A place where everyone loves Ron.

[drron]

We now enter the Culebra cut where the channel narrows-

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The bridge is the Centennial bridge which carries the Pan-American Highway.

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[drron]

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The competition passes by-

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The entrance to the duplication locks-

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[drron]

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Now approaching the Pedro Miguel locks-

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Need our little blue partner to catch up-

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Now the rowboat goes out to our partner-

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[JohnM]

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The bridge is the Centennial bridge which carries the Pan-American Highway.

Good stuff DR! I've travelled many a km on sensational Ruta 5 in Chile, which is part of the Pan-Am Highway - and chunks of it in N America.

My dream would be to drive its full length from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to Ushuaia in Argentina (30K km), but there is a 160km gap (the Darien Gap) in Panama/Colombia, so it is not possible. (Not to mention the one-way Avis fees :shock:).

 

[drron]

A little later will come our trip into the Darrien jungle.No wonder there is a gap!But back to the Canal-

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Another view of the canal duplication.It does seem it will be completed next year.

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[drron]

We have a little more room as we leave the San Miguel lock-

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At last we reach Miraflores lock.The light has well and truly gone though-

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A sight to gladden the heart.The group at the observation centre are the Captain's choice group.Nice to see them watching us.

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[drron]

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We leave the last lock and look towards Panama city-

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Tonight was the captain's welcome coughtail party.however he was still very busy so the Staff captain deputised.We dined with the Finance officer-nearly $30000 for the Explorer to transit the Panama canal.But it was worth it.It truly is one of the modern wonders of the world.We had informative lectures and one of the Expedition staff gave a running commentary.I would recommend the Explorer if you are considering the Panama Canal transit.

To end another food picture.Unfortunately the sea air on our first leg had caused an increase in weight.Still haven't worked out how that happens.but I have cut down on dining.so for dinner my main was a basket of mixed mushrooms with hollandaise.lovely.

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[drron]

Awoke on Tuesday to rain.Today we are visiting the Darien Jungle.This is what Expedition cruising is for-only about a 1000 tourists a year visit here.The Rain forest really lived up to it's name.We had our cameras in the waterproof bags.So my underwater camera got a lot of use.
Had a light breakfast in our room and an early lunch because it was an early afternoon zodiac ride up the Mogue River to an Embera village.Though this village was only set up in 1960.It is a very long zodiac ride and it must start on the rising tide.Even so we only just made it to the village getting stuck a couple of times.That was with the staff captain as our zodiac driver.So the pics-

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Mrsdrron is happy despite the rain-

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[drron]

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At times the clouds disappeared as we continued up the river-

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Finally reached the village and the welcoming party-

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[drron]

We got stuck on a sandbank just before we could land.Just had to watch the others landing-

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These 2 became our group's guides-

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Obviously a self sufficient village-

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Off we go-

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The locals fortunately had put in a concrete path-

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Life obviously is hard-

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[drron]

We arrive at the village-

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Craft demonstrations-

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[drron]

The dancing begins-

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[drron]

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After the dancing finished the women asked us to join in.Naturally the first passenger picked was your humble scribe.As mrsdrron says I am irrestible to women........as long as they are under 8 or over 80.
A lot of the older women came over to run their eye over me.Again they were intrigued by the grey beard.All were amused when I told them my name was Ron.After all they do speak Spanish.
There were some craft stores.The quality appeared reasonable.Mrsdrron bought some items taking a photo of the creator-

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I made a couple of new friends.They were intrigued by my grey beard.Angelina and Linda they said their names were-

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[drron]

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The rain then got very heavy and continued for most of the trip back-

Fortunately it was high tide when we went back to the ship so no getting stuck on sandbanks.However it continued to rain heavily for most of the trip back-

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A rainbow as we got back to the ship.We were soaked so it was a hot bath on our return.We were booked for Hot Rocks but it was cancelled.A good opportunity to have dinner in our suite.Wonderful service from our butler Sumit.He is a treasure.
A very enjoyable day but now quite tired.A deep sleep before our visit to Colombia the next day.

 

[drron]

Wednesday and it is Bahai Solano,Colombia.A beautiful morning as we cruise towards the town-

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Just like the Amazon there was a meeting of the waters.

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[drron]

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It was a short zodiac ride to the pier but then a 1 Km walk on a muddy rough road into town.A lot of religious items along the way-

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But also nature.A small waterfall and flowers-

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[drron]

So the town of Bahia Solano with it's magnificent boulevards and top notch hotels-

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One of the small commuter planes comes in.Apart from by sea this is the only way in.No roads,just jungle.

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We keep walking towards the school-

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And we arrive-

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[drron]

And how can you resist the children-

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This is the Primary School.It has 800 students so there are 2 shifts a day.The children seemed happy to see us-

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Not impressed with the maths standard!

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Good to see that they have a computer room.

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[drron]

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From their first year at school to the last-

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[drron]

Teacher has spent a little too long in the classroom-

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Symbols of the church everywhere-

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On this cruise we were asked to bring school supplies to give to disadvantaged schools.This school and the Embera village were the 2 disadvantaged schools.On our African cruise there was always a little ceremony when everything was given out but this did not occur on this cruise.several passengers were a little disappointed that this did not happen.
Now we were off to the town's public library-

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I learnt a little geography.A small library with a poorly resourced children's section-

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Next off to the church-

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