Monkey Islands tour of the Panama Canal

Last Saturday I rented a car and drove out to Gamboa, which is about 40 minutes from our apartment.  The Gamboa Rainforest Resort is a HUGE hotel and tourism complex located in the (you guessed it!) rainforest bordering the canal.

http://www.gamboaresort.com/

I bought a groupon a while ago for a tour with Gamboa Expeditions to see the monkeys on the islands in the Canal.  I didn't really know what to expect, mostly because I had pictured it to be a touristy, zoo-type of experience.  I was wrong and it was awesome.  These monkeys are wild, and go mostly undisturbed with the except of their supervisiona and care-taking from various conservation groups.  They seemed unbothered by our presence, and only wanted to see where the mangos were.

Canal operations

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Can you spot the monkey?

That's a mango he's eating.

a baby cocodrile... aka crocodile!

Above, a beautiful hawk.

Above, cruisin' along until the monkeys tell us that they don't like the sound of our boat's motor

Below, Titi monkeys

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titi

This was right at the end of the tour, and I was absolutely terrified.

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On our way to the island for lunch, we spotted the A super yacht transiting the Canal.  It's owned by a Russian billionaire, who spent $300 million on it.

Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(yacht)

Look inside it here: http://live.wsj.com/video/inside-a-russian-billionaire-300-million-yacht/

Below, after lunch, here's my bottom half in a hammock. No complaints.

Theater: La Cage Aux Folles, and dinner: Quien Dijo Cones?

La Cage Aux Folles

at the Teatro en Circulo

Amazing.  After seeing Hairspray here a while ago, I was a little hesitant that I wouldn't understand or enjoy this show.  I'm happy to say that I was wrong.  This show was amazing.  The cast was hilarious and incredibly talented, and the costumes were beautiful.  I understood most of the dialogue and loved the songs.  This was a Rotary Club sponsored event, so we were all happy to support their philanthropy as well as enjoy ourselves at a great night out!

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Quien Dijo Cones?

This is a restaurant in my neighborhood that we just hadn't gotten around to trying.  Andrea's parents went for the first time a few weeks ago and said that it was great, so we decided to finally give it a try.  It's a sushi place that only does cones... as well as other non sushi japanese style plates.  The best way to eat is to get a combo of three, and of course, try different kinds.  I loved it.  And surprisingly, so did Andrea.  Since she's allergic to seafood, sushi isn't really her thing.  In fact, any cold food isn't really her thing, but we had a nice time, and enjoyed the cuisine despite our initial reservations.

Pesé with the Rotary Club

Pesé 

Three and a half hours on the road to Pesé with Andrea, her dad José, and her sister Isa.  We were traveling to volunteer at a clinic the Rotary Club was sponsoring, having donated medication and the time of the doctors for the day.  When we arrived in the morning, the street outside of the clinic was full of people waiting, some having come from neighboring towns.  We immediately went to work in the rear porch of the building to sort and organized the medications and prescriptions.

Above, the waiting area to enter the clinic

Above, a proud Rotarian of the Panama Sur district

Above, sorting the donated medications

Above, our beautiful final product!

Above, Andrea, Isa and me.

Above/Below, while we were working, we heard some rustling behind the door.  We were all on the back patio, which was an open air plan, no door... We turned around to find a few HUGE cows just walking down the street, moo-ing, pooping, playing with each other.

Above, mango's growing on the tree

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After lunch, a few of the Rotarians offered to drive us out the the Hacienda San Isidro, where a fellow Rotarian, Juan Varelo, vacationed on his family's plantation where the harvest, distill, bottle and distribute the Panamanian treasures that are Seco and Ron Abuelo.  Seco is a triple-distilled sugar cane liquor and Ron Abuelo is rum... really, really good rum.  The Varela family started the business in Pesé in 1908 and have kept it there ever since.

Above, the entrance to Hacienda San Isidro

Above, the family's house

Above, grinding and burning (for fuel) sugar cane

Above, how old do you think this tree is?

Above, rum barrels out in the sun to dry.

Above, along the road leading up to the entrance, the trees lined the road perfectly.

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Before heading back to the city, we begged Andrea's father to stop by our little side-of-the-road fonda near Guarare, where we stayed for Carnavales (carnavales-in-las-tablas) for fried corn puffs.

THEY ARE SO DELICIOUS!

Above, fried balls of maiz nuevo, or "new corn"

Below, my excitement for the food.