We Love Monkeys!!!

Yesterday afternoon while I had to lay flat after my injection, Scott walked to a different grocery store that was about a mile away. It was open and he got stuff for us to make more of our meals at the condo. He came back with these flowers to surprise me. What a great guy he is!

Well, this morning we headed out to the Panama Canal and Monkey Island. William had his driver Victor drive us there. It's only a half an hour away. On the way there we saw an ant eater on the side of the road. Victor knows the local stuff so he got us a local boat tour guide that took us all around Lake Gatun and through parts of the canal. The canal actually runs through the lake. The boat was a small boat that could hold about 8 people. Our boat had only us 3 and the guide. It was fun going fast across the water passing some huge freighters as we went.

The boat stopped in front of a little island which we could quickly see was “Monkey Island”. The White Face Monkeys came running out to the end of the limbs on the trees to greet us. You can tell that they are used to boats coming up to them with food. They're not shy at all. Quickly about 6 monkeys jumped on our boat. One climbed right on Scott’s lap as we fed them pieces of bananas that Victor brought along. They were so cute! They kept grabbing bananas out of our hands and stuffing their faces. They would let you touch them and they would wrap their soft little hands around your fingers. It was so cool! Then they would jump back to the trees in the jungle. Then we would go a little further and more would jump on our boat. You have to watch your stuff or they will steal it and jump away. One of them took a little bag that Victor had. Their quick. What an amazing opportunity to be this close with wild monkeys. I wish so bad that Hunter and Parker could have been here to do this too.

Next we drove further on the lake and saw some other animals. We saw a big turtle, an alligator, an iguana, and some bigger black monkeys.

Here is the big Iguana in the tree.

Look close for two black monkeys.

Here they are closer.

Next we got back in the car and headed to Miraflores Locks. We went into the museum and watched a video explaining the history and how they built the Panama Canal. In the early 1900’s many different cultures came together to build the canal that would go through a strip of land 48 miles wide and connect the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. What a feat! The locks are necessary to bring the boat from sea level up to the level of the canal and lake. They do this by filling the locks with water, or letting water out. This brings the ships up or down each section. We were able to watch a big freighter go through the locks, which was very interesting to see. There are actually 3 sets of locks along the canal and we were at the one that is the entrance/exit with the Pacific Ocean. There are currently 2 lanes at the locks and boats can go through both ways. There is currently a huge expansion going on in which they are planning on building another set of locks, as well as widening and deepening the existing channel. They anticipate that this will be done in 2014. It was interesting.

Now we are back in our condo for a relaxing evening. Make sure that you click on the post before this. "A Night Out" because we posted that one and this one on the same day. Talk to you soon.