Home From Panama

We made it home from our exciting trip to Panama' with my family. For those who don't know, my mom was born and raised in the Canal Zone. A temple was recently completed there and Mom's dream was to have all her children there for its dedication. Everyone made it possible and we all had a great time together. During the trip, I kept a daily log that I've decided to post. I won't do it all at once as it is a LOT of reading, so I'll break it up by day.

Day 1 in Panama:

We are here safe and sound after some question whether or not we would make it on our flight due to the tropical rainstorm that hovered over Houston. Luckily we were able to fly to Houston and get out of Houston with only one delay in SLC. We got in at 7 and waited for Dainon to arrive. We all stayed the night at my Aunt Debbie's place. It was nice to see them and my cousins. My Mom's whole family will be out here this week!

Today was a day indeed. Todd, Dainon and I woke up early and headed out to El Valle, a mountainous region here in Panama. It took about an hour and half. It was beautiful!!!!! Once there we took a short hike in the rainforest to a gorgeous waterfall where we romped in the water for a while. We decided that it wasn't challenging enough, so we headed up to a hike I found in my Frommer's book called Cerro Gaital. It was supposed to take about 2 1/2 hours and it said it was easy to moderate terrain. There was no one up there with us--we had the mountain to ourselves! Well, we headed out and it was indeed an easier hike and beautiful every step of the way, but as we got further up the mountain we started to realize that this wasn't what we thought it would be. It got VERY difficult, and at times we found ourselves rock climbing, scaling huge boulders and using cords to make sure we didn't slip down the side of the mountain. This wasn't the part that bothered me the most. It was, what is called, cutgrass. It is exactly that-- blades of grass that act more like razors against your skin than anything else. We were extremely muddy and bloodied by the time we reached the top. We HAD to reach the top and it was a great feeling. As soon as we got to the top a quick tropical rainstorm decided to descend upon us. The mist, the rain, the sounds were all breathtaking. It took us a good 2 hours to reach that point and we were hungry and tired and anxious to get back. The rain had caused the rock and vegetation to be slippery so we all fell a few times but we finally made it down--and ALIVE! Total, we were in the mountains hiking for nearly 5 hours!

After that we walked around a few little vendor-huts things and looked at the merchandise, but quickly found a place to eat. We got fajitas, garlic shrimp and lemon chicken, with smoothies and fresh fruit juice and fresh papaya and pineapple--all for only $20!!! We headed back to our hotel, checked in and my family just arrived in the last hour. The shower was divine but my legs are full of little paper-cut things all over. It was a day to remember for sure!!! And it's only the first day!