Saturday, June 23, 2012

Coolest Day of My Life!


I had such an exhilarating day, full of first time experiences! This morning I woke up around 5:30, ate a breakfast full of carbs (pancakes for me, please!) and conquered my first mountain! The mountain is called the Sleeping Indian Girl, and I hiked the entire thing! Since I have never seen an actual mountain before, let alone hiked one, I really didn’t know what to expect.  The hike was full of many challenges including steep inclines, rocky paths, and enormous cliffs.  It was pretty tricky at times to scale up the rocky mountain walls, and even coming down in some places I had to sit and “crab walk” down.  I played the guessing game many times, choosing which rock would be the most stable to stand on, when climbing up and going back down. The view from the peak of the mountain was worth my entire trip to Panama, though! It was absolutely gorgeous! I was able to see down into the valley, numerous other mountain ranges, and even could see as far as the Pacific Ocean.  Our tour guide was fantastic, and he even had a pet monkey named Monica who accompanied us on the adventure! She was too cute! The hike took about four hours total.  After hiking, we came back to the hotel for a quick bite to eat, then went zip lining! I was super nervous because of how high up it was, and also the harness really wasn’t that secure!! I’m so glad I did it though! It was definitely a blast.  I zip lined through the rainforest, over a gigantic waterfall, and even saw a Tucan! After zip lining, I went shopping in the Market, where local Panamanians bring their goods to sell. They have everything from handcrafts to fruit! I always enjoy shopping at the markets here; they have so many unique things! Lastly, I went to the zoo. It was quite different than a zoo you would typically see in the United States, but overall they had a variety of animals.  The zoo housed hundreds of chickens, goats, monkeys, exotic birds, turtles, alligators, ostriches, leopards, coyotes, and even a sloth! The zoo is known for its frog exhibit, which houses the Golden Frog.  The guide told us that El Valle is the only place in the world you can find the Golden Frog, and only in captivity, because the rest of the Golden Frogs were killed off by a fungus in North America.  That is super crazy to imagine! Overall, I had such an awesome day, and an adventurous one at that! I’m going horseback riding in the morning, which should be a great time! Since we leave tomorrow, I have been cramming in as many activities as possible!  Here’s a sneak peak at some of the pictures from today! (The wifi isn’t the best, so it takes forever to upload the pictures, more to come soon though, I promise!)
 This is my tour guide and his monkey, Monica!



XOXO, Jenny

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