Panama
Panama was a lovely surprise full of natural beauty. Panama City has the amazing Panama Canal and it was fascinating watching the boats being hauled through and the locks filling with water then decreasing. Panama old town is a lovely place to wander through with the canal on both sides and full of little cafes with delicious Panama Coffee and the city skyscrapers were wonderful. I was lucky that they had an outdoor exhibition of the art. I flew to David and went to Cerro Punto to see the views and the natural life and the small villages surrounding the area. I stayed in Las Quetzales a small ecolodge in the village of Guadelupe as it was based in primary cloud forest at Volcan Baru national park. The ancient trees belonging to the farm and I hiked to waterfalls. I saw the tail of quatzal but due to the season there were hardly any birds except for hummingbirds at the feeders. As the only guest I was locked in for dinner and had to climb wall but there was great food in restaurant. I then went to a beautiful Swiss lodge in the Chiriqui province to do some hiking in the dense cloud forest. The lovely owner Monica offered me wine with meal as apology for the long hike from the bus stop(one kilometre). The farm had difficult hikes but amazing views. I saw hummingbirds in the garden, which was so colourful with orchids and glorious colourful flowers. My final journey was to the island of Contadora where I was lucky to see a whale breaching and had some wonderful snorkelling trips in sparkling clear waters. The island is small and easy to get around. The runway is the total breadth of the island and the airport lounge is a wall where you wait for your eight seater plane to land.
