Es Senor Castro Aqui? - Panama City

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Oct. 4th.We arrived in Panama City at night. The skyline was quite impresssive. We met up with a gent called Abidel (i think). He took us to El Panama Hotel in his crazy Nissan Diesel SUV. It was quite unlike anything i have seen. I think we could have went as the crow flys in this thing but he stuck to the road instead.We arrived at the hotel and it seemed right out of a movie about Havana. I was expecting Fidel to be there holding a gala (i don't know how to spell that one.)We met up with an english gent trying to sell us overpriced realestate. He was good for two things ... Mario (more to come) and Jimmy's Restaraunt. Oct. 5thWe met up with Carlos and Greg (a Valdez connection). They proceeded to show us many didfferent condo developments that may or may not be built, nonetheless they were selling them!!! This country is great, if you need something you just buy it, passports, favors, land titles, etc. What a great place for the fantastic 4.Oct. 6 MARIO!Land Capital (the english gent) hooked us up with Mario. A local from the carribean side and charged with bringing us ou there to check out the place. We piled in the Toyota Land Cruiser and headed off. He drove us the "backway" which i later realized was more than likely better than the "front way"! For the first time we were seeing the real Panama. It is quite beautiful. Rolling green, green, green hills (did I mention green) for as far as the eye can see. We hit the locks on the Caribean side and had to wait for a few ships to pass buy. No security... kind of weird. The Caribean side was leaps and bounds above the pacific. Very clean and untouched for the most part. Farmers and fisherman dotted the coast, although they did not build on the coast or even witha view of the sea, hmmm. Nothing all that exciting to report on this trip, except Mario was a hoot. With a laugh that could make George Bush friends in Iran he continued to tell jokes ther eand back. This is where we learned about the Juego Vivo's. Juego Vivo's - you know that guy who cuts you off in a construction zone just to get one step in front of a pack of 100 or so cars going 7 mph? Juego Vivo!

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Photos

At the Locks
Caribean Side Locks

Tres Amigos Gatun Locks
Just waiting for the Ships to pass. Where is the Cerveza?

Mario - Where is the sea
Phil is that a GPS? Where is the water - Donde es la playa?

Us Ambassador
Who gave this brown boy a US passport. Maybe he bought it Juego Vivo

At Last
Ahhh yes there it is.