Punta Chame Motel Panama City

... canal. A 1977 agreement returned it to Panama at the end of 1999.

The Panama Canal is a lock-type canal, approximately 80 kilometres long, that unites the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at one of the narrowest points of both the Isthmus of Panama and the American Continent. The Canal officially opened its doors to international trade on August 15, 1914, and since then more than 957,000 vessels have transited the waterways. The Canal ...

... clothing brands (like 'Moose' - Panama's very own Abercrombie) had us frothing at the mouth. And Wednesday's half price movie night was the icing on the cake.

Unfortunately, our guilty Mall habits combined with a visit to Panama's premier souvenir market (where we honed our haggling skills) means we leave the city a little heavier than we arrived. Great news seeings as our next destination is a week on a not-very-large sailing boat.

Accepting the fact that we just aren´t meant for the city, we decided to stay on Isla Taboga another night. Having no more cash, however, we had to move on from Zoriada and Rafa´s place. We settled into a very nice inn. Our room had a great balcony overlooking the bay. Despite having no A/C, the breeze through the open french doors did just fine.

Our main activity for the day was hiking to Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross). The hour-long hike, with ...

We spent our last night in Bocas del Toro on Isla Carenero, a tiny island about 600 ft across the water from Bocas Town, at a lovely little inn called VerdeTierra. We finally witnessed some of the 'wet season' in Panama yesterday and lazed away much of the day watching the heavy rain from hammocks on the covered dock in front of the hotel. I took a brief swim - for some ...

... and mosquitoes defeated the French. The American effort was ingenious - the idea was to float the ships over the mountains rather than digging the canal down to sea level. Through a series of locks, ships are lifted about 60 feet above sea level at the beginning of the canal. Then they sail across Panama through a man-made lake, then they are lowered about 60 feet on the other side. Why didn't I think of that? :)

... and hopefully we'll have some fun along the way. After our morning lectures we ate the box lunches, provided by our hotel, that centered on a yellow cheese, white-bread sandwich....a slightly ominous beginning to the several days of box lunches in front of us, and clear evidence that the morning's breakfast (white bread with jam) had not been a fluke. However, nobody complained. We were in Panama, the weather was beautiful, and we were off ...

... and strong. There is a school at the village and the children receive education from a teacher that comes in on occasion... I wasn't clear on how frequently they have classes. The Embera are trying to hold onto their culture and their existence in an expanding world that is closing in around them. Tourism helps to support them and protect the land they live on, as well as to bring attention to their way of life and to respect and protect it.

... br>Carnival starts in a few days, so i've got a couple of days to see the Canal and the other banal touristy stuff...then hit the party...and then Colombia.

Carnival...the real party is apparently in Las Tablas a bit further along the Pacific coast - but as i´ve never been to Rio´s Carnival (or any other sizable one for that matter), i figure Panama's will be enough party for me.

After a(nother) fried chicken, our group from the hostel bevvied ...

... be going that way. Sometimes people who offer to ¨help¨want a tip but he just seemed to want to talk to people in English. He said he was in the military for 18 years and when Noriega got arrested it screwed up his pension. He was only 7 years away. Today we are going to buy bus tickets to David, Panama as we want to start heading north tomorrow night. Panama and its people are nice, but everything is expensive! (by our standards anyway :)

... World Heritage Site and is slowing starting to restore its original colonial charm. We really enjoyed being able to see it during this rehabilitation process. The cobbled streets and dilapidated buildings provided along side the renewed buildings gave it quite a bit of charm. We took a taxi to the Panama Canal Miraflores Locks. I have to say it was really impressive to see. I wasn´t expecting it ...