Panama

31 July - 8 August 2005

1 Aug (Mon) Houston -> Panama City
Our 9:00 AM flight from Houston to Panama City was early enough that we didn't want to connect from Tucson the same morning, so we flew to Houston Sunday afternoon and overnighted there instead.  The "Courtyard by Marriott Houston International Airport" was in fact some distance from the airport (~20 minutes) but they had a shuttle, so that worked out ok - weird pay phone behavior notwithstanding.  :-)  No local restaurants within walking distance, so we ordered Chinese (free delivery).  It was ok, if very slow to arrive.

The morning shuttle ran on the hour so we took the 6:00 and wound up with lots of time to kick around in the international terminal.  Starbucks coffee, muffins from home, and bananas from another vendor were our breakfast.  Bought a couple of apples, too ("we'll have to eat them before we land," Robert said...no problemo).

After a 3.5 hour uneventful flight, which I (Liza) mostly slept through, we landed in Panama City.  The usual musty tropic smell seeped into the plane when the door opened - and it was raining.  A quick traverse of customs, then we were met by our driver Harry, who drove us to the Canopy Tower in Gamboa.  Supposedly it was 45 minutes away, but traffic was pretty bad ("it's the rain," Harry said), so it was more like 1.5 hours.  The slower pace gave us good looks at the busy city - lots of car dealers and way too many McDonalds, KFCs, and Wendys, interspersed with the occasional cocina china.  Lots of brightly painted buses, too.

Once out of the city center, we made good (enough) time to Gamboa, with the canal in sight along the way, passing by the Miraflores Locks.  Inside the boundary of Soberanía National Park a very steep road wound up to the Canopy Tower.  Built in 1965 by the US Air Force to house radar used in defense of the Panama Canal, the blue-green/yellow tower was taken over by the DEA in 1988, closed in 1995, and later became a lodge after the US "returned" the land to Panamá in 1996.

The bottom few floors were basically open; most rooms were on the third level.  Ours was the Blue Cotinga suite, fairly simple but with comfy beds, an in-room hammock, and a hanging chair on the small balcony.  Mosquito netting was tied above the bed.

The floor above was the dining/meeting/observation floor, and above that (up a steep narrow staircase) was the open observation deck.  We didn't try out the deck immediately due ot the rain, but did look around a bit outside, after sulfuring our shoes/socks against chiggers.  I then tried the room hammock - oops!  immediately sleep-inducing!  Laying there I could hear the ships' horns in the distance, and out the window see the black vultures circling over the tree canopy.  Robert in the meantime practiced with his new digital camera.

The remainder of the group was set to arrive that evening, but we heard some activity, and went off to investigate.  We met our Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT) guide, Tony Nunnery, and re-met our local guide José, as well as about half of the group.  We were able to go up on the upper deck and spent about 45 minutes observing, and talking with Tony and the group.  The canal was plainly visible (runs northwest to southeast), as was the construction on the far side (a widening project, apparently).  Appetizers and drinks were at 6:00 PM, and dinner at 7:00 - a very civilized start to the trip, despite feeling suitably damp, although not oppressively so.  :-)

2 Aug (Tue) Canopy Tower
The day started at 6:30 AM with an hour or so up on the observation deck, watching the sunrise, drinking strong and excellent coffee with heavy cream, and birding.  Below us we could see ships traversing the canal.  After breakfast (with healthy options, hurray) we walked and birded the steep winding road down from the tower.  The road edges were slick with moss, and the pavement slippery here and there as well, but we were fine.  We had beautiful looks at some motmots, puffbird, and a pheasant cuckoo (which Tony says is very rare and most likely the bird of the trip).

A vehicle drove down at 10:15 to bring us drinks and snacks (although we did not need more food, but the bananas were very good anyway).  More walking, enjoying not only birds but leaf-cutter ants, butterflies, damsel flies, an agouti, squirrels, toads...a (welcome) ride back up the hill at 11:45 brought us to lunch.  More good food - in self-defense against over-eating I decided to be a vegetarian on this trip as much as possible, so Tony (being a vegan) kindly gave me some of his tofu ("I won't eat it all").

It started to rain during lunch and as I wrote (1:40 PM) was still falling.  We had a siesta until 3:00 PM then we regrouped and sallied forth again.

We drove to Gamboa (don't blink!) stopping at "Carmen's House", where there were many feeders...then on to "Ammo Dump Pond" down near the canal.  Nice easy roadside birding, ignoring the "unexploded ordnance" signs.  Well, I guess it was called Ammo Dump Pond for good reason.

Bird list at 6:00 PM, dinner at 7:00 PM.

3 Aug (Wed)
This morning after a 5:00 AM (gag) breakfast, we headed out to Colón and to the Pacific side, crossing the canal at Gatun Locks.  We made good time to the locks, but waited at least an hour to cross, as three ships had priority, and one "opening" we were too far back in line to make it through.  But eventually we did, and until then had fun watching the locomotive "mules" pulling freighters into the locks, ships rising, and then moving on.

