Radar Tower in the Jungle

Postcard view of the Radar Tower

Hotel entrance

Not to complain, but I’ve gone a whole 11 weeks now without a vacation. So, I figured it was time for a break. The adventure nose led me to a very unique hotel in the middle of the Gamboa Rainforest. The facility was originally a high powered USAF radar tower that covered a LOT more area than just the Canal. When the Canal was turned over to the Panama government in 2000, this was one of the properties they acquired. Though, since it was a military installation, all the equipment was taken out. In fact, the transition to Panamanian control forced the US to admit that many of its facilities in Panama were not “Canal related” but purely military. But, as I often do, I digress.

Two monkeys just ran out the right hand branch of big tree

The hotel is a little pricier than my normal selections - $175 per night (and up), though that includes 3 meals and “guided” tours. Even more, there is usually a four day/three night minimum. But after talking with manager Ken, he agreed to let me stay just one night IF they had space at the last minute. I got the call early Monday that there was an opening than night and caught the bus into the City. He even discounted me $20 as a “humanitarian aid worker”. To be honest, even with the discount, it seemed a bit overpriced. The building needs some maintenance, there is no AC and just a slow overhead fan and luke-warm water. The no AC is actually nice so you can be overwhelmed by the insect/ frog and monkey night sounds of the jungle. It is slightly cool that I looked out my window INTO the jungle canopy at about 30 ft AGL. And there were loads of birds flitting about up there. And the rooms are VERY nicely decorated and comfortable.

The paths were more like roads, but no vehicles
A little tame for me

There are only two guided tours a day, neither of which worked for my schedule. But the well maintained paths/roads gave gorgeous jungle views on all sides. There were birds and monkeys all over, but I’ll be damned if I could get a decent photo of even just one. (one of these days I want to learn Paul Yorke’s secrets). By the time I spotted a bird or monkey, then got my camera up and aimed, the target was gone or just departing. So, only photos of a bunch of leaves – no flora or fauna – sorry. It was really nice to just LOOK and listen and forget about the camera.

The view from the top deck was SPECTACULAR
I tried playing with my editing tools to turn it into
"painting" mode

The food was OK. Breakfast was the standard rolls and very nice fresh fruit. Juice was from a can and the coffee came WITH sugar already in it. Since Panamanians ALL take sugar in their coffee, I guess they figure this saves everyone some time. Unless, like me, you don’t like sugared coffee. Lunch was a buffet of meats and sandwiches and salads – pretty good. Dinner was the spectacular meal – snook (robalo en Espanol) – to me, the sweetest, nicest fish on the planet. Friends used to catch it in the Florida mangroves and shallows. But, I hadn’t had any in over 30 years. What a treat !!

All in all, a good short break from waterline and composting toilet chores, Though, I did manage to drop off a water test Solicitud at MINSA for Curti and stopped by a hospital pharmacy to pick up some IV drip controllers for their new chlorine drip device.