one more day in panama

the buses are individually owned and many of them are elaborately decorated as you can see

view from Balboa Yacht Club yesterday - note the tiny sailboats against the backdrop of a freighter having come through the canal - our constantly changing view

how do they see out the windshield?

i became fascinated by the skyline and architecture

driving through the city, the taxi driver was kind enough to go slow as i took pictures from his cab

and then there are the older buildings where anyone who's not upper class has been forced to live

you wouldn't know it but this is where we did our check-out - migracion and port captain. they both had tvs playing. the port captain had a huge flat screen with what looked like a male soap opera. huge stacks of banded papers sat atop filing cabinets. job security for someone.

water spilling through the gates of the locks

two sailboats that just came through the canal - they're tied together - we stopped to visit with Akka later in the day and she said you have to hope the other sailboat doesn't have engine problems

one of four little trains that run along the side of the canal as line handlers for the large ships - 2 on each side for bow and stern

before the water is lowered 27 ft

not a great shot but it shows where we were anchored - the far "island" on the right by the dotted lines.

another poor shot but it shows the whole canal system, along with the 3rd lock they're building now which will be done around 2014. we were anchored in the lower bottom right hand corner. it takes about 2 days to go through the canal for sailboats. they spend the night in the lake which is in the upper left area. are you confused yet?

flags representing the Latin American countries - we passed these every day in the cabs going from Playita to Panama City. Can you name all the countries?

we decided to delay one more day here in panama so we could see the Miraflores Locks. So glad we did. It also gave us both a chance to do a bit more emailing. Our plan is to sail over to Las Perlas islands which is supposed to be much like the Galapagos on a smaller scale. After a few days of (hopefully) relaxing and water play - and cleaning the boat bottom - we'll head over to Puerto Amistad in Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador. Hopefully it will only take about 10 days but it looks like light winds which could make it a longer trip. We bought extra fuel jugs just in case.