Most of the rest of the day was occupied birding from the road of San Lorenzo National Park.  And eating...had great looks at sloth in addition to good birds.

The day ended with a ride on the Panama Canal Railroad back over to near the Miraflores Locks, about one hour.  The gal-conductor seemed a bit disturbed by our group and was intent on us all staying together, for whatever reason - probably smell.  But the ride was a lot of fun, and we tried to help Tony with his "train count" competition with other VENT guides.  I'm sure we bettered (his) low of 12, but weren't close to the reported high of 53.  Maybe low 20's?

4 Aug (Thu)
Another 5:00 AM breakfast - had the alarm set for 4:35 but someone blow-drying their hair (why bother?) at 4:00 AM trumped the alarm clock.  At any rate, we all left at 5:30 and headed down to an agricultural area - rice fields - where we did well with some water birds before being warned away by some imminent pesticide spraying.  Images of Cary Grant in North by Northwest - transplanted to Panamanian mud - crossed a few minds!

From there we had a longish drive up to Cerro Azul, where we stopped at the home of the director of the Panama Audubon Society.  Beautiful homes in the area, gardens, security - but very remote, and up and down some very steep roads.  We had to wonder whether the minibus would even make it as it struggled in first gear.

The late afternoon we spent near Panamá Viejo, the old city sacked by its own governor in the 16th (?) century so it would not fall into the hands of a particularly nasty pirate (Thomas?).  The old city was adjacent to mud flats, where we got some good shorebirds despite the receding tide and requisite shore trash.  Also nearby was an artisans' market, with a lot of touristy stuff, but we picked up a few items anyway (a little teak tray for me with appliqué work under plexiglas).

Suitably showered and cleaned up after the excursion, we were ready for happy hour and dinner.

5 Aug (Fri)
This was a slightly easier day - breakfast at 6:00 AM, then we were on our way at 6:30 over to Pipeline Road (Olioducto).  The pipeline was built during WWII in case anyone sunk a ship in the canal, but it was never used.  The road now is basically used by the Smithsonian for research and (very few) birding groups.  It was a good morning there, if a little muddy.  The open-air vehicle we were in slid around in spots, and was nearly stuck; we also sloshed around on foot.  (Still, it wasn't anything like the "road" up to Rara Avis in Costa Rica.)  Lunch was back at the Canopy Tower, and we had a little siesta time before heading back out in the late afternoon.  I took advantage of the break to hang out (literally) in the hammock chair on our balcony.

After the siesta - and man, was it hard to leave the hammock - we drove over to the ritzy Gamboa resort and walked the entrance road up to the marina.  We were also able to bird from the restaurant deck over the water.  Nice place - but I preferred where we were staying, truth be told.

The plan was to go back to Pipeline Road, but a storm was coming in, so we raced back to the Canopy Tower.  Got a bit wet anyway in the open-air vehicle - oh well!  The hair dryer in the room got stuff partially dry; body heat would have to do the rest.

6 Aug (Sat)
A morning rain killed the 6:00 AM observation deck breakfast, so we ate down below, then went up top afterwards.  The bulk of the morning was spent out on Plantation Road birding, with lunch back at the tower.  Robert had a few frantic moments of thinking his camera lost, but it was eventually found and order restored to the universe.  We birded in the late afternoon at the Summit Ponds, aka "chigger alley" - but we managed to get out unscathed.  Highlight of the day was the sighting of a spectacled owl with a juvenile.

7 Aug (Sun)
Last full day...and you can tell that my note taking was getting more and more sketchy.  We went to the Metropolitan Gardens - quite nice with very extensive grounds.  Went past what was Fort Clayton, now a university (ciudad de saber).  Lunch (pizza!) was at the tower.  Great tomatoes...and pineapple.

The afternoon was spent over at Miraflores Locks.  They had a very nice visitors' center describing the history and construction of the canal, and an observation deck where you could watch the ships pull into the locks and make their way through.  A submarine went through while we were watching, crew on deck saluting - believe from the flag it was Argentine.  The sub looked pretty puny going through the locks compared to the massive container ships fore and aft.

The next day we would fly home.  Overall - great trip, if short.  Liza's sunglasses (Rudy Project) were lost somewhere along the way, and undoubtedly made some Panamanian pretty happy (if they even knew how much they cost) - <shrug>.  Tony Nunnery was definitely an interesting guy, living outside of Quito, Ecuador with his German wife.  Talk about "off the grid" - these two live without electricity ("what about refrigeration?" Liza asked..."what's to refrigerate, we're vegan!" replied Tony).  One great thing about his place - apparently he has the highest "feeder" count of hummingbirds imaginable, some insane number of species routinely in his garden.  We'll have to get down there some day!