leaving ciudad de panama

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FINALLY we found Cristina!! Gracias Ana! And FINALLY Brad is ok again. Thank God! Cristina threatened to send him to the hospital for some miracle shot they gave her little sister (through a whopping great syringe!) just a few days earlier...suddenly Brad was feeling much better! Being a big city girl, Cristina took us to all the upmarket, airconditioned malls in town, with huge food-plazas, cinemas and arcade-game joints..and STORES!! Brad got a sk8 pin, Sara got some nice jeans, and we both got lucky when Cristina decided to shout us a meal or two...trying to fit in half the national delights she could think of..all at once! Aha, and Madagascar (the latest addition to the long list of animated animal movies), is a big laugh...at least in Mexican Spanish, órale compadre!! The second day doing malls with mrs. Big Hair, ended with a great finale at the arcade-game place with a dance mat showdown and a round of air hockey.

The good cultured woman that she is, Cristina took us to the ruins of Old Panama, dating back to the early 16th century and destroyed by several fires, an earthquake and finally by the evil pirate Morgan. They ruins are spread out over a pretty big area, great for a big family picnic, a stroll (hold on a sec...we have another vender on our backs..mm musli bars for charity..this time to help a youth centre helping local delinquents..) or even for playing hide and seek or soccer. Some of the local kids were spotted playing tip right on top of them!

Of course, we also spent half a day at the famous Panama Canal...which they claim to be one of the 8 modern wonders of the world. Not sure about that, but rather impressive all the same. operating 24 hours a day 365 days a year the canal links the worlds 2 major oceans and saves ships 22 days travel at an average cost of 62 000 USD!!! Mind you, thats about a tenth of what the long-cut round the continent would cost them, so everyones happy.

NB. We have actually been to a total of 2 museums so far, not just malls!

Ok, bye bridge of the americas, bye Cristina big hair, bye KFC!! We found a bus to San Jose for 25 dollars a head, so we are outta here....

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Comments

[Ken]

Hi you two. It has been great to follow your travels. This journal brought back memories of my trip through the Panama Canal a few weeks ago (quite a few actually)!!! Glad to see you are well again Brad .... keep up that Vegemite ... kills everything. Travel safely. Mispah.

[Criscris]

Ticabus??
Hello ppl here is a note from mrs. Bighair? well, how about that! 25 dollar? Was it the TicaBus or what was it? No getting of in Chiriqui and shifting buses? How was the trip? And what about the "you can´t leave the country" threat?