The Sweat

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Our first stop in Central America was in the hot and humid Panama City. Whilst temperatures were in the low thirties, the humidity made the city feel twice that. Thankfully our hotel room had air conditioning which kept us cool during the night. So cool in fact that I woke with a head cold the first morning.
Despite being on the 6th floor of the hotel we were awoken at 5.30 by the incredibly loud exhausts and the needless horn blowing of the local buses which passed by, many floors below our bedroom window.
We decided to have a stroll before breakfast and set off along Avenue Balboa which runs parallel to the coast. It was clear after about 40 seconds that the heat was going to take its toll on us. Nevertheless, the brave soldiers that we were, we continued on towards the Bella Vista district of the city, about 20 minutes from our hotel.
Before we reached Bella Vista our bodies indicated to us that they would not put up with any more of our nonsense and we agreed to turn back. It was easy to find our hotel again as we just followed the trail of sweat that we had left behind us. We eventually arrived back at the hotel, resembling two eskimos who had been left to fend for themselves in the Sahara. The remainder of the day was divided between walking and showering.
The next day we made our way to the Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal, probably the best place to see the ships passing through the canal. The trip was well worth it and we were lucky enough to have one of the biggest ships pass through in front of us.
On the way back from the canal the bus dropped us at Allbrook bus terminal which lies adjacent to the Allbrook Shopping Centre. We decided to have a look to see if we could find a plug adapter as Clare´s hair was in dire need of her GHD. Think Tina Turner. (Earlier I had discovered that the adaptor we had brought with us would not work.) After searching every electrical and hardware shop in the place myself and Carlos Valderama returned to the hotel comtemplating our next move.
In the hotel room Clare had tried to put the adaptor into the socket. I could tell by the icy stare she gave me that I had done something wrong. What I had actually done was I tried the adaptor in the air condition ing socket. However every other socket in the room was different to the a/c socket. Our adaptor had been right all along.
I got the silent treatment for a few minutes but it was worth it to see Clare´s hair come back into orbit.

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Photos

Panama City at night
View from our hotel room

Miraflores Lock
This is the main lock on the Panama Canal

Clare's pre - Tina Turner Look
It wasn't long after this photo that things took a downward turn

Ship passing through
This ship actually has the record for the highest toll paid to cross the Canal, I can't remember how much it was though. About US$300,000 I think