Real Talk: El Trip de Jenny

Gamboa is a small town where Gatun Lake meets Chagres River. It was created in 1911 to allocated workers during the construction of the Panama Canal.

On this trip we navigated part of Gatun Lake until we arrived at Monkey Island and we were able to observe these fun animals in their natural habitat.

I had fully planned on keeping a safe distance from them because I have seen far too many YouTube videos of people playing with wild monkeys and the videos all end in one of two ways…

The monkeys either steal something from you or they bite you. I am not down for either of those experiences so I was only going to watch and observe…but Jenny assured us that as long as we follow the protocols and stick to the rules the monkeys just come grab some peanuts and bananas and leave. So I participated in feeding them peanuts…because I can’t touch the bananas since I am allergic.

It was such a cool experience to be so close to these wild animals. I generally don’t participate in animal excursions but because these are wild and free living in a national park and we strictly followed the rules to ensure that we had a memorable experience and we respected nature and all the creatures that live there.

On Monkey Island there are four species of monkeys: cariblancos, tamarins, whitefaces and howlers and also over 300 species of birds. The sounds of nature were intense and peaceful. I LOVE the sound of the birds in the morning waking me up…so this was an ubber amplified version of that. It was a happy space for me.

On are way back to Panama City we stopped at El Charco Trail and went on a 1km hike through the rainforest…surrounded by the lush nature that characterizes Gamboa. We witnessed the red fire ants hard at work…organized and on a mission. The ultimate team work.