panama canal!

right now i'm sitting on the balcony of my hostel in boca del toro, panama.  my flight was an hour and a half late so i didn't get to see any of the town, it was dark and rainy as we landed, and i had my head mostly down as i walked from the airport to the main street.  my hostel of choice was full so i went next door and all they had were dorm rooms.  i'm just too old to sleep in a room of drunk 20 year olds with 8 bunk beds and one bathroom.  fortunately, though, they had one bunk room empty so i have 8 beds to myself tonite.  tomorrow i have a reservation for my own room.

from what i can see from here there are bars everywhere, loud music, some stores and restaurants.  if it wasn't raining i'd wander over to the beach but i'm not feelin it right now.  i have all week to explore.

i was pretty sad to leave mandy and joe's condo.  they are the super nicest people in the world.  it was so good to get some 'family time' in, loved playing with the kids.  i currently have the children's song 'b-i-n-g-o' running through my head, but at least it replaced 'panama'.  i fly back to panama city on saturday for one night before my flight to cuba so i'll have a bit more family time before the next months of lonely traveler start again.

mandy is the most amazing person.  she is a great mother and totally fearless and outgoing.  the adventures she's been on would take me till i'm 65, if i started now.  i'm an adventure newborn compared to her, but i could sit and listen to her stories all day.

yesterday we did something together that she's never done, we went to the panama canal to watch the boats go through.  when i say she's never done it, i mean the tourist part.  she's actually worked on boats that crossed the canal a few times.  in fact her 3 year old son makaio has done 2 crossings already.  see how far behind i am?

mandy, makaio, koa (1yr old), me and jimmy (joe's brother) went to the panama canal museum and spent the day learning about the history and watching boats go through the miraflores locks.  you can actually watch them live online at www.pancanal.com.

i was super excited to go but the experience was way way better than i expected.  the museum was 4 floors of old machinery, pictures, geology, small scale models of the locks that you could open and close, lots of awesome stuff.  also a 3-d movie that was loud and kinda scary.  my first 3-d movie, too.

we went out to the 4th floor observation deck and watched 2 ships go through.  that was pretty amazing.  its hard to believe that 100 year old concrete and locks still worked so well.

our ships were a tanker and a car transport.  the transport was so big it didn't look like it should fit, there were maybe a couple feet clearance on either side.  maybe.  there are 4 rail cars with lines that drag the ships through, they go back and forth tightening or slackening the lines to keep them straight.  when the big boat was through the lock it actually smacked the wall and we got to see concrete crumble off the side and into the water.  the little cars were moving frantically to get it back in line.

if i can show up one day and watch a boat take chunks off the canal, i don't know how the walls aren't totally destroyed by now.  it was pretty cool.

they are already working on the expansion canal, we could see the trucks and bulldozers working in the distance.  this will allow 120 foot ships to cross, i think 90 foot is the max size right now.

it won't happen this trip (or will it?) but i really want to cross the canal on a boat.  preferably one that i am sailing on, not just crossing to do it.  so next up in my skills list, learn to sail.

its only 9pm but i think i'm done for the day, ready for bed.  i spent an hour in the gym this morning (first time in almost 5 months!) and my poor body needs to recover.  oh, so sad!  hopefully this week will be full of surfing and boat rides and snorkeling and fun.

couldn't believe it fit