Panama City

 Panama City

We got into port about 9am and like arriving at Catalina and trying to get a mooring in Avalon, we had to await for a pilot to join the ship and guide us to a position to set Anchor overnight to await our time slot for passage through the Canal tomorrow. The bay is full of ships. Not tiny ships but great big tanker and container ships. A beautiful modern city rises along  the shoreline with majestic high rises Condos glimmering in the sun. Yes it is sunny and hot and humid. Seems these three words are tied together. Because we are anchored out by the Yacht club, we will need to tender in for our shore excursion. Today we are all doing the Panama RailRoad along the Canal to the Atlantic side (which to to the North West) and returning by bus with a stop at the Mira Loma Locks.

Once ashore we quickly got on our bus like a heard of desert Tortise (sp?). I am not claiming to be young, but in this crowd, Deb, Joe, Joan, and I are like teenagers. At one point in the tour when they said we will only have 45 minutes at the stop before we had to get back on the bus, Joe remarked, "Hell, it will take at least that long for these people just to get off the Damn Bus!". Train ride was nice and we saw lots of water, jungle, vultures, a few butterflies, but very little of the canal. We finally arrived in Colon which is the second largest Duty Free zones in the world. Probably great for shopping but with the crowd we immediately went from train to bus. Besides, it was pouring rain who wants to get wet in a bus where the average age was 81. So the bus ride back took us along the wet mountain roads way inland from the canal. Eventually we turned off toward the Mira Flores locks. As we approached the locks, a ship was in transit. We rushed off (well….mentally we rushed off) and up the steps of the visitors center in time to see two ships actually pass through the locks. This redeemed the trip. The locks were amazing. To see that container ship go through and get lowered 58 feet was incredible. Made us get really excited about our own Journey through the canal tomorrow.

We finally got back to town about 5:00 and Joan,Byron, Jan, and I all had an additional nighttime tour of old panama city set at 6:30. So we stayed right there at a local restaurant with outside tables and had a drink and some calamari. it was sprinkling off and on, so Gigi and Deblet , and Joe took all our stuff back to the ship for us while we caught our tour. Only 15 of us on this tour provided by a transplanted Brit named Julian. He was a great guide with a great dry sense of British humor, and strong knowledge of Panama, and an ability to breath life into a city. We arrived at our first destination of an old church built in the 1400's with a mahogany and gold leaf alter that was at least 3 stories tall. To protect it from the pirate Cap't Morgan, the spanish had it dismantled and buried for later assembly. Good idea as Cap't Morgan burned and destroyed most of Panama City. No drinking responsibly on that trip. It was beginning to rain so we got a little wet on our way back to the bus. We next went to a monument to founders of the old city. It was definitely raining now and Julian gave us a choice to continue. All but 4 of us elected to get off the bus. Joan had a couple of cheap ponchos she had bought for us on our trip to Tikal which we didn't end up using. She gave those to Byron and Jan and we all exited the bus. No sooner had we got out of the comfort of the bus, than the skies opened up. Within 15 feet it was as if I had jumped fully clothed into the pool. As we crossed the plaza, the rain puddled into pools that were 4 - 6 inches deep. We took refuge under a roof with the local bum while Julian pointed out the history of the area we saw. 

We gave up on walking in old town as the rain was too intense and he took us all down to the new high rise section of the city. It is quite the metropolis and has many attractions of a modern city. It would also have been a facinating walk, but with the rain and the wind, only a few of us (me) got out to see the highlights. I figured I couldn't get any wetter than I already was but I would never be back to downtown Panama. A quick drive back to the harbor and we were quickly aboard the tender and headed back to our ship. Too late for dinner we ordered room service and got our of our wet clothes. The French Onion Soup was just the thing to improve our spirit and get us ready to join Gigi, Deb, and Joe for the Indonisian Talent show at 11:00. These are the least professional shows but I think the most enjoyable of all of them. Our dinner steward was part of the performance and we made she he heard our support. Back to bed as we need to get up 5 am for our early start on the Panama transit.