THAT ONE GOLDEN FROG

Some mornings when we woke, the sky was clear for the most part (in the distance there would be clouds over the mountains), and Wednesday wasn't too different.  Maybe a few more clouds, but it had dried out from the night before.  But after our trip to McDonald's, it started to rain.  First let me give ourselves a hand for figuring out that menu!  We saved $5 by not accidentally the combo and getting the right Egg McMuffin.  Except for Eric.  His order was screwed up, but he's is 22 years old and takes it all in stride.  Sausage instead of ham.  And we said the right words...the girl behind the register just got confused (I am sticking to that story).  I don't eat at McDonald's at home, so I don't really know what things cost except that they have the $1 menu.  At this McDonald's, I checked out the prices of lunch meals.
Big Mac is $6
Hamburger is $3.60
Cheeseburger is $3.90
That's about how much I cared to check out the cost of things at McDonald's.

Once we were filled up with that amazing breakfast of champions, we set out towards El Valle again.  This time we were going to El Nispero Zoo to see some Golden Frogs.  I read on Tripadvisor Forums not to anticipate too much here.  I kept my standards low.  I told my family to be ready for wet weather, small cages and perhaps some sad looking animals.  Or we would could look at it another way and see that the animals were being fed, and the life they were living was what they were used to--they didn't know the difference.  The road to El Valle is curvy but smooth.  The turnoff to the zoo is the complete opposite.  It is straight for the most part, but the bumps and potholes actually started making us a little nauseous (or we can blame it on breakfast).  It's a good mile plus on a horrible road.  Would it be worth it?  The entrance fee is $2 for locals and $3 for visitors.  We had good laughs traveling the road, but we are wondering if we would want to go in the dry season (the smells of the zoo were bad enough with it being so wet--how would it be in the warm and dry temps?).  By the way, it poured on and off the entire day due to the tailwinds of Hurricane Sandy hitting Jamaica on Wednesday, and the temperature made it to 21 degrees Celsius  (70 degrees Farenheit) that day.

The zoo:  first stop was the bathroom since the bumpy road had started something up in all of us.  The man at the gate was super nice.  We forgot to buy food for the animals, but the people ahead of us left theirs behind at times, so we had a chance to toss some peanuts.   We saw a lot of birds, Toucan Sam (!), monkeys, ostriches, jaguars, tigers, chickens, and frogs.  Some ugly frogs.  But right in the middle (who could miss it?  We did.) is a large, glass enclosed box that houses the preciously and perhaps extinct (depends on what you read) Golden Frog.  We saw one.  Only one.  Through the foggy glass.  The Golden Frog can be found in zoos, but they aren't seen too often in the wild due to some fungus.  Mission accomplished and despite the rain, I can honestly say that we had a pretty good time dodging the mud puddles and trying to avoid some of the smells.  We wore raincoats and pull-over ponchos.  We also had Croc-style shoes on and, of course, bug spray.  At the end of the trail, there is a spiket to wash your feet off (I think this is what it's for).  I used the sinks outside the bathroom area (there was soap there) which did a pretty good job, too.  Back on the bumpy road to find a restaurant for lunch.

Driving up to El Valle

Pretty much how the whole road was

Straight and bumpy

Here we are!

Ready to check out this fancy zoo!

The bird never stood a chance

A little family of ?  I forget.

Feeding another odd animal some peanuts left behind

YAY!  Want to see one not in a cage soon!

OOOHH.  AAAHH.  I Spy the Golden Frog

Beautiful.  There were two of them.

Peek a boo says the night eyed monkey

So sweet.

Saw this is lots of places in Panama.  

From the gorgeous skies on Sunday, to the low clouds and chilly temps on Wednesday.

Once we cleaned up from the zoo, we tried finding a restaurant.  We had the street name.  We drove through the neighborhoods.  We stopped and asked a group of Panamanians, but the girls laughed at my nephew.  They weren't really laughing at him, but sort of with him.  They were on a tour from Panama City and they didn't have anymore of a clue where things were then we did.  The tour guide came up to us and spoke English (he is a University student from PC and tour guide).  He told us the restaurant we were looking for had closed down, and we should try a Panamanian restaurant called Tierra y Mar.  And so we did.  We wiped the outdoor table down with my Avon Skin So Soft Bug Wipes (kept the flies away) and ordered hot chocolate, milk shakes (!), fried chicken, shrimp creole and Peruvian Chicken and rice.  It was all so good!  They had clean bathrooms around the back (where that sign showed up again about throwing the toilet paper somewhere other than in the toilet), and the restaurant is right next door to some shops.  So we went shopping :)  A wonderful, albeit mess of a rainy day, in Panama!

The Restaurante Tierra Y Mar is to the right of this shop

Peruvian Chicken and Rice with Pantacones and hot chocolate

Shrimp Creole

Papaya, Banana and Pineapple milkshakes

Can't really take a machete home to VA

We did find that Don Pepe Artisanias shops were less expensive that the David Shop.

To end the day (as if all of that wasn't enough, but hey, we had a lot to see and do in a short period of time and eating was a big part of our vacation!), we decided to try Rincon del Chef for dinner, since they were never open for breakfast (even though it was advertised as a breakfast place).  What a delight.  Such a pretty place.  Excellent food and service.  The frozen drinks were delicious but like everywhere else, things melt fast.  From the decor to the service to even the tables having pretty table cloths on them, this was a wonderful last meal in Coronado.  The next day is was driving to the Panama Canal and beyond!