Blogs from Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 8

Well, we’ve made it through the new locks of the Panama Canal. What a fascinating experience it was....do you agree? Now, the ship is anchored in Gatun Lake (the man-made lake between the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean with the canals at both ends). We have taken tenders to the shore. Our land excursion begins here. Lots of riding for us today (Wednesday, February 21st) so I hope you brought your comfy seat pillows with you...just in case it gets bumpy. We’ll be roaming around the new lock area, head to Colon and end at Cristobal. This will be a six hour trip by bus and railway. All Aboard! Here we go! The many, big tour buses are all lined up in a row when we reach land by the tenders. Each bus takes its passengers ... read more

I bet you’ve been checking the obituaries looking for my name since I have being absent for so long. I’m alive! I’m alive! Our daughter, Kim, called us today to make sure we hadn’t been stuffed and left in a suitcase somewhere. Nope....just caught the rotten flu (yes,I had a flu shot) then acute bronchitis and still not quite 100% myself but much better than I was nearing the end of our cruise on Thursday, Feb.22nd. That’s when I positioned myself and Lulu onto my death bed. Cory got sick once we were home but struggled and fought and recovered from his ailments so much faster than me. He’s a strong man! The horrible senerio with me will come later in these blogs. First, we want to share our annual cruise with all of you. We’ll ... read more

We took a city tour today. Tour was set up through the hotel. We were the only ones on the tour so it was a private tour. We rode around in a trolley and had a driver and tour guide. Our guide was very knowledgeable. We were the only ones in a trolley driving around the city, so the tourists were taking pictures of us. We went to the Miraflores Locks and watched a container ship go through from the observation area today. We went through the museum and watched the informational movie. The movie and museum were both very informational. We had lunch in Old Town and then relaxed in one of the tourist hang outs. Literally "hanging" out. Met some tourists from Denver that knew about Case IH and spent part of the afternoon ... read more

Toured the Chagres river today and the Gamboa reserve. Our driver picked us up from the hotel this morning. We made as stop at the grocery store to get some bananas and grapes for the monkeys. It was another beautiful day. Sunny and warm. We saw 3 kinds of monkeys. The capuchin monkey jumped onto our boat today. I did not get a picture of him as he jumped onto the roof of the boat. We also saw the howler monkeys and the Geoffry's Tamarin monkey. Got some pictures of birds for Mary too. The guide said the hawk is a snail hawk (kite?). The Gomboa reserve was nice as well. The gondola took us up into the canopy. Got another nice bird picture for Mary at the reserve. Caiman and turtles too!... read more

Sonntag, 28.01.2018 Panamakanal (Panama): teilweise bewölkt, Min. 27°C Max.30°C Heute war es soweit, wir verliessen den Atlantik und fuhren in den Panamakanal, ein spezielles Highlight unserer Reise. Vor der ersten Schleuse tummelte sich im warmen Wasser ein Kaiman, vielleicht als Warnung, dass man hier nicht nur wegen der Schiffe besser nicht baden sollte. Auf der Atlantikseite fahren die Schiffe zuerst in die Gatun Schleusen. Das sind sechs Schleusen. Drei für die bergwärts- und drei für die talwärts fahrenden Schiffe. Die Schiffe fahren nicht aus eigener Kraft in die Schleusen, sondern werden in die Schleusen hinein und auch wieder heraus geschleppt. Dies geschieht mit den sogenannten „Mulinos“, das sind elektrisch betriebene Lokomotiven. Pro Schiff sind acht solcher Mulinos, welche sich auf Zahnstangen bewegen, im Einsatz. ... read more