Our short lived fame as carpet bowlers evaporated as we were knocked out in the 3rd round – I bowled too long, Paula too short!
We had time for Alana’s dance class before arriving in Colón and we experienced the salsa for the first time. After a while, it can get a bit confusing as although I can remember the moves during the class itself, 24 hours later and my memory has gone on strike. The penalty for growing old I suppose. It takes so much longer to totally commit these physical moves to memory.
A bite to eat then to our tour bus and tour guide David. Megan risked yet another telling off as we were group three and she does tend to sneak out with group 1 or 2 to try and grab a favourable seat on the coach. This doesn’t always go to plan and we now have a new rage – “Tour Coach rage...” to add to laundry, Mah-jong and jogging rages.
David endeared himself to me immediately by telling us that he wouldn’t be talking non-stop and wouldn’t bore us with a load of meaningless dates but would answer specific questions.
Thanks to Megan’s sterling efforts in securing a front seat(!) Malcolm was able to ask several valid and pertinent questions of David as we travelled. Fortunately, we were also near the front of the coach as those behind often had to ask for David to speak up, which shouldn’t have been necessary but it was, even though the modern coach has a sound system throughout, as we found out on the return. It wasn’t as easy to hear further back.
David was just brilliant and certainly one of the best guides to date. The brightly painted local coaches are known as “The Red Devils” which has much to do with their driving style and little to do with the colours. We headed south east towards the Miraflores Locks on the Panama canal, which we will be passing through tomorrow. As we arrived, before we even stepped off the coach, there was a container ship just exiting the last lock. By the time we got off, it was raining and there were no ships within sight! Part of the fascination of the day was the mechanics of the Panama canal. Water has to drain out of the upper lakes to fill the lock and with each ship passing through, something like 55,000 gallons of water (I think) are lost from the lake, so it needs constant replenishment, which comes from the rainfall which appears to be very frequent and probably every time we are around. We’ll have to see. As soon as we exited the building, the rain stopped and another ship appeared. We were supposed to be on the coach at 4:20pm, but for some reason we never discovered, the other coaches came and went and there was no sign of ours for about 15 minutes.
No worries. It arrived eventually and we headed off to Panama old town, via a short shop stop, where were decamped into smaller coaches. The old town must not be confused with the new, which has a massive number of modern skyscrapers. This was fascinating as many of the buildings are dilapidated or made out of wood, but the city fathers have decreed that all the old ramshackle buildings must go, but the replacements must retain the original facades. This has the effect of driving out the poor to the suburbs (which they are not at all keen on) whilst the wealthier move in. Some buildings really were terrible but the refurbished and modernised buildings are just superb.
David led us on a short walking tour of the shore as the sun set, before returning us to the small buses for more of the old city. Yes, a bit grim maybe, but we loved it. The modernised waterfront between the old and new is being geared very much for tourists too, so there were plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants as we drove along to rejoin our full sized coaches for the 80km return, to the opposite end of the canal at Colón.
Until we got the question wrong in a trivia quiz, I had always assumed that the canal direction was North East to South West, but it is in fact North West to South East. The passage through from the Caribbean and Atlantic to the Pacific is uphill to the lakes, then downhill again through the 3 locks, though many people wrongly assume That the oceans are on different levels. Think about it...
We didn’t return to the compound (because that is what it is) until 9pm, but that wasn’t really an issue (although there were the usual grumbles from those who probably shouldn’t be out after dark anyway) and after a quick wash, we naturally enough headed for the Horizon Court, followed by a coffee in the Atrium on level 7, enjoying Alan and Alana’s mix of music and song. With many planning an early start for tomorrow’s passage of the canal, there weren’t too many around too late. Paula has the alarm set for 6am.
A great day and certainly one of my favourites so far, as the balance was just right.
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