Our hotel is in the jungle. There is a road to get there, a beautiful entrance gate and perfectly manicured grounds. The beach lines one side and the rest is beautiful lush greenery.
The jungle walk starts at 10 am. It’s hotter and sweatier than a a fat man’s armpit in hell. I am sweating just sitting in the shade.
I’m feeling pretty good that I remembered to wear shoes, but as I look around at people wearing long sleeves and long pants, with water bags and knapsacks, I feel grossly unprepared. It’s too late to turn back.
Alejandro takes attendance and we are off to the jungle. A very uphill jungle. The path is lined with birds of paradise, purple and pink flowers, vines, palms, and a whole bunch of other stuff. 5 minutes in Alejandro is running after a snake.
The leafy canopy offers some reprieve, but the humidity is forming a sweat pool in my sports bra. We continue on to Mr. Tarantula’s house. Alejandro chews / spits on a stick to simulate water and pokes it down a hole. Guess who’s coming to tea?
Alejandro tells us all about the culture of the jungle and its inhabitants. The “Panama Tree” has a base of 3 huge triangles, representing the 3 areas of Panama: The mountains, the jungle, and something else.
The Camoruco tree is like a giant Buddha tree with a big fat belly. It is hollow inside and is super tall. Apparently it is also helpful with relationships so Jen and I took a picture of it so we will be friends forever.
Earlier on we saw a two toed sloth sleeping in a tree. He was chilling and looked mostly like a blob, but Alejandro was an eagle eyed spotter. Near the end of the hike we were rude little hikers and woke up a sleeping three toed sloth:
Alejandro shows us all sorts of medicinal plants and how to survive in the jungle by cutting open vines for water. I have already run out of water an am not even sure I am going to survive this hike.
