Since completing our transit of the Panama Canal on Sunday we have been at anchor near Panama City. The marina which the Rally boats were to have stayed at made some sort of scheduling error and consequently only a few boats at a time can be accommodated. We expect to move into the marina later today or tomorrow, at which time we have a couple of contractors scheduled to help with completing our INMARSAT antenna installation and rigging our spinnaker pole.
We have taken two tours: first a tour of the city itself which was quite interesting; and yesterday we took an excursion to a remote Indian village in one of the national parks. Panama City has over 1.5 million people and is experiencing a construction boom as a result of the foreign investment in the Canal expansion. The country's GDP expanded by 10% last year and there is definitely a sense of success in the air. There are many new high-rise buildings recently completed and the city looks very much like Downtown Miami from a distance. There are also many interesting historical areas which have been preserved and we plan to spend the next couple of evenings ashore scouting out a very upscale dining scene. It was interesting to learn about the very close ties between the US and Panama over the past 120 years, something which we were vaguely aware of but not fully comprehending.
The outing to the Indian village was also very interesting. The Indians we visited were displaced from Columbia several hundred years ago and now are permanent residents within a large national park. We reached their village by large dugout canoes powered by outboard motors. They prepared lunch for us consisting of their main foods of talapia fish and plantains. The tour guide also brought along an assortment of native fruit from the area which were also very good. Part of the trip took us further up the river from the Indian village to a waterfall where we all went swimming. It was great fun and very refreshing, the girls said they have never been on a better field trip!
We have been taking many photos, and many of the other crew have likewise been taking photos of our family to share with us. Some of the photos are quite good and we hope to be able to send them to the Rally website soon. We have yet to find a good wifi connection at the marina but hope to make progress with this today.
On Saturday or Sunday we will depart for the Las Perlas islands where we will explore for a few days before departing on the next leg for the Galapagos. Lew has scheduled to return to Cleveland the third week in February for surgery on his right hand. He will be flying out of/into the Galapagos while Corinne and the Girls get caught up on schoolwork and explore the Galapagos more extensively.
BRIZO Crew