My Panama “Adventure” - the good, the bad, and definitely the ugly…

I came on this trip a little nervous about traveling by myself - ok, a lot nervous.  I wasn’t accustomed to taking care of my travel arrangements to a foreign country where I don’t speak the language.  I wasn’t sure about the accomodations (food, lodging, water) given that I have a track record for being on the receiving end of Montezuma's Revenge.  I wasn’t sure about the dangers of living in the jungle for 10 days, especially when the Travel Nurse had a long list of vaccines that were recommended plus malaria pills (which I didn’t take for the record). And I wasn’t sure how I would handle being with a group of 14 strangers for 10 days, including one that I would be sharing a room with.

Canopy Lodge and Canopy Tower went above and beyond to make everyone comfortable - from carrying our suitcases to our rooms to accommodating even the most difficult diets (ahem, mine).  Every meal I had was served gluten-free, dairy-free options that were free of all my other allergens like avocado, banana, etc.  Every meal. Bottled water was always available, as well as juice, soda, coffee, tea, beer and wine - they even brought a cooler with drinks on every trip so we didn’t have to carry our own water bottles. Both sites have extensive field guide libraries and gift shops. And the staff and drivers were very kind, friendly and attentive.

Our tour group got along wonderfully and our guides fit right in.  Everyone was from Texas except me and Michelle who was from Arizona. There was a lot of laughing, helping each other find birds, loaning/sharing equipment  and supplies, and no politics were brought up (except once when I was cornered and brought into a conversation about illegal immigrants).

My roommate, Michelle and I knew we would get along when one of us made a joke about the “bug swatter” supplied in our room (i.e. the Bible) within 5 minutes of being together.  We are both photographers and at about the same level of birding.  We also had the same sense of humor and kept each other in stitches for 10 days.

The bugs weren’t as bad as I had thought.  Granted, I had all of my clothes treated with Insect Shield and I applied deet to all exposed skin.  I only had two insignificant bites for the whole trip, up until the last day when something (probably an ant) crawled into my shirt sleeve and feasted on my arm - it is now covered with many (over 10) angry red bites.  Next time I step off the road, I will pay attention to any ant nests that may be underfoot!

That now leads us to the final concern about dangers of the jungle.  Everyday was a new adventure for me and Michelle, so I will list them out for you:

Day 1: A random cat wandered into our room when Michelle left the porch door open - not scary, just odd.
Day 2: A scorpion wandered into the room.  Michelle found it when she went to the bathroom early in the morning and quickly put a glass over it.

Day 3: I woke up at 2am to a 3” long millipede crawling down my arm.  

Day 4: A spring on the parking brake snapped and seized up the back wheel of the van were in - the driver eventually got the van moving and a new van met us at our next stop
Day 5: I can’t remember what we did this day…Give me a few minutes and I will edit if it comes to me.
Day 6: A baby gecko wandered into our room - we were ok with it, because I’m sure it was eating bugs

Day 7: A lightning bolt hit the tower while we were in it, then a second one struck a tree outside the window where we were standing and lit it on fire briefly.  Hurricane Ian hit the gulf coast of Florida and we are all watching to see if there will be flights to Miami this week.

Day 8: A random 1 1/2” beetle wandered into our room at night (I escorted him back out)
Day 9: The open-air birding truck was christened the “adventure truck” when Michelle, me and Tom were the only three willing to ride in it while it was raining.

Day 10: There was a baby boa constrictor hiding on a fence behind one of the hummingbird feeders where Michelle and I were photographing hummingbirds

Day 11: Left the Tower for the airport at 11:30 am, hor drive, went through security twice (including a thorough swab check (including all the seams in my shirt, pockets on my pants and inside of my boots) and luggage search which yielded a safety pin which was confiscated), then had to gate check my carry-on.  My flight to Miami was cancelled just as I was boarding the plane and I was rebooked on a flight Monday morning - two days away.  Collected my bag from the gate agent only to find out they broke the handle so I had to use my belt to pull the bag through the airport. I headed back to the Tower, because why sit in an airport hotel if there are birds to see!  

Day 12: I slipped in some sticky gooey mud while looking at tree frogs.  I did my "laundry back at the Tower with a garden hose outside, lol.

Day 13:  Woke up at 3:30am and departed the lodge at 4am fr the airport. Let's see what today has in store.