The Jungle Walk
Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama
 
We are staying at Shelter Bay Marina, one of the nicest we’ve stayed at.  They have a pool and comfortable Captain’s lounge, as well as a good restaurant.  There are many kid boats here, mainly because this is one of the safer marinas on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal.  The marina is located on a peninsula to the west of the Canal.  The spit of land where we are docked is covered in thick jungle.

The rain forest is full of monkeys and leaf-cutter ants and other, unseen denizens of the trees.  Stone ruins and bunkers dot the area, relics of the U.S occupation of the Canal Zone starting in 1903.  They took over the construction of the Canal and built forts and gun batteries to protect their interests.  The rocky buildings have been taken over by the forest since the army left, and collapsed walls and dark tunnels offer nesting places for bats and snakes.

At around 9:30 we set off for a hike: Hugo, James, Charlie, Fin, Stella, and I from a collection of kid boats in the marina.  Hugo, James, and Charlie had already been to the Battery Mower before, but none of the rest of us had.  We followed a narrow path behind the boatyard into the trees.  Charlie warned us to run past the fire ant hills in the track.  It was a five-minute walk through the jungle to get to the Battery.  After three minutes, the sounds of civilization faded behind us as we hiked deeper into the leafy shadows.

We rounded a corner and there it was!  Stone stairs led to the upper levels of the bunker-like structure.  Dark tunnels went deeper into the base.  We could see faded graffiti on the wall of one of the rooms in the front of the complex.  We walked in.  Those of us with lights led the way.  My headlamp died as soon as we entered the foreboding maw.  Stella was using a sketchy flashlight that she found washed up on a beach, and Hugo’s light was dim.  Fortunately, James brought a bright torch, as he called it, that lit up the entire hallway.

​When everyone had their hands full of souvenirs, Charlie revealed that he had brought cookies for everyone.  We decided to take a break and eat.  As we trooped back through the tunnels, we took a wrong turn and ended up in another long hallway.  There, Hugo found a nearly intact claymore missing only its bottom section and explosive charge.  We also found a pile of broken snake eggs atop a tumbled pile of rubble.  A quick look around took us directly to the entrance, where we trooped out the “door” and up the steps to the second landing.

Charlie passed out the coconut wafers while we sat down on the hard rock.  I decided not to partake because of my dairy allergy.  As we rested, Stella walked back down the path to take some pictures.  After about ten minutes, Hugo announced that he wanted to go back inside to keep searching for bullets and claymores.  As we walked through the battery, James and Charlie split off to look for bullets at the “indoor shooting range”.  They found none and we convened in the main hallway.  The brackets holding pipes to the walls and ceiling had fallen and were scattered in the bottom of a drainage ditch by the wall.

I found a large bullet casing and three blanks in the dirt.  Hugo was fortunate and found two right on top of each other.  Anxious because of our earlier jokes about live mines and explosive traps, Stella was on edge.  When she heard three shrill beeps, she asked us if we had noticed.  When the rest of us responded negatively, she continued, saying “It might have been a mine.”  We soon discovered that it was her camera, which she had forgotten to turn off.  After another ten minutes, we decided to head back to the marina.

​When we went to El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico, I was amazed.  It is high on a mountain in the western part of Puerto Rico.  It was the first real rainforest I’ve ever been in.  It was lush and beautiful and full of life.  Some days it is humid and inside a cloud, so it is also called a cloud forest.  When we went, it wasn’t very humid. 
 
We drove partway up the mountain before parking and walking the rest of the way up.  It was a two mile walk to the observation tower, so we still got sweaty.  The first part of the hike was alongside a small creek.  It was so peaceful under the tall trees.  By the creek I saw a Puerto Rican Tody.  It is a small green bird, the size of a hummingbird, with a red throat. 
 
The trail zig-zagged back and forth up the mountain.  When we arrived at the top, there was a circular stone tower.  It looked like a building from the Middle Ages, with battlements on top.  We climbed a spiral staircase.  The view was breathtaking.  It was a clear day, and we could see the mountains around us, blanketed by vegetation.  We could see the ocean and the islands, the cities and the mountains.  As we took in the view, a sharp-shinned hawk lazily cruised by.  The cool breeze ended our suffering.  If you are ever in Puerto Rico, go to the Mt. Britton observation tower.

I wrote these during the poetry jam we do every morning before school.  Please see Marin's blog for the definition of a poetry jam.

During the floodwaves,
   the misty droplets curl
beautifully off the 
   breaking waves

Before the waves
   there was no ocean
here, instead the forest
   of Sherwood stood
proud and tall, a palisade
   of greenwood trees
__________________________________

She had a love
for adventuring
to be creative

She went on an
amazing voyage

A weary traveler
visited a gently
flowing stream

She remarked,
Adventure is an 
amazing voyage.

__________________________________

The wise dragon flew over a barren
   land
A vast river rushed out of the mountains,
   eroding
The river will widen before long.  It will
   empty
into a luminous cave.  It will keep the
   town
of Two Siblings alive.  So the favorite
   writer
can invent the first crossword.

__________________________________

The stoic bamboo forest stood on an island.
In a sparkling lagoon, waves gently lapping at the grassy shore.
On the island, hazel-eyed dogs lived and died.
In the cycle of life, death, love, and truth.
"Good luck," yapped the leader to his hunters, hair falling in golden ringlets.