On Tuesday, Panama welcomed Marlene with a 20 minutes delayed flight, tons of humidity, and lots of rain! But, she made it! Genevieve was very excited to see Grandma Marlene when she came out of her room on Wednesday morning! Since Marlene arrived, we have been able to make it out for at least one walk a day but usually in the rain. Apparently it is rainy in Phoenix as well and Marlene thought she'd pack up the rain and bring it with her! :)
On Saturday, we drove down to the Causeway to check out the Centro De Exhibiciones Marinas, operated by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. It didn't take us too much time to see everything they had to offer, but they had lots of marine life that you could get close to and some you could touch (James was the only one who ventured to pick anything up).
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| Some locals at the Centro de Exhibiciones Marinas |
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| After holding the starfish, James also checks out the sea urchin and sea cucumber |
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| Genevieve enjoyed this big fish and kept putting her hand up to the glass...she also called him a cat :) |
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| apparently viewing fish puts her in a cuddly mood :) |
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| view from the research center |
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| gorgeous beach, only for research though... |
We decided to head to Casco Viejo for lunch. Leaving the Causeway we got some beautiful views of Panama City!
From lunch, we headed up to the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal. They have a visitor center with a 4 story museum and viewing bleachers where you can watch the huge ships pass through the locks. It is really pretty impressive! Everyone who passes through the locks has to pay in cash (US Dollars) depending on the size/weight of their cargo. One man actually swam the length of the Panama Canal...he had to pay 37 cents! All of these huge ships that pass through have to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash ready to pay the lock operators! We were supposed to have dinner at the restaurant on top of the museum because the view outside is supposed to be amazing with the ships passing by. However, they did not have any tables available outside so we decided to find somewhere else to eat. Of course the host at the restaurant really enjoyed Genevieve (and entertaining her) and started wiggling his fingers at her and saying "I am the black frosty!" Wow... haha!
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| G and Daddy check out the Miraflores Museum. |
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| Here comes the last ship of the day! |
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| ship passing through the locks |
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| Men on the ship waving to everyone visiting the museum as they pass through the locks! |
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| Genevieve was clearly more interested in anything BUT the locks, haha |
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| Daddy and Genevieve watching the ship make its way down the canal |
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| Mommy and Genevieve |
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| Mommy, Grandma Marlene, and Genevieve (not sure what G is doing in this picture?) |
Strangely enough, we ended up eating dinner at the Trump building (it is the sail shaped building on the left in the pictures of the Panama City skyline from previous posts). A couple we met in Pedasi recommended the Tapas restaurant in the Trump building, BARcelonas. It ended up being a GREAT recommendation! We had some great food and more importantly, some AMAZING glasses of sangria!
Sunday morning, we took off heading west, once again, on the Pan American Highway, headed for El Valle de Anton. El Valle is a town nestled in the crater of a giant extinct volcano, is basically all rain forest/cloud forest, and is totally beautiful! As it had been for the past week, it was raining on our way to El Valle. Luckily we were able to take shelter from the rain and check out some handicrafts at the local artisan market in the center of town. We had a delicious lunch at Bruschetta's in the Anton Valley Hotel (another recommendation by the couple from Pedasi)...and as their name may suggest, the Brushetta was WONDERFUL!
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| Daddy and Genevieve at lunch! |
The rain had lightened by the end of lunch so we decided to check out one of the waterfall's suggested by our Lonely Planet book: Chorro El Macho! It was only about 200 meters from the road, but you unfortunately had to pay $3.75 per person to "hike" to the falls. That $3.75 did get us a lovely walking stick to use on our way! This was Genevieve's first time in our new hiking backpack...she was beside herself with excitement about getting to ride on Daddy's back! Thank goodness she likes it!! The falls were beautiful and the bridges we had to cross to get to them were daunting. The canopy of the rain forest protected us from most of the rain that was still falling.
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| Daddy and Genevieve as we venture into the rain forest (walking sticks in hand) |
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| the first bridge... |
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| Marlene, James, and G? |
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| The second bridge... |
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| Chorro El Macho (aka. Manly Falls) |
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| The Bells! |
Before leaving El Valle, we stopped off at a Japanese run Orchid Conservation center. We took a short guided tour through the grounds where our guide showed us all of the orchid species they had, many of which were only found in Panama (they have approximately 1200 species of Orchids in Panama). This included the Espiritu Santo Orchid, or Holy Spirit Orchid which is the national flower of Panama. We did not get to see it in bloom, however. (Don't worry, Mom, we'll check this place out again when you visit!) :)
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| orchids growing in moss and coconut shells |
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| teeny tiny little orchids! |
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| not an orchid, but a Vanilla plant |
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| not orchids, but very pretty purples and pinks |
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| Espiritu Santo Orchid (doesn't bloom until August) |
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| Bird of Paradise |
Another fun weekend exploring Panama! It is too bad the rain hasn't allowed us to do as much as we would have liked! Hopefully we won't see any rain when we head to the Playa Tortuga Resort in Bocas Del Toro next week, where we will be spending Christmas! Send us "sunny" thoughts! :)
One quick note before ending this looong posting... Marlene, Genevieve, and I decided to venture down to the Mercado de Mariscos today for lunch and to get some fish to make fish tacos for dinner. We had a pretty good lunch at the restaurant on top of the market and then bought a 6 1/2 lb. Corvina for $1.50/lb.! Can't wait for fish tacos tonight! Mmmmm...
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| Mommy and Genevieve at the Mercado de Mariscos! |
Okay, that's a wrap! Happy Week Before Christmas to everyone! XOXOXO!
2 comments:
Hi Annie . . . sorry you all have had so much rain but it looks and sounds as if you've also had a lot of fun exploring Panama with Marlene. Love all the pictures, esp. the one of G cuddling with you, as well as the one of the tiny orchids. Hope the fish tacos were great -- they're one of my favorite dishes. Merry almost Christmas. Love you!
Can't wait to come for a visit! Primarily to see you all; but the scenery looks beautiful. Will miss you at Christmas - last year was pretty exciting and I know this year will NOT top 2010. Looking forward to skyping on Christmas eve. Love you so much!
Many hugs and kisses to you and G.
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