We celebrated Torri's 17th birthday Saturday with an Italian meal (Torri's favourite) and had to chuckle at how the waiter was so precise with our order but somewhere between our table and the kitchen they got every single dish wrong. Nevertheless, every meals were delicious and they presented us with a Nutella cake for Torri's birthday. We took an Uber to Carnival after dinner and barely got in because we didn't have our passports. We offered our driver's licence identification, which was accepted, but Brit was told that she would not get in tomorrow if she tried again without her passport.
There is a large American base near Colon which is still guarded, but is quickly turning into a ghosts town with vegetation taking over the houses and roads. We drove through on our way to the marina nearby. The sixteen kilometres of protected land includes the water reserves of (Gatun Lake) which feeds the locks allowing the ships to continue through from one ocean to another. Last year's drought was the first time large ships couldn't transit until the rains filled the reserves back up.
2016-17 Panama & CuracaoScroll to the bottom for current news. January 5, 2017 -- We woke early yesterday planning to work out at the awesome Trump Tower gym. When Con tried to pull his runners on, he realized he'd packed a pair of mine. We swapped gym clothes for street clothes and took the Trump hourly shuttle to the Multiplaza Mall.
" In other words, stay in your building away from falling cabinets, since those are easier to dodge than falling building parts. Our daughter Bridget arrived with family (Kris, Torri, and Nolan) for eight days of fun in the sun. We visited Gatun Lake and spotted three different kinds of monkeys, two of the three species visited our boat to enjoy the grapes and bananas offered. One female had just given birth two weeks ago and the baby was attached to her back as she visited us aboard our small boat. Torri had hoped to "hold" a monkey, but these guys are wild and touching them is not a good idea. The guide said to let them come to you. The capuchin monkey walked right over Torrie and then sat in her lap! Most of our family time has been spent at the Trump Tower swimming pools letting our Saskatchewan family soak up all the Vitamin D the sun could offer. This iguana is enormous and hangs out at the Smithsonian Institute, a protected area on one of the islands connected by the Amador Causeway.
Colon is known as Panama's second city, a sea-side beat-up port city. Meanwhile, Ann, a woman I'm car-pooling with from the Trump Tower to Casco Veijo each day, left by Uber but didn't get very far. About a quarter of the way there, we were locked in a traffic jam. The town and area was blocked by picketers so we had to turn back. Their message to the president was that Panama NEEDS better infrastructure, and it does.