In Panama, November 28 is a national holiday. The country proudly celebrates its independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of Simon Bolivar. It is the last independence holidays of November. Then the country gets ready for Mother’s Day, Christmas Day and our course, New Year’s Day. A lot of action lies ahead.
Since there were no parades scheduled in Panama City, my wife and I decided to visit a popular mall located on the outskirts of the city—Albrook Mall. The place is huge, fully covered and air-conditioned. There are so many things in there, it’s almost impossible to decide on what to buy, unless you have it explicitly written on a piece of paper. That is what we did. My wife wanted to buy a new pair of sneakers for her daily early morning walkabouts. She was crazy for a pair of New Balance rubber shoes. So that was exactly what we wrote on a white sheet of paper—New Balance tennis shoes.
Our beloved grandnephews—Abdiel and Carol— jumped into the bandwagon. We called the trip, the Safari Mall Trip because the mall was full of wild animals. The owners of the mall–very cleverly—identified the structure with wild animals which matched a certain color. That would help the shoppers to easily identify and find the shops they were looking for. For example, if you were looking a Mac Store to buy an iPhone, you would look for the Penguin Corridor identified with the color yellow. The number is PA-P12. At the entrance of the mall, you can request at the Information Center, the Albrook Mall Store Guide to avoid getting lost.
The supposed purpose of the trip was to shoot all fourteen wild animals at the mall. The kids would be the guides and I would be the hunter with my loaded Birthday camera. My job was to shoot all 14 wild animals. My wife’s mission was to buy her shoes, but that’s another story for another day.
Below are images of several wild game we were able to find and shoot with my Canon PowerShot A720 IS camera. Relax and enjoy. Here we go.
Abdiel and Carol pose with two zebras at the entrance of Albrook Mall. The zebras are all dressed up in Christmas colors. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
This is the second game of the day---a very tall giraffe in the middle of the aisle. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
An enormous dinosaur from Jurassic Park, so tall that my wife and Abdiel are barely visible. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
Carol is about to be eaten by a Christmas hippo. Abdiel and my wife Aura watches close by. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
A splendid capture of an African elephant. It looks almost real, except for the size of course. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
Photograph of papa and mama kangaroo. They look so cute in their pink pigmentation. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
I was strongly attracted to these dolphins swimming together with other fishes and turtles. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
My wife Aura isn't afraid of this gigantic King Kong. He looks menacing if you ask me. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
A beautiful family of Arctic penguins lovingly embraced by Abdiel and Carol. Even penguins feel cold, notice their scarfs. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
In this picture with a panda bear, Carol is beginning to feel the weight of walking several miles all over the mall hunting for wild games. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
Wow! This Bengal tiger really looks threatening. These feet are meant for running. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
Abdiel is acting awkwardly after having this powerful rhino behind his back. He looks as big and powerful as a Sherman tank. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
During our urban safari, Abdiel and Carol meet the King of the Jungle. Carol poses like a Carnival Queen under the wild beast. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
On our final capture, Abdiel's batteries are almost dead, while Carol has renewed her energies. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)
After a safari that started at 10:00 a.m. and ended 04:30 p.m. we accomplished our mission. With the assistance of my savvy guides I was able to shoot fourteen wild animals. Tired and dragging our feet we headed home with a big smile on our faces. We had a perfect hunting score.
Oh, one more thing…my wife got her walking shoes. She was also smiling on our way home. That makes four smiling faces. Ain’t that nice? Good Day.
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