Friday, February 9, 2018

A Sneak Peek

We’re flying down to Panama tomorrow.  Our first trip was in 2006 and was absolutely wonderful.

Panama is in Central America.  It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the southeast.

When we were there in 2006 the country was gearing up for an election to expand the canal.  At a cost of 5 billion dollars, expected completion was 2014.  The new locks opened 2 years after the expected completion date and one billion dollars over budget.

We watched several ships move through the locks.  This coming trip we will not be in the area of the canal so we’re glad we were able to see it previously.

Ship in the locks.

The national bird of Panama is the Harpy Eagle.  We were able to see two Harpy's in a zoo but didn’t see any in the wild.  This coming trip will put us in prime Harpy habitat.

Harpy Eagle

Would you like to see the largest rodent in the world?  Actually they’re pretty cute!

Capybara

We haven’t seen all 987 bird species of Panama but we have seen lots of beautiful, colorful birds.

Capped Heron

 Crimson-backed Tanager

 Blue-gray Tanager

 Spectacled Owl

 Keel-billed Toucan

 Red-legged Honeycreeper

It’s not all birds - there are plenty of other things to see here.


 Blue Morpho


Clearwing
 Green Vine Snake eating a Palm Tanager

Passionflower

Hanging out with the hummingbirds.

3-toed Sloth

Our first week will be spent in the Darian.  An area we haven't visited before.  From there it's several days at Canopy Lodge.  We spent some time at Canopy Lodge in 2006 and really enjoyed this beautiful place.

Our room in 2006.

I'm sure the time will go by way to fast and we will be home before we know it with lots and lots of pictures.

Hasta la vista.
Teri