Jan 14, 2020 - Panama Canal

One of the world's greatest human-made marvels, the Panama Canal stretches 51 miles from Panama City on the Pacific side to Colon on the Atlantic side, cutting right through the continental divide. A very large number of vessels pass through each year. Each one paying up to $3 to $4 hundred thousand dollars a trip. The canal has three sets of double locks: Miraflores and Pedro Miguel on the Pacific side and Gatun on the Atlantic. Between the locks, ships pass through a huge artificial lake, Lake Gatun, created by the Gatun Dam across the...

Jan 13, 2020 - Panama City, Panama

WOW, are we learning a lot!!! Geography, history, geology, etc is much more interesting when you're actually there! Panama, like the other Latin American countries, is populated with Mezitos, white, and black. No Chinese here. They have two seasons - rainy and dry. They speak Spanish. The are mostly Catholics but have freedom of religion. They use the US dollar. Panama is a small country with only 3 million people. What's been interesting on this trip is the emphasis on the indigenous people. All the countries we have visited have reached...

Nov 8, 2019 - UPDATE AMAZON

Just published in Resilience October 2019: Latin America becomes repository for Obsolete Technology AND THIS FROM 2014: More to add to the Climate Crisis

Jun 20, 2019 - Long To Do List - Relax, Relax, Relax

Today we woke up to rain but that didn't stop Steve. He jumped right in for a morning dip. We went to breakfast. They served traditional breakfast items a la carte: fried eggs, omelets, pancakes, French toast, bacon, toast, fresh juice, coffee. Today is Relaxation Day. Our long list includes stay at the bungalow and swimming, playing board games, kayaking, snorkeling, reading our books. Everyone seemed to whole up and not be out on their decks when a heavy rainstorm began around 11. Not us, we went out and stood in it (we are from Nevada -...

Jun 19, 2019 - Playa de las Estrellas

Today was sunny! Our chance to go to Starfish Beach - Playa de las Estrellas. We rode a boat after breakfast north. We were dropped off from 10:30 - 2:30. There we saw lobster cages, a long sandy beach lined with the jungle within 20-30 feet of the water, food and trinket vendors, all very primitive. As we snorkeled we discovered large colorful starfish and clear fish. This was a relaxing day with plentiful sunshine. We met other US citizens from North and South Carolina whose spouses were doing research on the island and they were tending...

Jun 17, 2019 - Panama City

Our original plan was to tour the Panama Canal by boat. At the last moment our reservation was cancelled by the vendor. Since we only had one day in this beautiful city and wanted to make the most of it, we decided on a bus tour that would take us to the Panama Canal instead. We walked down to the ticket and bus pick-up for Hop On-Hop Off Red Bus Sightseeing. We figured this would allow us to see as much as possible. Our first stop was an hour at Albrook (Koala) Mall. We saw the largest mall in Panama City, window shopped, and ate lunch at...

Jun 16, 2019 - First Day - To Panama

My husband Steve and I took the red-eye on the Aero Mexico airline from Sacramento to Guadalajara to Mexico City to Panama City, Panama. Total hours = 12 hours, 3 airplanes. Whew! We tried to sleep but needed a nap upon arrival. We took a taxi from airport to Bristol Hotel. After the short nap, the hotel staff recommended a little Italian restaurant around the corner a short walk from the hotel. Boy is this a global world. We came all this way to eat Italian food. LOL. It was called La Vespa decorated with an actual Vespa and pictures of...

May 17, 2019 - Last day in Panama

We left our wonderful beach resor this morning and returned to Panama City via the Bridge of the Americas. We had nice views from Amador Causeway of the canal and city sky line. Our first stop was at a Guna tribal market. There were about 40 stalls in the building. They all had similar souvenirs. One of the handcrafts they made were Mola’s. These are a hand sewed panel with bright colors, depicting animals or nature. They were beautiful and very well done. They had beaded items and clothing of the area. We arrived at our hotel for tonight....

May 16, 2019 - Beach Day

Today was what they called a day of leisure. We enjoyed all of it. Up and out on the beach about 8. One of the pools is right close so we went between the pool and walking on the beach. Such a beautiful place. We can see many ships waiting to go thru the canal. Seems it is a never ending line. We enjoyed the pool and beach for a couple hours then went in for breakfast about 10. Nice to have any and all the drinks we want. There is a bar right at the pool. I had a Cosmopolitan, Margarita, Atlas beer- Cliff had Balboa beer, Pina Colada,...

May 15, 2019 - Cruise the Chagres River to Embera tribal village

Today we left the hotel and went to the marina close to our resort. We got on two small boats and went to the Embera Village. They were waiting for us at the docks and were playing music to greet us. We all went under a large thatched roof area. They had their handicrafts in there for sale. We had a lesson on their culture and they danced for us. They also took some partners from the crowd. Cliff was lucky enough to get to dance with a pretty Indian girl. Both the men and women had colorful tops and bottoms on. The women had halter type...

May 14, 2019 - Panama Canal Locks Transit

We started our day about 7 with a swim in the beautiful pool. It was very refreshing. Showered and off to breakfast. Our transit was delayed and hour so we did not leave the resort until 1230. Had a very nice Margarita before we got on the bus. We got on a passenger vessel that holds 200 and there were only about 70 total. Plenty of room for roaming the sides, front and back so we did not miss anything. We cruised by the Centennial Bridge. We went thru the Pedro Miguel Locks first. There was a tug, us, and another huge ship behind us that...

May 13, 2019 - Gamboa Rainforest Resort

We started today with having our luggage out by 7:45 am and then to breakfast. This Marriot has a very nice breakfast area. The bus left at 9. We travel for about 2 hours to Colon . We passed by the largest Free Trade Zone in the Americas and the Panama Canal Railway station. They were working on some of the roadway, but the road was very good. We saw an gated housing area where Jews and Muslims live together. She said they came to Panama to get rich and therefore get along well. We spent the rest of the morning at the Panama Canal...