly recommend their company.

We have about a 40 minute minibus ride then we are put onto the boat. It’s a another little Lake Atitlan type boat and we soon head out. As it’s morning and foggy the ships passing through the canal are being held for better visibility we will do the monkey islands first. We had about these islands seeing different kinds of monkeys and they even briefly come aboard twice to eat grapes which our guide laid out for them. Some people held them out and the monkeys eaten out of their hand – I passed on that however as hand still had scabbed cuts and a bit soon since the last scare of that nature. Still it’s a fun little hour or 2. Each Island has different species of monkey and other wildlife and turns out they are actually trapped on these islands as these never used to be islands. It was all a swampy jungle that was cut and dredged to make the canal back in the day.

After this we go back to dock on the way back we pass several large container ships, some laden some not heading to the Atlantic ocean bound for who knows where. I have to admit I wonder what life would be like living and working on one of these ships.

We docked up then went to the rainforest on way stopping for a light snack which included coffee, empanadas and a freshly cut open pineapple. This was a nice touch. We see some more wildlife and then do a 40 minute rainforest hike that ends up at a natural pool. We all take a dip but don’t to swimming. It isn’t that warm in there.

After this we head back to Panamá, I go for lunch at the Colombian restaurant again, this time having a dish from Cali on the promo. Was a lovely bit of scran and again not for the vegans this stuff! So much meat! After this I go back for a siesta. I did briefly consider doing Panama Viejo in the afternoon but then a flash storm comes in and it proper floods the street out. If I was caught in that wouldn’t have been a good time.

The evening is uneventful. In fact every evening has been uneventful here haven’t really spoken to anyone. Panama city is another place where people are in their own circles and it’s difficult to break in. Only real conversation I had was with the Colombians in that restaurant on my last day telling them about my travel plans. They wished me luck and a good time in Colombia.