I flew out of Atlanta late Saturday and was back here in the tropics before midnight. My friend David was at Tocumen International to pick me up and in short order I was sipping my favorite Panamanian rum'n'coke.

Monday morning and we were off to Soberania Park and the rainforest, about twenty miles north of Panama City and only a few miles from the Panama Canal. It's amazing how close wild rainforest is to the city! The "jungle" was waiting and we were soon at the base of my favorite tree there, a big ficus named "Elsie". I had a rope up in no time and as I left the ground the rains arrived. I climbed to ninety feet in a hard downpour. Once on my favorite limb, the rains stopped and I was soon joined by Julia Sarco and David Zimmerman. Even though every thing was dripping wet and and the gear muddy and sodden it was a great climb. Now I just have to get everything cleaned and dried before heading on over to Isla Colon.

I remember Elsie. A very wonderful and friendly tree and a great place to watch the monkeys. I'm envious! It's amazing that a place so near the city can be so wild.

Say Hi to Julia and David for me.

I'm still working on an article for the articles site. I'll send it along whn I'm done.

I'm sooo---ooo jealous. BTW, happy birthday you ol' silverback.