Puerto Vieja de Talamanca
This was my first stop on my journey. This small beach town is located on the southern Caribbean coast right above the country of Panama. I will be here for 5 days. Here are pictures of the beaches. My first stop was Playa Negra, a black sand beach! It is black because of the minerals that are located in the earth at that location. Totally Cool!! Within 1/2 a mile you can see black sand, tan sand and an almost white sand. Jaguar Rescue Center I had the opportunity to visit a rescue center for animals in the area. They take in animals that are wounded in the wild or by humans (some on purpose and some accidents), animals that are born with defects that won't allow them to survive in the wild and baby animals that have been separated from their parents. Volunteers from all over the world come to help out in this center. Our guide was from Holland and we met people from London and Sweden as well as a few from the United States. There were all kinds of birds, snakes, a few monkeys, an anteater, sloths, a crocodile and a caiman. One of the owls was born with a wing that just didn't work. They have been working with this owl for the past several months and it can now fly about 20 feet which is amazing! Their hopes are to keep working and to release her back into the wild by the end of the year. The goal for most of the animals is to release them back into the wild where they belong, even the crocodile! Of course my favorite part was to work with the monkeys!! They were soo cute and adorable! The workers are really passionate about these animals and the work that they do. |