Our last full day in Panamá

Saturday, April 7, 2012

We all agreed to make our last day in Panama a great one. We started out with a certification ceremony for my students. They were very proud of the progress they made in Spanish and the community service they did at Casa Esperanza. After that we hung out for a while until it was time to go to the zoo. 

Dude saying goodbye to his neighbor/ friend

near the school

The zoo is nothing like our Atlanta Zoo. I know from experience to not even expect such a thing. Our American zoos are huge and full of exotic African and Asian animals. Our zoos are big businesses, this zoo on the other hand cost $2 per visitor, $1 if you are a student. Most countries have small zoos that are used as animal refuge and rehabilitation centers. They are used primarily to showcase local animals and a few foreign animal visitors. The zoo in Panama had monkeys, macau, jaguars, and exotic birds. I got my best laugh was from seeing American racoons, very cute! These are definitely not the tigers, lions, and gorillas of the US but that was OK with us.

Lazy Leopard 

Caution, these animals bite 

The zoo also doubles as a Botanical Garden (making the $2 price even better).

After the zoo, we headed out to lunch at a cheap buffet style restaurant for a $6 total. While we ate the rain started. Ya gotta love rainy season! While waiting for the rain to stop we put our heads together to decide how we wanted to spend our last day. We knew zip-lining was out, and a long trip to another part of the country was not an option. We decide that we really enjoyed our bike riding and ice cream day and would return to CoastWay. This time Zane got his own bike and afterward we all enjoyed ice cream; a Banana Split (for Zane), a Charlie Brownie (for me, of course) and a Muppet Ice Cream Cup for Dude.

Zane on his bike 

Indigenous vendor selling jewelry at CoastWay

During our last night with Conchita I made sure to add myself to her Skype contacts, take a few pictures, and to pack for our early morning flight back to Atlanta.  We definitely miss our friends and family back home but we truly enjoyed our time in Panamá.  I'm so proud of Zane and Dude for their flexibility and adventurous spirits.  We will definitely be traveling abroad this summer and I hope you and your family do too!