Gamboa Rainforest Reserve, Panama

Dear Family  and Friends,

Here we are in Panama, after three long years of not being able to travel (Covid).

Although we really didn’t have a firm idea where we wanted to go (we were thinking Costa Rica again), our travel agent at CAA suggested The Rainforest Resort in Gamboa, Panama -- located in a National Park. (Internet photos below.)

Internet photos showing aerial views of the hotel, the Reserve, and the hotel swimming pool.

Our resort looks out over the Chagres River, which connects to the Panama Canal.  Quite a view from our balcony which sports two chairs, a table and a hammock.

We have a lovely large room with a/c, thank Heavens, as it is muy caliente here, and HUMID.

Our room is located about 1000 miles from the front desk in a newer section.  (There are several buildings connected together with wooden walkways--see opening pix.)

This is the view from the open-air atrium restaurant, called the Monkey Bar. Entryway and Front Desk also found here.

It is at the Monkey Bar that we had dinner last night. Service is S-L-O-W when it’s full of diners (we saw reviews to that effect) so we have learned to go early or late!

Monkey Bar terrace (Internet)

Monkey Bar dining room/bar  (Internet)

A few floors down is where the breakfast (and I presume dinner) buffet is found. Some interesting choices on offer, but I was delighted with the fresh fruit.

After breakfast, we walked around the grounds on a path you can see from our balcony. We saw many birds, heard many more, and Rob did manage to snap some photos with his iPhone.  Here’s the kicker.  He has discovered that his good camera is now giving an error message that the Image Stabilizer is not working. This means that his photos are not clear if expanded. There is absolutely NO PLACE around here to get this fixed or even to buy another camera.  

When we spot a bird with our binos, we can often identify it using the Costa Rica Bird book Rob has on his phone.  Otherwise, we use Google with WIFI back at the room. Hopefully, we will have some pictures to share.

We stupidly did not take water with us on our long hot walk (won’t do THAT again) so stopped at the Monkey Bar for muchas aguas, coffee and a piece of flan (below).

There are so many interesting flowering plants and trees here, as well as palms with masses of ripe, as well as green, fruit hanging. The ground seems littered with little nuts or fruits (no way of telling) and this morning I saw these seed pods, in an almost complete circular pattern.

We will book some tours.

Hansi, Saturday, March 25, 2023, 11:45 am