Gamboa Rainforest Resort 21st – 24th April

Susan Says:

We spent the last few days in Gamboa Rainforest Resort (not to be mistaken for Gamboa “town” – A semi deserted armpit of a place.  It used to be the town for the US expats working on the canal) in the lap of luxury.  Luxury by our standards anyway. We had a lovely air-conditioned room with a spiral staircase leading up to the girls’ personal space. They had a separate bathroom also with important items like hairdryers, an endless supply of clean towels etc.  There was a hammock on the balcony overlooking the pool and the Chagres river, a nice spot to chill and read your book in. The pool, as you can see, was the business. We spent a lot of time in it, trying to cool off.  The heat and humidity is quite intense this far South.

On Thursday morning we went on a hike through the rainforest with a guide from the hotel, and in the afternoon took a trip into Panama City. We parked in a shopping mall ( after having to make an illegal u-turn just in front of the toll booths of Panama’s only Autopiste) on the outskirts and took a taxi into the city centre. Before we headed in we went into the supermarket to stock up on a few essentials, water, beer and nibbles. It’s customary here to hand in backpacks, shopping bags, etc. at the entrance of the shop and collect them as you exit. I duly did this. Unfortunately my wallet was in it.(Plonker! I’ll save Ian the trouble of adding this). It was some time later that I missed it, but as I couldn’t be sure at that point that my wallet was not back at the hotel, no accusation could be made. When we returned to the hotel, of course there was no wallet, no cash,no  laser card and no driving licence (she also lost the bloody spare key to her car! What the F&ck she was doing with it in Panama I don’t know – Ian). Luckily I still have my visa card so I won’t have to be a kept woman.

 Apart from that hitch we had a taste of life in Panama City. We saw the Emerald Museum and visited the Panama Canal Museum.  All the information here was in Spanish, which seems a bit crazy considering the number of English speaking tourists. Then, on my recommendation, we took a taxi to a restaurant listed in our Rough Guide book. It turned out to be a seedy little bar in a seedy little area – this was not one of my better days! So, into another taxi (quickly) and on to better things. We (aka Ian) eventually tracked down a Lebanese  restaurant, also recommended, and had one of our best meals so far.

 Took a taxi back to the camper and promptly got lost and ended up at the same tollbooth.  At least I knew which cones to move this time as Ian cursed and made a 4 point turn.  Still – real fun in a 25 foot camper.  

 On Friday morning we took an aerial tram ride up through the rainforest. The guides  are always very enthusiastic about their subjects. They’d need to be. We paid out US$ 150 for the pleasure of their company on our ride. This was followed by a visit to the orchid garden, the reptile house and, best of all, the butterfly house. The girls loved this and took a mountain of photos.

Ian and Jane went kayaking in the afternoon. We tried convincing the tour guides that Emma was 12 but it didn’t work so we headed for the pool instead.

We’re back in the van now and ready to head back up towards the US. I’m looking forward to meeting up with other travellers as we head up North.  They’re a bit thin on the ground around here and Supermarket carparks are not the most sociable of places, but with the lack of campgrounds here we have little choice.  Onwards and upwards.

Emma says:                                                                                                                             

 On the 21^st of April we went to stay in Gamboa Rainforest Resort. When we arrived we checked in and went to our room. There was an outdoor passage-way to the rooms. It was a big room with an attic room.  Me and Jane slept upstairs and mum and dad slept downstairs. There was a double bed downstairs and two single beds upstairs.  There were two bathrooms one on each floor.  There was also a balcony with a hammock and a table and chairs.  The balcony looked over the Chagres River and the swimming pool. The swimming pool was huge with loads of deck chairs and tables.  In the pool was a swim up bar.  After we saw our room we went for lunch.  You had to have dinner in the hotel because there was no other restaurant near by. In the hotel there were four restaurants but one was always closed and another one was formal wear only and dad didn’t have a suit. In the end we went to the monkey bar. There was nice food there.  After that we went swimming.

Yesterday we went to the butterfly garden.  There were so many butterflies.  The butterflies ate mango and banana.  We saw the butterflies larva (caterpillar).  There were lots of plants in the butterfly garden for the butterflies to rest on.  The guide told us that it takes a larva twelve days to turn into a butterfly. I loved the butterfly garden and we took loads of pictures.

Panama train crossing the isthmus

Dodgy bridge to the resort.  Weight limit 8 tons.  Planks on top of planks

Resort pool containing riff raff

Emma on balcony

Susan pretending to read

Panama city skyline

Lillies on the Chagres river

Boat heading into Calibra Cut

Us on top of  observation tower

Butterfly before its a butterfly

And after

And a whole bunch eating Bananas & Mango

Shot of Rainforest from gondola