The Forest within the City

Welcome to El Parque Natural Metropolitano de Panama. A tropical forest located within the city of Panama, this park is minutes away from downtown and yet feels like you're in a totally remote area once you're well in it.





Since my mornings were free, with the trade show being at night, David and I took a cab to the park and began the hike along its trails. Click on the map below to see the trails. We did them all.

We were really hoping to see some sloths or tamarins (David saw the little monkey-like creatures a couple of days before, when he came here on his own while I was working). Alas (earwax), we did not see any on this trip. Insert pout here.



Find the frog!

Everywhere we looked, hardworking ants formed lines that went as far as the eye could see.

At the summit of the Cienequita trail, you can look out over the city.

On our way back down, we encountered this. Click in it to make it bigger. It's a hummingbird. This little guy was right in front of us, buzzing around, but cheap camera could not keep up.

We saw many pretty butterflies

and crazy termite mounds on the trees.

Let me leave you with a couple of videos. This first one is of a group of ants hard at work. The second is just us, walking quietly, so you can hear the birds and the silence of the forest within the city.