Our Trip to the Amazon...1st Stop, Panama

Finally, it was going to happen. Our last trip out of the country was August 2019. Covid definitely grounded us. We were a couple of years before we even considered boarding an airplane. Car trips were the order of the day. These we truly enjoy. But the itch to see what the rest of our wonderful earth is like was strongly felt. Our travel agent was beginning to send out more trips. We watched and waited a bit longer before booking anything. Then, a trip to the Amazon was on the radar. We both felt good about this being our first venture out of the country following Covid. Restrictions were pretty much non-existent. We booked the tour to Manaus, Brazil, located smack-dab in the middle of the Amazon River area. 

We left our home Thursday, November 3rd, for Cincinnati airport. It was a foggy morning. We stopped at the Hardee's in Sadieville and got our biscuit and soda breakfast. This would be my last Mello Yello for 10 days. We flew from Cincinnati to Atlanta, with a layover in Atlanta, then on to Los Angeles to meet the group. There was a very long layover in Los Angeles before the first leg of our flight to Manaus. We would have a day in Panama as we took this journey. 

We ate lunch in Atlanta at Bobby Flay's Bobby Burger Palace. Claude had a burger. He pronounced it average. Dinner would be hot sandwiches in the Los Angeles International Terminal B. 

We would fly COPA Airlines to Panama and then Manaus. I was happy to find they honored TSA PreCheck in Panama. 

Thursday, November 3rd, travel to LAX

LV CVG Delta 2298 10:45a ARR ATL 12:12p Seats 21C&D 

     1H 27M 373 miles

Layover Atlanta 1H 33M

LV ATL Delta 2846 1:45p ARR LAX 3:30p Seats 23C&D 

     4H 45M 1941 miles

Friday, November 4th, travel to Panama. 

Depart LAX COPA Airlines #0303 1:09am ARR Panama City (PTY) 9:40am

     6H 31M 3010 miles (Natanael will meet us outside of Customs in Panama.

Panama City. Monkey Island

Depart PTY COPA Airlines #0141 9:41pm ARR Manaus (MAO) 2:49am (Sat)

     3H 39M 1571 miles

Our flight arrived in Panama and I was able to get pictures of the changing clouds we were flying over as we got near Panama City.

The welcoming committee at the Panama Airport was a crow!! 

Because our time in Panama was about 12 hours. We would leave the airport for the day. A bus took our group of 14 travelers and one guide to the Tropical Executive Hotel in the rainforest. This would allow everyone a chance to rest or participate in a couple of excursions. 

The first excursion was a visit to the Panama City Temple grounds of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Our second excursion was to Monkey Island. This is located in Gatun Lake which is part of the Panama Canal system. The boats take you to the shore of the island. We were given bananas and a handful of grapes. The instructions were to put a piece of the fruit in your hand and hold your hand out, palm open. The monkeys would see the food and come down from their tree, hop in the boat and take the fruit from your hand. 

These pictures are of the Panama Canal.

These pictures are of Lake Gatun.

These are pictures of Monkey Island.

And, finally, the critters we saw that live on Monkey Island. First bats, then an iguana, monkeys and finally our boat. Claude held out his hand and an owl monkey ate from it. Claude is now the Monkey Whisperer.

Back to the hotel. Gather our back packs and load up on the boat for a quick trip back to the airport and the flight to Manaus.