January 24, 2015

• Another Birthday Outing

  You may recall that last Saturday we were knocked out of doing two activities for Rick's birthday: one because of rain and the other because of traffic. So we tried again for one of them today and the traffic was not a problem at all. This project began in 2004 and just opened in 2014.
  

  It is a biomuseum built out on the Causeway. We have watched its progress since arriving in 2012. As you can imagine it shows up quite clearly from the air as you land in Panama:
  

  We wanted to go and check it out. Were we ever grateful for our discounts for being retirement age. Adult tickets are $22 a piece but we got in for $6.00! That is a big difference in cost! Here's Rick being funny with our little listening device:
  

  

  Some pretty art about Panama's diversity:
  

  

  

  Some fun windows:
  

  

  

  In the first exhibit room it was totally dark with screens on 3 sides and on the floor. The projections were hard to capture but really fun:
  

  

  

  

  Rainstorm:
  

  Under our feet:
  

  A look at some fossils:
  

  To be honest there was quite a bit of evolution theory presented which I did not care for. These animals were examples:
  

  

  Supposedly there were giant sloths as big as modern day elephants:
  

  

  

  The information with this said, "Panama served as a bridge between continents for some of the new crops domesticated in the Americas. Corn, cassava, chilis and other crops spread between North and South America by way of the isthmus." Something I had never thought about!
  

  This is too small for you to read but it was fun seeing where certain foods came from:
  

  This one shows watermelon came from Africa, oranges and mango from Asia, bananas from New Guinea, and pineapple and papaya from the Americas:
  

  Rice, onion, oregano, garlic came from Asia, yams from Africa, and yuca, cilantro, pumpkin and corn from the Americas:
  

  I learned why the Caribbean has coral reefs and the Pacific does not:
  

  Panama's culture is a mixture of Spanish, indigenous, and African heritage. 70% of the population is of mixed ancestry:
  

  

  Another exhibit room had a great slide presentation. I know photos of photos are not so good but I have to show a few that I liked:
  

  

  

  

  

  Several hard rainshowers came through while we were in the museum. The view of the skyline was pretty gray:
  

  Thought I would take a closer look at that little boat in the foreground:
  

  Zoomed in a bit further and saw this guy trying to use his life jacket to keep dry:
  

  We left in between storms and drove out the Causeway but it was so cloudy that the photos I took looked like they were in black and white:
  

  

  We enjoyed the museum but don't think it is one we would take guests to - just too expensive for what you get. They plan to add some aquariums and other things in a couple of years so we might check it out again later. When we got home and stepped out onto our balcony, we had the nice surprise of seeing a cruise ship headed through the Canal:
  

  Just got to get that net off the balcony so I can make some good photos!!

  • 9:20 pm
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