Mountain Lake, Panama @ Cerro Azul

[duanes]

The craziness of Carnevale has impelled us to a seek much more serene spot off the island, so we have headed into the mountains, to a resort in the cloud forest 900 meters above sea level, for 5 days.

Above, Panama City from 700 meters up.
There is a mountain lake fed by a waterfall near here, so it will be interesting to see what fish exist in this relatively cool climate.
I have seen photos of Hoplias (wolf fish) caught in the lake.
Having just arrived yesterday evening, so far, we've only been able to check out the bird life, but I will update as we head to, and explore more aquatic habitats and if that life appears.

 

[Sassafras]

Beautiful birds!

 

[duanes]

Tried to walk the hour trek down the mountain to a small river yesterday, when it started to rain, and the path became slippery and treacherous, so I never made it.
Took twice as long to climb back up.

Sometimes you eat the bar, and....sometimes it eats you.

 

[duanes]

Turns out the land surrounding the lake was private, no public access, so no lake aquatic shots, and getting to the river was a long trek, bit too treacherous, during the every day cloud forest rains (at least for a geezer like me).
We did find a ruin that turned out to be one of Noriega's hide outs.

The only negociable road didn't lead to water.

It was interesting many of the houses here looked more like chalets that belonged in the swiss alps, than in Panama.

The dieffenbacia I use to help control nitrous in my tank, and sumps grow wild here in large swaths.

 

[FJB]

Beautiful green honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) 2-3 pictures ago, on the feeder stand. Not rare, but always a pleasing show.