img_3756.JPGContinental Airlines is the first airlines in a long time that I traveled on that served food. They had two choices – turkey or beef. Unfortunately, both ways, since we sat in row 24, there was no more turkey.

So, we suffered with the beef. “So what?” you think. Well, there was no food at the airport to bring on the plane and when we stopped for a roll or a croissant this morning at the Sheraton Panama City Hotel, they couldn’t understand our English and we ended up getting a funky piece of “pan” or what we call “bread.” It was inedible, so we didn’t eat.

“Well, there should be food at the airport” Brian said.

There were duty free shops filled with Lacoste clothes, Ferragamo bags and lots of luggage. Interestingly, the luggage was being sold in all sizes. Who’s buying a big piece of luggage at the airport once they get through security? And, where are you going to put it? The luggage under the plane is under the plane! Whatever….

But there was no food, just a lonely hot dog stand. When we got to the gate, we were told that by gate number 25 on the opposite side of the airport they had food.

Racing through the airport, we found a little cafeteria at gate #25. We ordered Tostados Frances, however, when it came to us it was cold and rubbery.

So much for airports, airlines and traveling! There’s got to be a better way to travel. Why haven’t they (whoever they may be) perfected the transporter?

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…

Today, we decided to venture outside of the Gamboa boundary and to an area called Colon. We passed Chilibre, Sabatinos to Portobello. The Moon Handbooks, Panama, written by William Friar, said that the journey would last an hour. It took us more than two hours!

We traveled through small towns where people roamed the streets. We also saw herds of people hovering at a bus stop where the bus was nowhere to be found and we saw three legged dogs and malnourished cows grazing in the fields.

When we finally found the Portobelo Ruins, which date back to 1753, parked our car and was bombarded by a group of boys helping us park our car which we didn’t need help doing. Obviously, they were looking for something so we told them that when we were finished they would receive their “dinero.”

The ruins were pretty cool for a moment. We climbed to the top and saw a magnificent view of the Atlantic Ocean. The hills that surrounded the area, were also worth seeing.

Panama is a beautiful country. It’s very different than what we are used to. The people, we saw on the outskirts of the towns, seemed to be very poor and it made me wonder about the immigrants who come to our country. How different they must see things and how although everything is somewhat bilingual, it’s still predominantly English in our country.

We ate at an interesting place off the side of the road that was highly recommended in the book. The place was called, Restaurante Los Canones. We had some interesting dishes ranging from octopus to lobster. It was the first time that we had seen shrimp served with the head too, which made us feel uneasy. The Panama beer was pretty mild and smoothed the way for the mixture of seafood.

The day ended with a stroll through a zoo on the edge of the rainforest. It had the most unusual animals that I had never seen before – Gato Solo o cuati, Gallinazo rey, Tucans and Tayra.

Tomorrow we leave the rainforest but before we do that, we’re going for a hike through the jungle! Then off to the beach…

Como estas? Habla Engles? No? No comprendo…

Everyone here speaks Spanish. There’s very little English and Brian and I are having a hard time communicating. We only took Spanish in High School and College and still can’t figure out what people are saying.

We rented a car from the airport last night and stayed at the Sheraton Hotel overnight in Panama City. I was surprised when I woke up, looked out the picturesque window to see a multitude of high rise buildings. I always thought that Panama City would have low buildings and bad roads, similar to Costa Rica. I was pleasantly surprised. It really is a metropolitan city — very modern!

We drove out of the hotel and toward the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. Before going to the rain forest, we decided to make a detour to the Miraflores Lock one of the largest locks on the Panama Canal. I never really thought about the Panama Canal before. I knew it was important for the U.S. economy particularly our trade with other countries but that was my extent of knowledge about the canal. So, when we finally arrived at the Miraflores Lock, I was amazed. I couldn’t believe that in the early 1900′s the canal was built by men from the Caribbean, China, the U.S. and throughout the world. Apparently, it was a French guy who first came up with the idea. After going through tons of money and frustration, he gave up. That’s when the US government took over. Nearly eight years ago, the U.S. government gave control back to the Panama government. We were told by the tour guide that boats and ships can pay up to $300,000 to get through the locks in the canal. (Could you imagine the value of what is on board for these folks to pay this much money???)

In any event, it was interesting to see the boats go up and down through the canal. After that, we drove to the Gamboa Rainforest. When we got here, and here is amazing btw, we checked in and decided to take the monkey boat tour through the canal.

We’re right in the center of the Panama Canal. Only 25 kilometers to the south is the Pacific Ocean and 25 kilometers to the north is the Atlantic Ocean. The other thing I didn’t know about the Panama Canal is that it cuts right through the rain forest.

Since we got here, we’ve seen lots of gators, turtles (shanekwa would be proud) and interesting looking birds. “There are 925 varieties of birds,” said the tour guide as we traveled up the aerial tram to the observation deck of the rainforest. “hundreds of different types of trees and 36 different species of turtles.” (How do they remember all this and why?)

Since we are on the equator, there are twelve hour days. (They don’t buy into the day light savings time here so it’s always on Eastern Standard Time.) The sun rises at 6 am and sets at 6 pm. And, it’s hot. The humidity is 90% in 90 degree temperature. Nine months out of the year it rains. All other times, like now, it’s dry.

Zoey and I were just on the hammock reading our books, while Brian and Derek went on a Kayak down the Chagreas River. When they get back, we’re going on a safari tour through the rainforest to see the wild animals when it’s dark….. (If I don’t write again, you could figure out what happened…..)

It felt good to be away from the office although I felt compelled to check in. I woke up at 6 am like usual and drove Zoey to school. (She wanted to go to a few periods before the trip.) After that, I met Vicki Heller, who is the new President of Temple Emanu-el of Long Beach. She was talking about the rabbi’s contract and some other things going on at the synagogue.

Around 10:30 am, I decided to get my nails and toes polished at Best Nails. After that, I picked up Zoey at school and raced home for final packing. Brian and Derek were out. So Zoey and I had a quick bite to eat and packed the rest of our clothes for the trip. The Limo got there at 1 pm and we were off to Newark.

“We’re three hours early Hilary!” said my husband. “Now what are we going to do???”

“You know, I always feel like we rush around,” I said. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be early.”

We found a steak restaurant at the airport, Gallagher’s Steakhouse. Sat down and had a nice relaxing afternoon lunch. There was no stress, which was so nice to feel after feeling stressed for so long!

Of course the plane was delayed. Who would have expected it to be on time? The one interesting difference between Continental Airlines and Delta Airlines is that Continental had food. It wasn’t great but what can you expect from an airline?