Panama, Panama, Panamahuhuhooo hooo (by Van Halen)

June 11, 2018

Panama, Panama, Panamahuhuhooo hooo (by Van Halen)

Panama was an adventure of a life time...the culture, the animals, the rain, the mud, the Hard Rock Megapolis, riding with the car windows down and breathing in the city, the Panamanian people, orange walls, passion fruit for breakfast, and humidity.....these were a few of my favorite things!

This was our final location on the show I was working on, and one of the most exciting for me. It was so cool to see Panama City and the way the people lived and worked and how Americanized it was...I mean they had a Pink Berry, we don't even have one of those in the small town in Ohio I come from.

Each morning we started our day by having an amazing buffet breakfast at our hotel, The Hard Rock Megapolis. I had fresh passion fruit everyday! And the hottest coffee I've ever been served. The Hard Rock has 62 floors with my view overlooking the city, 36 stories up. I loved the architecture of Panama City too, it was so white and curvy!

Then we would set out for our hour long car ride to location, which included crossing the Panama Canal, I think I crossed the canal 8 times, both by land and by very slow ferry. The ferry was our Producers favorite thing (not!)

We shot in the jungle, in the sea, and at a lake bed, which was very muddy. Each location was unique and beautiful and provided challenges. It would't be an outdoor adventure show without having to climb something...in this case it was steep rock cliffs in the jungle that had slippery mossy rocks, and lots of mud at the bottom. But in good form, and showing the boys that I could do it, I climbed those cliffs and had a blast doing it!

The muddy journey through the lake bed into the jungle...no one was prepared for just how dirty we were all going to get. You just had to embrace it.

When we arrived to location in the morning, you could hear the whooping and hooting of the Howler Monkeys. Im not gonna lie, the first time I heard it, it was a little scary, were these monkeys big or small? They are small :) And I even saw some wild ones running around in the trees!

The scariest thing that happened in the jungle was the pinkish tarantula that I watched crawl off the small boat that I was sitting in and jump onto the dock and then fall into the water to go swimming. I was too paralyzed with fear to take a photo, but that spider will forever be in my memory! I've tried googling it, but haven't found any photos that look just like this spider that caught a ride on my boat.

Filming in the sea was a constant adventure. We saw several schools of jumping fish, and the sting rays were jumping too. The area where we were filming had water that is called Brackish. This is where the salt water meets the fresh water, creating a layering effect in the water.

One of our locations also included mangrove trees, where happened to see 2 wild crocodiles and so many crabs! Crabs of all colors and sizes, crabs with only one claw, and crabs with red eyes. The mangroves themselves were so pretty, my photos don't do them justice.

mangrove

We also came across some really cool old WWII bunkers. One of the locals showed us the tracks in the bunker and was telling us about the history of the bunker. This was where the tanks came out into the jungle. The Canal was owned by the US until sometime in the late 90's, and we needed to protect the canal in WWII.

There were many other things in the jungle that I loved and didn't get photos of such as: blue winged butterflies, the really cool jungle road signs on the side of the road, Bastard Trees (don't touch them, you will regret it), and our amazing Panamanian PA's! They were so nice to me, and treated me with such respect as a lady. Always helping me carry my bag and my heavy monitor I wear around my neck.

Ants marching with leaves

One of my all time favorite parts of the jungle is the constant row of worker ANTS, carrying leaves and other jungle treasures back to their nest. These ants were never stopped working. We walked over and around the ants and they never stopped their mission.

One of our camera men, Alex

Trees growing out of the lake

architecture!

Jesus hot dog vendor

Since it was our last location and our last 2 episodes of the show, it was then time for the wrap party! We went to an excellent dinner looking across the river at Panama City, and ended the night dancing 62 stories up on the rooftop bar of the Hard Rock.

This show ultimately changed my life, and I can't wait to continue to grow and expand my outdoor survival skills, and my love of outdoor adventure sports. There is something truly healing about being outdoors, especially when you're on an adventure!

The show will be on Netflix, at the end of 2019...until then... stand by......