south of the loop

Day Two. 17 September 2007.

After birding, I had breakfast (and many cups of coffee) at Gamboa with my colleagues, and then I had the rest of the day to myself. The remainder of people were to arrive between 2 and 3pm that afternoon, with the first group session to start at 5pm. Having run 20 miles the day before I left, I felt pretty justified in kicking back and not doing anything. I went for a swim in the pool beneath palm trees and waterfalls. I showered and took a nap in the hammock on my sleeping porch. I got a massage at the hotel spa. Paradiso.

I met my roommate later that afternoon, a lovely British woman who works in the worldwide office. The introductory session began at 5pm, which was basically an overview of the Panama conservation program. Panama is a literal bridge between North and South America, and, as such, it holds several important ecosystems and copious wildlife. For example, the Darién region contains some of Panama’s wildest lands, thousands of acres of pristine forest land. The Darién lies on the eastern part of Panama and borders Colombia. There are diseases that have never made it through this dense forest—hoof and mouth disease, which doesn’t exist north of Colombia, and several strains of malaria. To destroy that forest wouldn’t just impact a few species of rare birds or mammals, it could have potentially devastating results for humans, too. I’d never thought of forest in human terms, and I’m fascinated that there’s a forest so dense it protects, in a sense, all of North America.

After dinner, another session before bed. There were the requisite icebreakers, including one where we had to write down a little-known fact about ourselves on a piece of paper, which would then be read aloud at the end of the week so we could guess who was who. I couldn’t decide what to put down. Obviously there are tons of quirky things about me—check out the “100 Things About Me” tab above—but I wasn’t sure how much I wanted these people to know about me. So I wrote down that my cats were named for characters from a Western B-movie from the 1940s… foolishly thinking I could go a week without talking about my cats. I did try not to talk about them. They just sort of come up.

The next morning, we were to leave Gamboa bright and early (this is a recurring theme throughout the week) for the regional airport, where we would fly to Davíd and then take a bus to the town of Cerro Punta.

To be continued…

Posted 25 September 2007

Filed under: panama, travel by admin2

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