On Tuesday, our last day in Panama, we hired a car and headed to Soberania National Park, about 45 minutes from central Panama City to visit the Rainforest.
We hiked a few nature trails and spotted a few birds (not that I can identify them), but not much other wildlife. Luckily, the trees provided nice shade and we didn't get eaten alive by any insects (our guide thinks that the whole Zika scare is a ploy by the makers of OFF insect repellent :)).
little frog
Iver had a snack in the forest (no sea lions or exotic animals photobombing here) on the Plantation trail
He loved playing in the leaves
We then visited the nearby small but interesting Summit Zoo, where we could see some of the animals (some rescued) that we wished we'd seen in the wild :). I tend to not like zoos due to seeing animals in small cages, but this seemed pretty well maintained and good-intentioned.
Monkeys!
Tayra
Toucans!
The endangered Harpy Eagle is Panama's National Bird
This tapir was not very shy!
It was cool to see a jaguar up this close, although his belly showed that he needed more exercise...
We ended our day playing in Parque Omar, Panama's largest park, which was a 5-minute walk from our apartment.
On the recommendation of our guide, we then checked out a Vietnamese restaurant ("Vietnamita") about 6 blocks from our apartment.
The mango/shrimp salad was delicious, and Kelvin enjoyed conversing with the owners in Vietnamese.
We have loved our brief trip to Panama, and would highly recommend this country to anyone who can take heat!
