Panama

Much of the trip revolved around birds and birding.



We brought an ultraviolet light and a white sheet so we could attract moths...Geeks. Thank God someone didn't light up a Star Trek memorabilia item or something outside our window. Coincidentally, the lamp could have been put to better use INSIDE this place...I'm pretty sure we could have used it to lure the bedbugs away. Well, maybe not bedbugs, but there were bugs in the bed.



Three of the five styles of some kind of bug found only in Panama.


These caterpillers were MASSIVE. As a matter of fact many of the insects there were apparently on 'roids.



The spiders here remind me of the clock spider. Click both links for the heebie-jeebies.

There were long trails of leaf-cutter ants everywhere. Sometimes we found fire ants. Usually they found us first.


We'd take insanely long walks on the beaches at night fruitlessly looking for sea turtles. We did find bats.



And lots o' crabs. Even if we had to dig 'em up.



The treefrog (middle) jumped on Ken's head right after he took this picture. We also found her eggs.


This sloth was right outside our room on our first day here. We stayed in old American army barracks converted into a Bed & Breakfast. Well, the '& Breakfast' part is only if you're OK with a hotdog for breakfast. This is not the sloth that slapped Ken. Long story...


A little croc, a night monkey that came over to touch the camera and the only snake we found during the entire trip (during the single night we stayed at a resort, go figure).


Starfish Cove


You had better pay attention to the traffic cones in Panama, even though they were usually just badly bunged-up oil drums.


Ok, ok, ok, here's the Panama Canal.


Coffee, Oranges and Pineapples


Food Geek Pictures








I WISH you could get these in the US.
Except we'd have to figue out a better name:
Mamon Chino = Chinese Nipple

Best. freakin'. breakfast. ever:

Remember when McDonald's stopped
using styrofoam containers? And when
they stopped deep-fat-frying their pies?
I know where they sent all the leftovers.

People were selling 'chicha' on the side of the road every quarter mile, or so. It was corked with a dried out corn cob. It wasn't very tasty.


This breakfast truck/van thing was the same size as my Justy.


Around Panama:




These aren't even the best ones, but they're good anyway.


Whenever we went to touristy-historic places like a fort or to see stone carvings or whatever, we'd usually be given the shakedown by local boys offering to watch our car for a quarter. Or they'll smear soapy water on your shoes for you. Guess how many more show up when you bring out a huge bag of candy. Ken calls me Gringa Claus.


We couldn't get out of one of the little towns along the coast. There was a makeshift roadblock made of mattresses, bicycles, pots, pans, 2x4s, whatever. Apparently, the people were ticked off about the flooding. A priest had to come break it up.


The buses of Panama rock. Imagine you gave a ten-year-old a couple thousand bucks and said he could get as many tattoos as he wanted:



Yeah, but the room cost us only $7.



I felt guilty sleeping here. The tv had the bumbulebee guy, though.


We took a loooong ride in a wooden canoe to a native village. The men wore little more than a loincloth and the women wore only skirts and a bunch of beaded necklaces. But, I think it may have been a little fake. Whatever. It was still cool. We had fish and plantains wrapped up in banana leaves.


This guy would run out into traffic and juggle flaming -
I don't know, sticks when cars stopped at the red light.

For some reason, I thought the cemetaries were pretty neat.

This was right outside a butcher shop.

The American Hospital?: