Punta Culebra was again on our docket, and we were very glad to see it open this time!
In addition to several small buildings housing various exhibits about the local flora and fauna, there are also some animals that just live in the area that you can see here. It is notably not a zoo, so nothing is guaranteed or caged, but the space is safe from predators and thus very attractive to sloths.
We spent a while in the frog exhibit. Panama has some amazing frog species, many of which are venomous, but they are also so small that the likelihood of finding them on the wild is exceptionally low. These little guys come in gorgeous colors (as well as camouflaged green and brown), and some are as small as a fingernail.
Outside, we found iguanas of varying sizes and two sloths. Two! I will never tire of seeing sloths, even if most of the time they never move. They are so adorable!
Each exhibit had workers who could tell you about the animals. We learned about starfish (and watched one walking!), nurse sharks, turtles, and the various fish and coral species in the area.
We ended our time at the center with a walk through the butterfly garden.
After lunch, we went to do a bit of shopping at a small craft center, then we went over to Panama Vieja (Old Panama). This was the original site of the city, which was ultimately ransacked and burned by pirates. Spanish conquistadors really didn’t fare well in much of Central America, between the heat, the bugs, the diseases, and the pirates. You’d think they would’ve learned a lesson and given up, but the appeal of wealth and controlling trade routes was apparently too much to override any sense of self-preservation.
Panama City is much more cosmopolitan than San Jose (Costa Rica) or Bogotá (Colombia). You can feel the influence of global trade in the architecture, restaurant options, and shops. A traveler here can have a Panamanian breakfast, enjoy a sausage and beer in a German beer hall for lunch, and have sushi or Chinese for dinner, all in a single mile radius. One mall will be full of Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and another will have very low-priced basics (we went to a store called Cheaper to buy kiddo some shorts, which is basically a TJ Maxx filled with American brands for super cheap prices, but the assortment of goods was weird – safety vests with Delta’s logo, swimsuits from Target, and a cami from Juicy Couture). It’s a very eclectic mix.
We meandered deeper into El Cangrejo, the neighborhood we are staying in, to get dinner. La Rana Dorada (the Golden Frog) serves their own beer and comfort food, so we ate there. Their idea of comfort food was a bit atypical (I had a trio platter of green olives, feta cheese, and tortilla chips), but it was good enough and close.
We have a 5:30am pick up on Sunday, so it’s an early night for this crew.
Vacation Days 