Our last day in Panama City...

Another late start to the day, but we were able to secure a tour to Gamboa. Gamboa is a small town heading toward the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. It´s located where the Chagres river meets Lago Gatun. We took a 45 minute taxi ride to Gamboa where we got on a boat to Monkey Island. We were basically on the man made lake/river that the ships take to pass through the canal. What do you think we saw on Monkey Island? Yup...more monos! Before our trip, our guide gave us the low down on the Monos - "Don´t smile at the monkeys". What??? You are kidding right? Turns out, if you smile at them, they take it as a sign of aggression and they will want to throw down with you. I couldn´t stop laughing. Whenever you try not to smile/laugh, you always do. This was never an issue before because we hadn´t been that close to them. After being in Costa Rica where feeding the monkeys is a big no no, I was a bit bummed that the tourists on the boat brought bananas and almonds to feed the monkeys and it was not only allowed, but encouraged. I couldn´t bring myself to do it. It was a fun boat ride nonetheless and we saw crockodiles, sloths, iguanas and turtles too. After the tour, we headed back to the hotel. We were all so tired...you know...that lack of sleep thing was kicking in!

That night, we hung out at the swanky hotel bar one last time and then Juan Carlos took us to a local food joint called Nikos. We were after some comida typical (typical Panamanian food). We had rice, beans, a really good pork dish, fish, and platanos (my favorite!). We weren´t sure what to expect when we pulled up to the restaurant but the food turned out to be fantastic! We had a late night at the hotel and basically didn´t sleep because we had to be up at some god awful hour, 4 a.m. or so, in order to catch our flight to Bocas del Toro. Adios Panama City...for now anyway...