I never lived in Panama....that must have been quite an experience. I sailed through the canal about 4 times while in the Merchant Marine. I will never forget that experience.
We just assumed any snake was poisonous. There were insects there that defied imagination. Tarantulas everywhere. One time we were walking through a jungle trail and our scoutmaster pointed out a boa in the tree above us. “Don’t walk under it, because it will fall on you.”
We camped on the side of the Miraflores Locks for a couple of nights. It was a bad plan, since the shipping was so noisy we hardly slept. One night at Camp Chagres we were raided by white faced monkeys. A bunch of us got into one tent and used the end-stick of our cots to keep them back from us.
It was something....