Tour boat in Panama
Okay, so here’s this tourist boat—a simple barge with 20 or 30 seats in it, pushed by an outboard motor—and we’re cruising a quiet backwater of the Chagres River. I am sitting about in the very middle with a lady to my left and two people to my right. The name of our tour is Monkey Watch and there are the monkeys, a troop of white-faced marmosets on the shore.
Monkey In Panama
Monkey getting cheeky
One of the monkeys leaps into the boat and hops seat to seat to me, I swear it’s the truth, pulls the insect repellent bottle out of my pack, and bites a hole in the bottom of it. The tour guide is yelling “Don’t touch the monkey! Don’t touch the monkey!” Why isn’t he telling the bloody monkey to lay off of me?! Someone gave the monkey half a bag of nuts, for crying out loud, so it hung around while people cooed, “How cute.” Finally, it bailed off into the water and swam ashore.
Postscript. I put my pack on the Xray scanner like usual, but the punctured repellant bottle fell on the floor and bled a puddle of repellant before I could pick it up. So I called, “Cleanup.” You don’t want that stuff tracked all over. The nice security people got all confused. Apparently they were not trained to respond to “clean-up” and none of them had ever worked in a grocery store. They had no idea. Eventually, a young woman figured it out, got a rag, and mopped it up. All was well again.
The wine steward at dinner, Rateesh, is Indian—a Kipling type Indian, not Custer type—and he grew up with monkeys. He opines as how I got off easy; monkeys will steal your groceries, your camera, your glasses right off your nose….
The tour itself was splendid! We watched howler monkeys, the marmosets, spider monkeys, caimans, and a turtle. It is the first turtle I’ve seen on this trip, and I’ve been looking for them, but it’s in a protected area where people don’t eat the wildlife. Come to think of it, the first caimans, too.
And Black Vultures. Hundreds of them all over. This area must be a vulture factory. Dozens will be riding the thermals while scores more perch in trees and waddle around on the ground. Contrary to the usual, I didn’t see a lot of Turkey Vultures. There were four different kinds of hawks and lovely views of Wattled Jacanas.
I was right and truly bushed when we got back. We were anchored out in the bay and tendered in; that in itself is tiring. Whoever designed the modern tender gave no thought to comfort. And they bob. But they got us there. The powers that be on the Queen Victoria (probably the entertainment lackey) thought that evening was going to be great for a barbecue up on the Lido deck. I didn’t. I ate in the Britannia Restaurant like always. I wanted to be pampered, please.
It is a blessing that I’m taking my voyages this year, because I am physically slowing way down. I find I must pace myself carefully. If I’ve deteriorated this much in the last year or so, what will I be like next year?
This will be my last great adventure.
But then, I’ve said that about six times so far.