Washington Colon

... get photocopies.

After finishing the paperwork, Christina and I left Colon and drove over to the Gatun Locks, which are the largest locks in the Canal. We even had the opportunity to drive over a one lane bridge that was timed to open and close with the massive steel gates of the locks. So Wesley has officially driven through the Panama Canal! Something that I would have to say is an extremely unique experience.

Colón, Colón, Panama cmedancing

... front of which was a big croud of people waving flags and generally milling about excitedly. On the stage was a rather cheerful yet embarrasing looking man, resplendent in light-blue suit with a big 70s collar, holding a microphone and shouting things out to the crowd. A minute later and an absolute shitload of police arrived on motorbikes. Wondering what on earth was going on, we decided to sit down and have a drink at a cafe opposite the stage. We soon realised the nature of the event ...

... is that if you go to the rainforest, cover up and coat yourself in deet... cos the mossies are monsters and the bites are unbearable even a couple of days later. However doing all of the above probably won´t help as I still got mutilated :(.

I bet you´re glad I´ve finally found a keyboard with an apostrophy... I am at least....? So, until the other side of the border.... ps. thanks for all the messages... see ya x

... all of you are welcome).

I bid this large piece of mother earth farewell. It´s quite possible that I will never again bask in it´s stunning landscapes and unabashed revelry. The thought of that brings immediate sadness to my existence.

So, what is next for your humble narrator? First of all, I need to get back home and go to work before the bank decides to take away my house. I also need to return before Jess trades me in for a younger, more flightless bird ...

... have come to see us die. i look down, look at the rope (rope...like the one you buy at the hardware store), look at my harness, and think....what the f$%& am i doing!?! i just kept on repeating...no, no, no. he tells me not to look down and to look straight ahead...seriously? what am i, five? i am looking at marianna and i could almost see my fear reflected in her face. the guy starts counting...one...two...three and a small nudge ...

... up rocks and were hiking up pretty challenging terrain. We made it to the peak, and on the way back down it started to rain, which made it difficult to climb down on the slick rocks. I think the peak was about 4,500 meters above sea level. That night everyone hung out again and had a good time. I found out that they could take in a volunteer at the hostel and wish I really could have stayed there. I think it would have been awesome to stay ...

more to come later but basically spent the day driving around to different shipping agents and back to panama city, to the airport and then back to colon - an exhausting day which left us with three possibilities.  we decided we would try to find a private boat and charter it to go to columbia - apparently you can get lucky and find a smuggler with room on the boat.... You may already know this but they say you can not drive from Panama to Columbia.  From what I can tell, the shipping (boat ...

... Quito, via Otavalo where Henrique jumped off. Bagged the front seats so loads of leg room. An interesting phenomena on the coaches here is that, along with two or three food salesmen jumping on at every opportunity to sell you drinks and snacks, you get live infomercials from smooth salesmen at the front of the coach who give a fifteen minute spiel about the quality of their product. We had a good one ...

... from the Spanish conquistadores to the French and American Canal builders who trampled on their territory. Panama granted the Kunas pretty much full autonomy in 1976 and their very curious flag with an inverted swastika now flies everywhere. Our boat was welcomed with open arms, the villagers being about the happiest and contented people I have ever met.

... do as you please, its much easier to close your eyes with the bus driver driving, its less scary. Colon munciple has actually decided that they will have no traffic lights installed... Crazyness! These guys put South African Taxi's to shame! The roads are not very well maintained, there are lots of potholes. The weather got very wet in the late afternoon, but hey its the rainy season after all. We now start the long trip (2 and a bit sea days) back up to Miami now..