Roma Plaza Panama City

... sooner because the other police station we had to go to closed at 4 PM and we still had one other office to go to after that. They finally agreed that we could come back at 2 PM.

Since we had a few hours to spare, again, we headed over to the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. We arrived just in time to see a huge tanker ship go through the Canal, it was quite impressive. We also went to their museum there although it wasn't that great.

At ...

... Beko *nd I c*ught * few r*ys *nd cooked them on the b*rbie, kidding! R*ys of sunshine *nd snorkelled out *mongst the rocky inlets of M*y* B*y *nd B*mboo Isl*nd. We c*ught up with some of Bek´s friends C*ss *nd Iv* *nd met some Aussies S*r*h *nd Adri*n. All in *ll we st*yed there for *bout 8 d*ys, then it w*s time to get b*ck to the m*inl*nd to unfortun*tely m*ke our w*y b*ck to Smellyl*nd.

Exit B*ngkok, enter Mumb*i

Arghhh! Yep, we h*d to go b*ck to get our ...

... this nice Californian
guy that lives there named Chuy (pronounced chew-ee, like Hans'
buddy). He and his girlfriend, Susan, own a few mooring balls out in
the bay for sailboats that are passing through and he really helped
us out by finding, in our opinion, the best place to stay on the
island called Residenciales Mundi, which was just opened by Mundi and
his wife.

Then we left on the first ferry off the
island we could catch.

... inauguration is tight to say the least. A policia nacionale on every
corner just about.

More to come later....

btw, the Canal House is amazing and we've already met some incredibly nice people.

... muy grande! El Canal connecta dos oceanos. el Oceano Pacifico y el oceano atlantico. La Frances hace pero no puedo. Luego los Americanos viene y complete el canal de Panama. ¡Viva America! Despues de la Panama Canal, fue a comprar regalos. En el Panama Canal compro una peluche. Era una Perrico. Despues des cena, fui al'hotel y dormi. Mañana, voy a David y esta muy emocionada.

... directions and then asking another taxi driver our guy found Quarry Heights. We went past a guard station at the entrance and up the hill. You see American influence here in the construction and layout. Streets lined with palm trees with their trunks painted white, well manicured yards and the houses built with lots of steel, concrete and wood. This is quite a difference from Bocas del Toro. Our hotel is a converted apartment complex, very well built ...

... n und ich plus ein befreundet** Am**ikan** mussten auf d** Ladefläche auf ein** Holzbank fahren. Uns** Abendteu** zur Atlantikküste dau**te 7 std. Andau**ndes aussteigen und Auto schieben inklusive. Uns**en Fahr** hat das ganze wenig angehoben. Zum v**gleich : Rafa hat 3 Stunden gebraucht. Nachdem ** 2 Std. auf mich gewartet hat, ist ** dann doch schon mal auf eine Insel gefahren, ab** da es in diesem Archipel 365 ...

... the most part, we just stuck to main streets. In the evening, we went to see the Panama Canal. This was actually really impressive. We timed it to see the bigger ships coming through. The main one we saw was an enormous cargo ship, as big as they get I'm sure. The space between the boat and the canal was less than 10 feet on each side. From our view it looked like less than 5. They pass the boats through in stages (locks). The ship enters from ...

... from bashing into the walls of the locks....the ship moves through on its own power, or with the help of a tug boat at the back. When it comes down to it the Panama Canal is about two guys in a row boat, and over 20,000 guys who lay buried somewhere out there in the Panamanian jungle! Workers are magnificent! As I finish this it is 4:30 pm and we are just clearing the last Gatun Lock, then we'll head out into the Caribbean for Aruba. Talk to you then!