Panamanian History and Culture

This morning — gracias a Dios — we met for a slightly later departure for the day’s activities. At 9:00 we hopped  on the bus for a driving tour, stopping at several points of interest and shopping. We stopped at a craft (souvenirs) market, the canal administration building, and, after crossing the El Puente de las Americas (Bridge of the Americas), a “mirador” overlooking the Pacific entrance to the canal. 





After the morning excursion, we headed out on the Amador Causeway which is a road built in Panama Bay connecting four of the islands in the bay. The causeway was built with rock and earth excavated from the building of the Panama Canal. The view of the city was fantastic!



Our first stop was to have lunch at a restaurant, which was very tasty. Most of us had seafood.







Since the United States was in control of the Panama Canal until quite recently, the US built artillery batteries on the islands prior to and for World War II in order to protect the canal.  The US military has no presence today. The islands and areas have become very popular for tourism. They have restaurants, marinas, and shopping.



There is also a Smithsonian research facility located there, which we visited, and it was one of our favorite stops of the day.







At the Smithsonian research facility, the wildlife seemed quite accustomed to human visitors. We saw two raccoons, happily foraging for food in/near the garbage cans. 



And we saw two sleeping sloths!



We had a couple of hours to rest at the hotel before we went back out on the causeway to visit a restaurant and interactive show. It was so much fun. We had dinner, and there was folkloric dancers. There was also plenty of music and dancing. Jim was even part of the show. 



There’s nothing like a party in Latin America!

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