Panama Day 4 — Who Knew the Beach and Rainforest Were So Close?

A loud shatter of glass woke me up this morning and I couldn’t go back to sleep.

I started to reflect back on the day yesterday, which began at 6 am when believe it or not, Brian, woke me up to go hiking. “Today’s our last day in the rainforest. We really need to go through the woods and check it out one final time,” he said.

So I dragged my “butt” out of bed, threw on some clothes and drove in the car with him to the launch site. We walked about a mile and a half and as we hiked through the woods, all we heard were sounds of various birds. Some screeched, some made pleasant tweeting sounds and others made light twerps. Every so often a light wind would blow through the trees and you could hear almost every branch, every twig swaying!

I kept thinking about my senses and how each one except for taste was being used. Every step, I would smell a different scent. Sometimes it would smell like wild animals, other times I smelled the foliage and yet other times I smelled unrecognizable scents. As we approached the viewing site, I smelled oranges and there before my eyes were cut up oranges on a high stand for the birds and animal life in the rainforest.

We also saw a lot of birds – red, yellow, blue and a mixture of colors. Some were tiny and others were huge, like the Toucans! (Brian actually saw one of those Fruit loop guys!)

We found an observation deck and climbed 100 km up to the top. Although it was painful walking up, it was well worth it to see the magnificent views of the rainforest.

After our 1.5 miles back to the car, which btw, went up hill and down hill, one of the toughest walks I have done in a long time, we drove back to Gamboa. Packed up our bags, ate a little breakfast and went swimming before packing up the car and going to beach.

The beach, was surprisingly close. Actually, Panama City is surprisingly close to the rainforest!

We’re staying at the new Intercontinental Hotel and Spa at Play Bonita in Panama. Wow. It is totally awesome – one of the nicest hotels I ever stayed in! After lunch, we picked the perfect spot to relax and unwind for the rest of the day…