Coronado Golf & Beach Resort Coronado Beach

... blind curves all the while punching the
accelerator for every last bit of horsepower that they can eek out. At
least when you're walking you can hear them coming and you can hop out
of the way. In most places the roads are narrow without shoulders and
people like birds and squirrrels are merely bumps on the road for these
blank faced drivers.



The taxis are only better because they are smaller. The fares are ...

... strange looking broken down tower block behind the main road Via Espana. We decided it was quite cheap at $11 per night for a double room, so decided to stick around despite appearances. Zulyīs room for two people was very shabby threadbare sheets but still quite clean and a shared bathroom at the top of the stairs, they had fans which were welcome as the heat was very muggy and around 32 degrees or more during the day. We slept in our sleeping bag liners which finally came ...

... and batteries and contacted the mothership which was about 2 hours away so we left them as it had turned dark and they had about 1 hour to wait to be picked up and towed back to Nicaragua. A bit of excitement. We were at the dining room table having just finished our main courses when the announcement was made, so there was a mad dash up to deck 14 to watch all the goings on.
The 2 days later we arrived at the Panama Canal at about 4.30am so were up early to ...

... hot water to the front desk she said, "really? I'll have it checked out." I think what she really wanted to say was, "it's 90 degrees out with a 100 percent humidity! Why in the world do you want hot water for your shower?" Call us Americans crazy. We like hot water for our showers so we can later go out and ask for more ice in our drinks to cool down.
Last night we all went to a tapas bar in the Casco Viejo district. This area is called ...

This is reportedly the miami of the Latin America...erm...not quite sure who decided that. Apart from a few skyscrapers and several malls, I donīt think it deserves that name. But it is quite quirky as LA cities go. We couldnīt decide where to stay and ended up hedging for privacy over a safe and comfortable area. What a mistake that was. Panama, we discovered, has something called a love hotel where you check into quite a nice, legitimate looking ...

... using the ATM, but I still couldnīt. To make a long, miserable story short, I spent most of Saturday trying to get through to stupid Bank of America on numerous customer service lines to find no one working (call back Monday). Seems my card was not activated, although I had activated in twice before I left home and even gave BofA my travel plans. I called Mike who also went through all sorts of girations ...

... Fenstern,... Also ich versteh das nicht so ganz.. Aber ja... In Panama City habe ich nicht gerade all zu viel angeschaut, bin einfach ein bisschen im alten Viertel herumflaniert... Dann dacht ich mir, mach ich was historisch tolles und geh den Panama Kanal anschauen. Die 8 Dollar Eintritt (Panama hat ja nur den doofen Dollar), die ich fuer diese Scheisse bezahlen musste, reuen mich noch bis zum heutigen Tag... Mann, das war vieleicht langweilig ...

... couldnīt identify. Outside the tourist police stopped us and offered us helpful suggestions - no, donīt walk down that road towards San Felipe, itīs dangerous; no donīt walk through China Town, itīs dangerous; no donīt walk to the park, take a cab, because itīs dangerous..... So we heeded their warnings and walked back the way we had come, down Bilboa Avenue towards an exhibition I had spied on the way into the city the night ...

... We then need to enter Panama city, again no signs to tell us which direction or highway to take. It begins to rain. We push on getting more lost in the downtown core. Finally a fellow motorcyclist pulls up and offers to lead us to the correct highway heading towards Tocuman. We stop at a payphone to call Mike's contact which he had previously arranged for us to stay at while we figure out the transporting of our bikes to South America. We try ...

... of us, along with two more couples spent most of the transit on either their balcony or ours. Although I love our cabin, I have to admit that the forward cabin had much better viewing of the canal and was also out of the sun, so thanks to our new friends for letting us visit. Regarding the Westerdam, we kept pace with her for the entire transit. It was interesting to watch her be raised and lowered while we were beside her. Sometimes ...