Tower House Panama City

... for them! So itchy, you have no idea. I´ve even managed to tear the skin on a couple of them. Probably did it in my sleep. It looks like the littel fecker took a walk across my leg. From under my knee, right the way across and down to my ankle. Scratch scratch scratch.

We went out to the Causeway today. This is a strip of land that joins three islands to the mainland - Perico, Naos and Flaminco. We hired bikes and cycled right to the end where ...

Como todo viaje......inicio en Panama... esta ocasión viaje en el Vuelo de COPA 437 con destino Santiago de Chile...un vuelo tranquilo.....

(As all my trips .... it begins in Panama...this time I took Copa Airlines Flight 437 with final destination Santiago de Chile.. a fair flight.)

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The first and only sightseeing tour we went on was the panama canal. Being engineers we gasped at the ability of the canal and its workers to steer a maximum sized container ship through with only 2 feet of clearance on either side. Basically, so incredible that we went in the morning, watched a minnow sized ship go through and came back in the afternoon just so we could watch 3 "panamax" go ...

... I left. Napoli pizzeria was only a few blocks from our hotel, so we walked there because it was much cooler tonight. The place was huge and completely packed (even at 8:45 for dinner). Address for Napoli: Calle 57 Obarrio. Tomorrow is a bit of a relax and hang at the pool day. We will be traveling north to David and then on to Boquete where my parent's house is. Not sure what the Internet will be like there (no more free hotel Internet), but will update again when I can. Cheers!

I know it´s been a while since I´ve updated. Sorry! I don´t have much time to write. Heading to the South Pacific on the 38-foot sailboat Lunambule, with a final destination of New Caledonia. We´re heading to the Galapagos hopefully this afternoon. Other stops on our three-month trip will include Marquesas, Tonga, Cook Islands, and who knows where else. I´l try to update whenever we stop!

We were up early to start our trip through the Panama Canal. The liner was circling similar to planes stacking to come into Heathrow. We were in a line of ships - no 19 to go through from south to north that day. It was bright and sunny and things looked good. We eventually passed under the Bridge of the Americas to line up to go through the Miraflores locks. What a performance! It took 19 people from the canal company to come on board to sort out the ...

... district- sorry I cannot find my panama book at the moment) which has a ton of restaurants and a close bus line, plus it is very safe! At the moment there are about 15 beds avaliable, but they are still doing construction. In all the hostel will be 2 floors with about 60 beds. There is even a blow up pool about 3 feet deep. I was actually the 5th official person to stay at the hostel! So, at the moment, there was another group there with me, and another group was coming... so word ...

... our backpacks onto a chicken bus and headed into the awakening city. I love the hustle and bustle of a city stirring in the early hours and this was no exception as the bus tore through the awakening streets. We were dropped off near to the water´s edge and walked down the main Boulevard with the backdrop of Panama City´s rising skyline looming behind us. It was a contrast to the old part of town that we have been ...

... br>The following day (16/10) we had a sleep in since we were tired from the previous day of walking. We read a bit by the pool, collected our laundry, and then walked to the business district. That place is just so strange. Everything was so new, very American - large air conditioned malls, fast food, 5 stars hotels. So different from a kilometer away, where it is basically slums. The quarter in between seemed quite posh, more residential, with nice ...

... where we managed to walk through a very dodgy area of Panama City and a guy stopped his car to tell us we shouldn't be there, and guys were following us about to... say hello.... He looked trustworthy (said he was on his way back from church) so we accepted his ride to the safer area a couple of blocks away. A good lesson for us! Quick diversion, but one of the things this trip here does is make you much more conscious of environmental things- pretty obvious perhaps ...