Centoamericano Panama City

... in a few places, more well known places, but I have never seen the variety of fish that I saw over that shipreck. Colors I didn't know existed in nature were painted on fish that went about their daily business as I quietly floated over, observing them, along the squid, lobster, sea urchins and eels that surrounded them. Snorkles off and it was time to entertain ourselves until our ride came to get us. We were technically shipwrecked for 2 ...

... On Sunday we went up towards Colon to a place called Isla Grande on the Carribean side. Lush tropical settings meant you could have mistaken this for anywhere - Thailand, Cuba...anywhere with palm trees and turquoise water :)
On the drive up we went through a town called Portobelo, which used to be a fort protecting Panama from pirates. There were old ruins of a fortress wal and cannons, looked ...

... do you protect reforested areas without displacing these people? A forestry plantation can make 10 times more money than cattle ranching, but the large initial investment and a return a decade later doesn't work for most small landowners who need yearly profits to feed their families. So how do you incentivize reforestation? Over the next week we will be learning how the Smithsonian (and other) researchers are starting to answer these ...

... tributary and traveled for a few minutes more. We stopped at a waterfall and swam in the large pool, along with a bunch of other people who happened to arrive at about the same time. Afterwards we continued up the Chagres passing a large Embera village along the bank called Embera Puru. Our destination was further up, the village of Embera Drua. Embera Drua is situated at a bend in the river, with calm deep water. Family houses and ...

... was nice too. Having installed us all in our dorms Guadaloupe announced we were going to the beach! There was a small music fest going on when we arrived at sunset. Guadaloupe pointed about 100 yards out to sea and told us thatīs where she lived till she was 5, but the coast is badly eroding. We had a slap up fish and chip supper with music and dancing then headed back to Los Santos, stopping off to say hello to the many ...

This is the big day...our whole purpose of this cruise! We got up before the sun to see that our ship was parked in the holding area. We could see tons of red/green lights and bright white arrows. We then heard the tugs next to us as we approached the Gatun Locks and saw several alligators. We ran all over the ship...starting at the front of the ship to watch us approach the first of three locks in this section of the canal. After the mules were hooked up, we ran to the back ...

... out, no serious mechanical issues. These guys were shipping to Quito, not Bogota, but we hope to catch up with them again. We have actually run into very few other riders, fewer than I expected, and it was nice to swap stories even for 1/2 hour. We also met the owner of the shipping company, Girag, who is Colombian, and gave us a lift back to town from the airport, and offered to pick us up the following day for our flight to Bogota. So this I believe ...