Lake Gatun One of the largest man-made lakes in the world!

This is one of a thousand tiny little off-shoots from Lago Gatun. The lake itself, is one of the largest artificial lakes in the world and it is where the water is collected and held for use in the Panama Canal. On the bottom of this lake are whole trains, cities, and trees that were left there during the construction of the canal. The water is quite murky and mysterious which adds to the ambiance of the jungle that surrounds it!

This picture was taken about 7:00am and the air was incredibly calm! Everything was just waking up-including me! I had gotten up at 5:00-yes, that is me that got up!- and called a taxi-in spanish- made my way to the little park in the center of Chorrera to meet the two cooks that were going to be cooking lunch on the tour I went on. I know, sounds complicated, because everything here is! We met to ride in a chiva to La Mendoza. What is a chiva you ask? It is a covered pick-up truck that seats about 20 in the back. Another adventure just in this ride alone! We went along the back roads of La Chorrera, where I had not been – and headed out into the countryside.

The campo is really quite beautiful! Cows, horses, you name it. I felt like I was in one of those old movies in Argentina, with the original cowboys! As the chiva continued down the road, we picked up a bunch of teachers, I could tell by their uniforms and conversations, then, a bunch of students on their way to school, then some farmers, and lastly, a few construction workers that entered the back complete with their drills and equipment. It was getting pretty tight until we finally, came upon a school and almost everyone hopped out! To get the chiva to stop, someone just reached out and pounded on the roof!
We finally reached the lake and we were the last three to get out. We waited for about 20 minutes and along came a boat to pick us up and we rode in the boat for about 15 minutes into the lake. It is HUGE and totally surrounded and intermingled by jungle! Remember, it has been 100 years since the canal was built and there has been plenty of time to grow. I thought it was simply breath-taking! Every shade of green that is on this earth was there!
We reached our destination-a floating houseboat complete with 5 rooms if someone has the time to stay overnight! I wish I did! We were there for literally 20 minutes and along came a family of 4 from Virginia, a family of about 12 from Jamaica, and a group of about 15 Girl Guides from Ontario, Canada. A nice, mixed group of people. The Jamaicans went fishing for peacock bass (some people have caught up to 90 in one hour!) They only caught about 20 but were happy! The girl guides took a trip in a boat with a motor, and the family and I headed off in kayaks. We went for about three hours back into the little streams that meander through the jungle. We saw monkeys, iguanas, birds, and BLUE huge butterflies! They are so big that when they fly, with each up swing of their wings they fall a little and then, with the down swing of their wings they go back up. They literally flitter around in the sky! I loved watching them! Many of the iguanas would dive into the water when they sensed us close by. The splashes were noisy and big! One of them ran down the branches of a tree and literally dived into the water making a belly-splash! About 2 hours into our paddle, we came upon a waterfall. We were able to stop and take a swim. They do not recommend swimming just anywhere in the lake because it has quite a few crocodiles. We saw a couple of little ones sunning themselves on floating logs.

I, of course, had to take a little swim and climb up on the waterfall. The water was not as warm as the ocean but quite pleasant.

We wound our way back to the boat for a wonderful lunch of traditional Panamanian foods and then, headed back out in kayaks towards another waterfall and a trip through a very narrow passageway. It was so narrow that some of the canoes almost got stuck! On the way to the waterfall, we came across white-faced capuchins (monkeys) Howler monkeys, a huge iguana eating lunch, some absolutely beautiful birds, and orchids everywhere! The air with a wonderful, fresh scent!

This is one of the little capuchins that was hanging out in a tree just above me. He seemed as curious about me as I was of him.

He was looking for more food! The iguanas here are such brilliant colors. Different from the ones in Mexico and even Costa Rico.

This was one of about 10 up in a tree. They were eating lunch as we happened by. We spotted them because of all the leaves falling out of the tree. We must have watched them for about 10 minutes. It definitely did not have the feel of peering into a cage at a zoo!

This guy was standing in some floating plants, again eating lunch. When he opened his wings, the tips of all his wing and tail feathers were a silverish color.

This bad guy was collected off the front of the boat by the owner about 4 years ago. He seemed pretty used to being held by a lot of strangers.

I got to climb this little waterfall and then jump into the water below. The splash was enough fun that I just had to do it twice!
The day ended with a return trip on the boat, back on the chiva, through the countryside picking up different people and letting them off again, and finally, walking home to Cuidad del Ninos. I have discovered this great little place that makes batidas (they are a kind of natural fruit smoothy that are oh so tasty and cheap!) so, of course, to end this great day, I just had to stop and buy a pina one!

Hasta luego!

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