Panama 2025–Day 2!

Okay, peeps.

Goodness.

I don’t even know how to start backtracking to summarize this past week or so, but I think you can tell from my silence on this here blog—even in light of an adventurous trip to share!—that things have been a little less-than-stellar.

And, boy, is that an understatement. :(

Honestly, our crew has been a shite-show of health over the past nine days, and I’ll eventually write up a whole, long story about all of that—and, in particular, the heinousness of the past two days—but…I need a bit of perspective in order to do it justice.

So…even though it seems kind of silly to just rewind and share shiny vacay pics from over a week ago that are just the surface-level of it all, the excursion to my father-in-law’s childhood home in Panama was such a special occasion that I don’t want to lose the pictures and as much of the memories as I’m able to jot down. So…here we go (just pretending all is A-okay, m’kay??? M’kay.)

When we last left off, we’d completed Day 1 in Panama after our travel there. We went to the Mira Flores canal locks to learn about the incredible engineering, and we went to old downtown (so lovely; I wish we could have explored even more!).

Then, the second day, we stuck close to our Gamboa Resort and spent time exploring the unique wildlife along Gatun Lake. We launched with breakfast before a boat excursion on the lake to see Monkey Island and spot a few species along the way.

Alas, like flying, I’m kind of a stressed-out boater, so I was a bit anxious. Yikes.

After the boat excursion, we had some down time for lunch back at the resort, before we headed back out on the property to explore the butterfly, frog exhibits—and the sloth sanctuary. :)

I was stalking this particular species of butterfly and so excited to finally snag a pic while it was stationary! So beautiful. :)

It really was so wild to feel like we were in the midst of the jungle—or, more accurately, the rainforest—where we were staying. The untamed and unique feel of it, and the abundance of wildlife all around (monkeys, even roaming the outdoor resort walkways!) was so unique.

We wrapped the day with tired bodies but some excitement for the next day and our plans to go see the particular district where Grandpa grew up. :)

Okay…more, soon! I’m sort of stuck here at the hospital (a LONG story) with nowhere to go, so I’m hoping to continue with these Panama catch-up posts.

In the meantime…a quiet Happy New Year before a better 2026 launch vibes kind of post!

Over and out.