Blogs from Panamá, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 3

After an equally delicious breakfast at the Holiday Inn’s Ship View Cafe, we left Clayton for the Chagres River (the native name for crocodile) to see the Embera Indians. Along the way we passed the US Embassy and some very expensive homes. A school for wealthy Chinese residents was very impressive. Abdiel said the Chinese run most of the convenience stores in Panama and have made quite a bit of money. The Chinese were smart opening their shops during traditional siestas when other stores were closed. Chinese men were brought to Panama to work on the railroad for the canal. After the canal was built some went to California to work on the railroads, but others stayed in Panama to open their now thriving businesses. As we were leaving the city, Abdiel pointed out the egg ... read more

Before leaving Panama City we visited the small neighborhood of El Chorrillo where Noriega was once powerful. Our local guide Victor gave us a personal tour of the El Chorrillo district and painfully told the sordid history of these times. For years Manuel Noriega, Panama’s corrupt and brutal dictator, had been an ally of the US. The US did not trust the Panamanians and yet they used Noriega as a CIA asset and a key player in the shadowy network of anti-communists, tyrants and drug runners. The controversy was that the people of Panama were afraid of Noriega and fearful of him and his people. In fact Noriega killed those who tried to overthrow him. “It began with Bush”, Victor said, “who paid Noriega as a contact working with the CIA, despite his being a drug ... read more

This is the day!! Breakfast at 6, on the bus at 6:30, on the boat at 6:45! We were to have our luggage outside our door by 11:30 the night before to be picked up by the bellboy and loaded on the bus to be driven to Colon, where we'll exit the boat. Luckily, we left the knapsack to pick up after breakfast and noticed that our luggage (and that of other travelers on the same hall) had not been picked up! Took the bus out to Flamenco Island and saw the sunrise over the Pacific. What, Susan, you have that wrong! No, the bay curved around so that the point we were on was actually facing East. Boarded the Islamorada, a 100 year old boat that used to belong to Al Capone! From url=http://www.canada.com/travel/Gangster+Capone+running+yacht+ferrying+tourists+Panama/9360023/story.htmlhttp://www.canada.com/travel/Gangster+Capone+running+yacht+ferrying+tourists+Panama/9360023/story.html... read more

Spent last night at the Dulles Marriott so we didn't have to try and get to Dulles at 8 am on a Monday--worked very nicely. The shuttle had us there in no time, we checked our bag and got our boarding passes (scored TSA pre-check!!) and made our way, via the new underground trains, to the gate and the plane. The plane was not packed to the gills and we ended up being the only two in our three-person half-row. Flew Copa Airlines and it was very pleasant--good food, nice stewards, videos in the seats, etc. Stepped off the plane into the walk way and felt the 91 degrees, got our luggage and found the transport to the hotel--was a 40 minute drive so we were even more glad we arrived in time to take advantage ... read more

Well, it's a month away but we were able to choose our seats on the plane to Panama City from Dulles, got a reservation for the airport hotel the night before the flight down, have the Panama City hotel information, and am gathering other things (mainly making lists, of course). Read the book about the canal construction and got very good feedback about the trip from a colleague at another Virginia community college. As usual, taking a few minutes to refresh myself with the blog page and how it works. Created a 'trip' for the week; still not sure how that works, different from just posting.... read more