"Serpentarium"

Serpentarium

  This is actually a funny story, when we got here, a lot of things happened; first, when we were about to leave the bus in order to walk to the zoo we found ourselves trapped inside the bus, because the bus had technical failures, we were inside the bus for around 15 to 30 minutes, then we were able to go outside the bus. Second, after that when we got to the zoo we found out that actually it was closed. Third, because it was raining there was a lot of mud everywhere, naturally, somebody fell and of course, it was Ian. The next day we came to the zoo and found out that the zoo was closed again, for our surprise there was a guy in there, who eventually would let us in and show us the snakes. We saw also some turtles outside, but in the inside, we saw approximately 10 species of snakes, between those the constrictor and the X snake. After we saw and appreciated the snakes, the guy took a snake (of course not a dangerous snaked) and he told us that we could grab the snake around our neck. After that, everyone took a picture with the snake and then we leaved with the satisfaction of touching a snake.

NISPERO ZOO

NISPERO ZOO

 Description

  This awesome place since like our home place, it have birds as quetzals, macaws, peacocks, ducks, hawk, parakeet, cockatoo, pigeons, and pheasants; mammals as foxes, tapirs, monkeys, rabbits, pumas, goats, and jaguars; reptiles as crocodiles, turtles, iguanas, etc.…

This zoological count with 2.8 hectare (7 acres). And a center of the study of amphibians with more than 10 species of frog as: Red-eyed frog, Hour Glass tree frog, Smooth-sided Toad, Emerald Glass frog, Climbing Toad, Smokey Jungle frog, etc…

Something that I like from here is that we not just watch all the birds, reptiles and mammals that we have in Panama, Centro America, and in China, we almost have had entered to a different environment outside walls with a pretty awesome landscape in which we got in contact with the nature and all the wonderful that it gives us.

 But something that I did not like about this site was that we did not have a guide that will tell us more about the diet of the animals or someone that may tell us what was the history of that zoo. But something that I really like was the all the open space I had, the lake and the view I had of Gaital Hill and all the flowers were there.

"El Caño"

The archaeological Park “El Caño”, is the area surrounding the modern village of El Caño contains one of Panama's most important archaeological sites. Over the course of the last century Archaeologist have been discovering several pre-Columbian burial sites at this location. After a considerable amount of excavating at El Caño during the 1970s, archaeologist only managed to find the remains of 16 individuals. No one ever managed to discover any large volumes of gold filled graves like the Spanish had talked about in their written accounts. It was discovered that there were many tombs with caciques inside on these tombs. Next to these tombs or behind the tombs were all the family of the cacique because the cacique was an important person in the society, all the community made a big ceremony for the death of a single cacique. Also, when a cacique dies, all the family had to die to go to the afterlife with the cacique or the alpha on the family so they can obtain peace. Although the discovery of the burial sites at El Caño has contributed a lot to the academic world, it has also done a lot to change the economics of the region. The excavation that took place, in collaboration with the National Geographic Society and Panama's National Institute of Culture and National Secretariat of Science, Technology, and Innovation, discovered several tombs of warriors that belonged to an unknown society.  The tombs were found in multiple levels and the warriors were bathed in gold, making the discovery one of the richest discoveries in America. One of the more unusual findings was the bones of a very poisonous blowfish, which may have been used to kill all the people that were presumed to have been sacrificed for the chief. All bodies surrounding the chief were covered in pieces of ceramic plates for unknown reasons. One of the most characteristics elements of the archaeological park are the alignments of columnar basalt. The monoliths are naturally sized basalt columns brought from the mountains. These larges stones were placed next to a boulder (the boulder and the columns are two elements that go together to form the complex-boulder columns characteristics of the alineaments of the Rio Grande Valley). The discovery at El Caño has become something that is celebrated among members of the local population and the rest of Panama. The discovery of golden artifacts and the pre-Columbine tombs have aroused the interest of people worldwide. In recent years tourism has been rising in El Caño and today the local population has worked with Archaeologists to create a small archaeological park that people can visits.

"Victoriano Lorenzo museum"

Victoriano Lorenzo museum

During this part of the trip, we visited a museum called “Museo Victoriano Lorenzo” it was located in El Valle de Antón, Panamá. The guide told us about the formation of this valley. When the volcano of El Valle was alive, its activity was so strong that it closed the passage of the seas, formed the Isthmus of Panama and united to the American continent. 

Geographically was born a bridge and a barrier that changed the geological history of the planet. Then the site cooled off and its crater instead of fire was filled with water, giving way to a large lake that eventually collapsed and spilled in streams along the Anton River. This gave way to a wonderful space that is today one of the most visited tourist destinations in Panama. The Valley, surrounded by peaks ranging between 800, to 1,185 meters of Cerro Gaital has a cool climate and persistent rainfall that make it very different from the nearby surroundings of the beaches. It became a mountainous massif whose broad skirts extend from Capira to Penonomé and is the source of innumerable rivers flowing towards the Pacific. Some such as Matahogado, El Chame, Zarate and others that flow into the Caribbean Sea as the important and navigable Indian River. The latter is being studied by water authorities to meet the needs of more than 2 million people living in the transited zone.

 On the other hand, the guide also told us about the life of Victoriano Lorenzo, who is considered one of the great heroes of Panamanian history, although his story and motives are sometimes debated by different sectors in his homeland. Born when the isthmus was still a part of Colombia, which was a part of the former Gran Colombia, Lorenzo died during the Thousand Days War  shortly after which Panama gained its separation after many different attempts dating back to 1830. He thus reached the rank of general of the Liberal Army during a civil war that lasted for three years (1898-1902). But, in violation of the treaties that preluded the end of the contest, Victoriano Lorenzo was arrested and sentenced to death in front of a firing squad. In spite of the proclamations in defense of the guerrillero sent by some of the personalities, like the politician Belisario Porras, the writer Guillermo Andreve, and other liberal leaders like Carlos A. Mendoza and Eusebio A. Morales, was executed the 15 of May of 1903, In the walls of the Plaza de Chiriquí.