Barro Colorado Island & the Panama Canal
It has been certainly a great day for all of us, and for me, it has been unique! Let me introduce myself. My name is “Flat Stanley”, and I am currently on board the National Geographic Sea Lion visiting two Central American countries, Panama and Costa Rica.
My creator‘s name is Jessica Kaul and I am part of her school project back in Bradfield Highland Park. I arrived here two days ago and it has been the best experience I have had in my “paper” life!
The first day we arrived, we met all the crew and Naturalists from the ship, and our fellow expedition mates. I am on an expedition ship, which is so different and far better that a cruise ship, because we are exploring and learning lots of things along the way. I also met Lucho, the Expedition Leader, who doesn’t know that I just took over his mind for a little while so I can write this letter, using his body.
As for today, we went exploring on an island known as Barro Colorado located in the middle of the Panama Canal, and we found two species of monkeys, capuchin and howler. They were at the top of the trees, attending to their monkey business, I suppose. It was very nice to be in the middle of the tropical rain forest, although it is not raining much lately, as the rainy season stopped a month ago. The forest has been a great place to discover things and to understand how important it is to keep it healthy, not only for the animals that inhabit it, but for our own benefit as well, as forests are the lungs of our planet and we need them to fill the air with the oxygen that we need to survive.
Traveling has been the best thing that has happened to me, and it is because of the experience that we gain traveling that I would suggest Miss Griffin to help Jessica to dress me with a plastic cover for my future trips. Today I was hiking in the forest and the humidity made me sweat, making my colors mix, and now I am wearing a “Tie Dye” shirt style for the rest of the trip!
During the afternoon, we crossed the locks of Pedro Miguel and Miraflores in the Panama Canal. Yesterday we started from the Caribbean side and the ship was raised above 90 feet above sea level so we could navigate today on Gatun Lake. Today we went down again as each one of the chambers emptied millions of gallons of water back to the sea, so we can reach the Pacific Ocean.
I am a little tired right now as it has been a long, but exiting day. Tomorrow there is so much to do, and I am looking forward to do it all! Looking forward to seeing you all in the classroom soon to tell you all my adventures!
