Washington Colon

... front, Alan and I six feet behind. Michael is waving to the mule operators and ground staff, yelling “buenas dias Senor!”. He is being silly, and people around him are grousing that everytime they go to take a photo, Michael’s hands are in the way. Everyone is excited, but especially Michael. It is THE event we have all been waiting for. The lock behind us closes and the ship begins to slowly rise. It is truly amazing the engineering that ...

... a little apprehensive to using helpers as it tends to be a big con, but we decided to go along with it. Twenty minutes later Nick and Rochelle arrived and went right into the customs paper work process. It took us about 45 minutes in total to get the paperwork cleared. Christina and I broke a cardinal rule with paperwork helpers. ALWAYS ASK FOR THE PRICE OF THEIR SERVICE! When it was all said and done we were charged US $40 ...

... in small supermarkets and ate empanadas with the locals, we walked through Churches dripping with gold, and walked side by side with very poor indigenous people, we even made it into the museum of the city and then needed to sleep for a few hours.<br><br>We are both sunburnt, but I am lit up like a red sun - Ow!<br><br>We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant and looked forward to sleeping - Adios.<br>

... not when I was there fortunately) - very touristy indeed but good for gifts if you want to meet a real Kuna (indigenous person).<br><br>Most tour companies only take bookings for a minimum of 2 people therefore billy no mates couldn´t get on a boat along the canal (so no I didn´t go to Colon, just changed the map pin to make myself feel like I did!). It seems a little old school if you ask me - have they not ...

... really) At one point it became too shallow for us to sit on the raft so we had to walk bare foot over the most slippery rocks ever.. I fell over and decided to drag myself in the water the rest of the way.. it was so much easier so quite a few people copied and Jay said it looked like the night of the living dead.. zombies crawling out of their watery graves. We also got to visit a village and saw some traditional pottery making and the local school, we saw a Shaman as well who ...

... with their shirts off, until the Police moved them on. The next night was pub quiz night at Finn McCools, and as Milli and I had the night off we went with the guys mentioned above, as well as about 15 others from the hostel, leaving Remi at work with a fairly quiet night. We had brought so many people so Milli and I were rewarded with a few beers gratis, commission I suppose. Our team came third so we were given a couple of jugs of free beer. <br><br>After we were sufficiently sloshed ...

... hostel to shower and pack and then just enough time for a farewell beer on the terrace. Got a quick getaway in a taxi to the airport to avoid too long a tearful farewell. Flight home was very easy with no real jet lag so it makes me realise just how small the world is and how easy it is to get around. And thats the end of that... until next time.

Im here and wondering if my sense of euphoria has anything to do with the altitude, when I showered last night I felt like I was standing on several thousand sponges, swaying to an imaginary tune in my head. Definitley altitude sickness! So, my first day, Im sharing a house with some lovely ecuadorians and an austrian, I had my first spanish lesson with a teacher that doesn´t ...

... buttonbush, which shares some mangrove characteristics), we learned a little about sea turtle biology, sea grass restoration efforts, oil spill effects and then......lunch. Just as in 2006, our lunch was outstanding. Our guide told us that what we ate for lunch was very typical for the region and that she ate this food all the time. On the surface it really didn't look like much: a leafy salad with homemade vinaigrette ...

... 25000 people died during the construction of the Panama canal, mainly caused by yellow fever, or malaria. Each lock (Current) is 33.53m wide, 304.8m wide. 69% Of the traffic through the Canal originates or is destined to the United States The lowest toll for transiting the canal was paid by Richard Halliburton, who paid 36 cents to swim across the canal in August 1928 Vessels traveling from New York to San Francisco save 7,873 miles by using the Panama Canal instead ...