The excitement of the morning for Bob and I and many others,
including two boys in the swimming pool, was the appearance of a Yellow-Headed
Caracara, just hanging out near the pool. The tide was way out, with peep
pecking at the mud. We spied a bird similar to a Willet but didn’t go down to
identify it. The Yellow-Headed Caracara is stunning in flight with big eyes on
the wings and lots of stripes. His head is just bland. He tends to hang out in
the large tree near our hotel; I’m not sure of the tree type, it drips tons of
tiny yellow flowers with a red spot at center.
A google of Panama City restaurants found us the Mirafleur
Restaurant that is rated 5 stars. So we decided to make the Mirafleur lock our
destination for the morning, and planned to follow our visit to the Panama
canal with lunch. On the way to the canal, our taxi driver highly recommended
Buccaneers as a restaurant to dine at on the Amador causeway. And I wasn’t very
hungry. The Mirafleur lock has a place to view lock operations, a nice film about
the development of the locks, and several floors of exhibits about the locks
including the French effort to develop the canal without using heavy
construction machinery or railroads, followed by the American efforts, followed
by the incident leading up to the turn over of the Panama Canal by the United
State to Panama and the new construction of a third lane for large shipping
traffic and how they hope to reduce the use of water. Also in the exhibit were
plants and bugs and fish of the Panama rainforest. My favorite part of the
exhibits was the newsreels from the early construction showing the drainage of
mud, and many of the vehicles designed for the construction of the canal.
Finishing our visit to Mirafleur Lock, the restaurant was still not open and we
learned that they served a set menu for $32 a person.
Lunch then it was decided should take us to the Amador
Causeway to bird and shop afterwards. Our next taxi dumped us at the door of
Buccaneers. Lunch was heavenly—I ordered the Sea Bass with the almond and
mushroom sauté in olive oil the waiter recommended and talked Bob into the
Prawns marinated in anise, lemon and mango before covering it in a pastry and
deep frying. Served with rice for me, French fries for Bob and a shared dish of
broccoli which showed up covered in an olive oil, garlic and chopped onion
sauce. The Sea Bass, which I found out is the usual name for what the locals
call Corvina, is quite a good white fish, especially if prepared really well. I
will not hesitate to try Corvina again. The prawns were halfway to lobsters,
amusingly so.
After lunch I dragged Bob over to get a picture of downtown
Panama City from the marina and found one shop open (despite most places being
closed for Carnavale) and we both got well-needed Panama hats since the sun was
bright, hot and there were few clouds. The walk back was a walk with a few
pictures of downtown with a changing boat, bush or other feature in it. The
Smithsonian has an aquatic and archaeological exhibit and a new building in
construction but was closed on Monday. We may try to visit on one of our other
stops in between going to our next destination.
After our walk, we were both covered with salt, fetched
drinks and sat on the pool deck, me doing grammar and Bob watching birds. I
fell asleep for a short nap. Now we’re having a snack before I hit the swimming
pool, shower and do the rest of my writing.
Birds identified:
Yellow-headed Caracara, Black Vulture, N. Roughwinged
Swallow, S. Roughwinged Swallow, Gull-billed Tern, Ruddy Turnstone, Tropical
Kingbird, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Blue and Grey Tanager, Common Tody
Flycatcher, Pelican, Magnificent Frigatebird, Herring Gull
Hummingbird for the second day with no clear
identification—we keep seeing juveniles and femaies.
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