Paradise

First morning in Boquete. I woke when my temporary dorm mate's alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. I had trouble falling back asleep. The room I am staying in is simple, has a slanted roof and a large window facing the river. When I arrived, I picked the farthest bed from the other dorm dweller and ended up sleeping in the crevice of where the sloping ceiling met the wall. With the sound of the rushing river and the ceiling looming over me I felt disoriented. Sometime around 6:30 a.m. I could have sworn I felt an earthquake.

When I finally woke I ran into a few hostel staff members and picked their brains for the best plantation to visit, where to eat, parks in walking distance, etc. I took notes, literally.

I decided to eat at a super cheap cafe where the locals outnumber the tourists. After my delicious $2.15 breakfast of scrambled eggs with veggies, toast and coffee, I strapped on my pedometer and took off down a country road I was told would lead me to friendly monkeys.

It was hotter than I had anticipated and the person who gave me directions had failed to mention the steep incline... for two miles. I hate inclines. I would rather walk three miles flat than one mile up hill. Needless to say, I arrived at Paradise Gardens, a privately owned animal rescue center and garden, dripping with sweat. As I entered the gate I saw a sign that said admission $5, but there was no admissions booth. There was however a beautifully landscaped drive way dotted with stone sculptures of various Panamanian animals.

When I got to the end of the driveway I happened upon a house surrounded by amazing plants and camouflaged animal habitats. I walked in amazement past an endangered hyacith macaw (a large brilliantly blue parrot with vivid yellow accents around his eyes and beak) in a large rolling cage and the happiest looking tamarin money with a leash attaching him to a zip line and a monkeys paradise.

Here is the little guy enjoying exploring my timbuk2 bag.



When I made it to the house there were several people sitting around a table on the porch having afternoon tea. I walked in expecting someone to ask for my fee or to great me, but everyone just went about their business. The porch included several cages and enclosures. I was finally greeted, but by a small green parrot who proceeded to shock me with his vast vocabulary and singing abilities.

As I was being awed by the parrot, a black howler monkey walked over to us, climbed up on a table and started helping herself to some bananas. I was so excited.

Finally the people on the porch started to take note of the stranger exploring their area. I was invited to have a seat and the howler monkey followed me. She climbed into my lap and started exploring my shirt, hair, the buttons on my clothes, etc. I fell in love instantly.

She nestled in and as I was petting and cuddling her she fell asleep. I was the most contented person in the world. I sat for almost an hour with a sleeping monkey in my lap. I was able to explore her hands and cute little face. I was surprised to find that the underside of her tail was made of the same skin as her little hands and feet. She was just the most adorable little creature.

Here she is sleeping in my arms.



Here she is, caught mid-yawn.



When she finally woke from her siesta, she leaned back into my chest, reached her long arms up through my hair and around my neck and used me to stretch. Next she just looked up at me yawning, playing with locks of my hair until she decided to leave me in search of more fruit. Beautiful.

I learned that the main goal at Paradise is to release animals into the wild. They had an extensive list of all their successful releases. I heard horrid stories of what some of the animals went through, especially the birds. I will spare the details. Here is the website for Paradise http://www.paradisegardensboquete.com/home.html.

After serving as a monkey bed, a wonderful older woman offered to take me on a tour. The tour lasted over 4 hours, a record according to all the other staff members!

My guide was Jennifer. Her and her husband are living in Panama while he is working on some projects. Jennifer volunteers at Paradise and was a plethora of information. Not only did I learn the animals scientific names, but also their pet names, how the arrived at Paradise, their favorite food, when they were leaving, etc. She also pointed out all the different types of flowers and plants during the tour. Plus she made me feel less crazy when she asked if I had felt the earth quake that morning. I knew it!

Here is a little monkey who was begging for back rubs.



The photo tour follows.

The entire grounds were meticulously manicured and landscaped. Here are a few of the beautiful plants.






Besides different varieties of monkeys, Paradise was filled with all sorts of exotic birds and several boarders (they watch privately owned birds while their owners are on vacation.)

Here one of the endangered hyacith macaws. Jennifer started singing to her and she immediately began dancing. On a whim, I busted out my iPhone and played Mercy by Duffy. The bird went nuts, dancing. For each new song she put her head as close to me as possible in order to listen. She would find the beat and start up a new dance. Jennifer vowed to bring a radio with her everyday from here on out.








This guy was my favorite. He preferred male vocals and did exotic dances all over his cage. Several times he tried to take my iPhone. I got a shot of him in the act. When I finally left his area, he threw an absolute fit.



The couple who ran the sanctuary each have their own specialty (besides loving and caring for animals). The wife is in charge of the garden and the husband had brought several crates of stones with them from England. He was an exert masonry. Here is one of his creations.



Here are two sleeping Marguy cats (leopards). While I was taking pictures, the front of my camera got caught on their cage and flew into their habitat. I thought `oops their goes my camera.´ Jennifer came to rescue and entered their area despite the hissing and possibility of getting attacked. My hero!



This adorable creature is a Kinkajou, also known as the honey bear. He kinda looks like a opossum with monkey hands and tale and a 5 inch tongue. Despite looking like he is going to eat my hand in the second photo below, he was the most docile and precious little guy. Every movement was in slow motion.





At the end of the tour, Jennifer and her husband offered to give me a ride home. Since it looked like it was going to rain, I gladly accepted.

When I got home from my dream like day at Paradise gardens I started talking to a hostal staff member from Belize. She was very interested in the process to become a lawyer and we talked for quite a while. Eventually some of her friends showed up and they invited me out for girl´s night. I agreed to go so long as I had time to change out of my monkey fur covered top.

There were five of us in all, from the US, Australia, Ireland, Belize, and one local Panamanian girl. My ears were in for a pleasureful night of accents from all over the world.

We started at a local place appropriately named Amigos. I had a rather expensive beer by Panama standards, a Guinness for $2.50. From there we ventured to a bar with an interesting African motif. Despite being in a town with a population of a few hundred, I randomly met a guy who transferred to my school for his last year and took the CA Bar in the same location. Small world. The conversation was short lived (lucky me, I didn´t feel like talking about school) when the girls moved us to the final stop of the night. A large hole in the wall discotec.

We befriended the DJ and had a little influence on the dance beats selected for the evening. Despite failing to pack proper dancing attire, I yet again found myself dancing the night away. I surprised myself... I was able to dance in flats? Tevas at that! I know it´s too crazy to believe, but my flat footed dancing even got rounds of applause. One of the gals took pictures and promised to email them to me. I promise to post them...

We all arrived back at the hostal at 4:00 a.m. The gal from Australia busted out a blender in the common kitchen and made everyone fresh pineapple rum drinks. These girls kept the party going! I finally crawled into bed at 5:00 a.m. Not a bad first day in Paradise.