Exploring New Areas in Panama

My daughter, Melissa,  flew to Panama last Sunday so we could spend more time exploring various areas in Panama and also see some of the tourist things we thought our tour guests might be interested in.

Monday morning, we were guided down a river in a canoe by a couple of guys in loincloths (literally)  to an Embrea Indian Village.

From the distance, we thought we could see a monkey in the tree.  As we got closer, he/she came to greet us.

We saw strange bird nests.  I don’t remember the kind of bird.  Our guide told us they have nests over the water so snakes can’t get to the eggs.

The Embrea live in primitive huts made out of bamboo and palm-thatched roofs.

A medicine man showed us all the plants he uses to cure cancer, prevent cancer, numb an area, for fertility, etc.  We had a great lunch of peacock bass, plantains, and fresh fruit.  The Embrea entertained us with their traditional music and dance.  We saw monkeys, toucan and caimen crocodiles

A cute little monkey made friends with Melissa at the Embrea Village

Tuesday we flew to the western side of Panama where I live and spent the afternoon just relaxing.  Wednesday Melissa went on a hike in the rain forest near my house.  The trail goes by a haunted castle.

Thursday we went to a monkey sanctuary and got to see and hold a howler monkey, a baby howler, and a few capuchin monkeys.  All around us we could hear howler monkey’s in the jungle.  The sanctuary is run by primate experts who raise then train the usually orphaned monkeys to return to the wild.

See the baby howler monkey below.

Beautiful view from the monkey sanctuary

We ended the day in Boca Chica for a late lunch at Seagull Cove Lodge. Boca Chica is a pricey area just East of David.

Saturday, Melissa needed to be at the airport at 5 pm to catch a flight back to Panama City for her departure on Sunday morning.  We left my house early so we could check out a few hotels in David then go to Los Olas Beach Resort which Melissa had not seen before.

After Los Olas, we found out Melissa’s flight was canceled because of heavy rain in Panama City.

She had an 8:30 am flight the next day so Melissa and I took the 8-hour bus ride from David to Panama City.  The bus was a comfortable double-decker bus but it was freezing cold.   We arrived at 4:30 am.  I rented a hotel room so she could take a hot shower to thaw out after the really cold bus ride.  I got 2 hours of sleep before my flight back to the western side of Panama.  When I got home, I slept for 12 hours straight to recover from all the running around.

What a week!