GLOBAL ODYSSEY 2010 BLOG #10: MONKEY ISLAND

We suppose there are two sorts of people who come to Panama; those who ignore the Canal and those who don’t. This puts us somewhere in the middle. It’s a great monument to what we’ve done as a nation, and it was a sad day when Jimmy Carter gave it up – particularly as a dictator was in control of Panama when the agreement was made rather than a freely-elected president (says something about old Jimmy, doesn’t it?). At the same time, you can’t blame the Panamanians for wanting it back – our guide put the blame on a double-dealing Frenchman and who’s to say her nay. Anyway, we were looking for a tour that was not Canal-fixated, but which didn’t ignore the structure either.

So what were our choices? Well, there was the Authentic Embrera Indian Visit – involving a trip by dugout canoe to one of their villages, but that would have been too obvious, wouldn’t it? Choice number two was an Aerial Tram and Ecological Encounter. This did involve a frog exhibit and serpentarium stop, which might have filled in some of the gaps from Costa Rica, but at the time we booked, it seemed a bit of a rerun. The Shaping of Panama hit some of the sites of Old Panama, as well as the modern city, but did not stop enough to suit us. (Be very careful to check for actual stops – as opposed to “you will see” which might be a drive by with not even time enough for a picture.”) Miraflores Lock Observation Center was Canal-oriented and we found was also included in our eventual choice Monkey Island Adventure. After all, who can argue with nature, and what was good enough for National Geographic, The Discovery Channel and Animal Planet (all of whom have filmed here) was good enough for us.

After an initial drive to reach the dock along which Mary spied termite nests in the trees (apparently they don’t like flooding), we met Carl, obviously a Midwesterner, judging from his sense of humor. Our object was to see howler and capuchin monkeys in the wild – never a guarantee.

We edged out into the Canal and were treated to a closer look at some of the sites that we had seen the previous day, as well as a more in-depth account of the Canal’s history. Even as we watched, changes were being made which would bring the new enhanced Canal into being – hopefully in time for the Centennial of its opening. Like a kid, it’s growing before your very eyes, so now is a good time to see it!

“Monkey Island” is in fact a series of islands left by the builders of the Canal. We caught a short glimpse of howlers at the first stop, (but no pictures), but really struck gold with the capuchins on the next island. The whole family was in trees down by the water and through a bit of dexterous maneuvering (and the bribe of a banana by Carl), the entire clan came down close and one even jumped onto the boat! It may sound like a zoo experience, but it wasn’t. And the chance to see these primates (and the top of the odd croc) while revisiting the Canal was quite fulfilling.

The final stop before returning shipside was the Miraflores Lock Observation Center. This is really quite a good little multimedia museum with several old films playing, a mocked up “bridge” to steer through part of the Canal, and an outside observation platform where you can watch transits in progress. We were also able to fit in the English version of a ten-minute movie (it also plays in Spanish) – history as seen from the Panamanian side. Our only critique would be of the gift shop; while French and Spanish language books on the Canal were available. It had sold out of the English version. (Hello, Museum people, does that tell you something about the composition of your visitors??? You lost a bunch of sales, and are losing more every day the English-language version is not restocked.) Sam, of course, bought the French version, acting in the belief that he would not find the English pamphlet for sale back at the port, as indeed was the case.

So Monkey Island was thoroughly satisfying. If we ever come again, however, we want to see Old Panama City (with time to explore – we got the English-language guide for that!) and might even try the dugout canoe visit to the Embrera.