Panama Update #56

Panama Update #56
September 30, 2008

On Sunday we were invited for an early dinner over to a new friend's house who lives in a place called the Ciudad del Saber (City of Knowledge). It is a former Canal Zone, gated city, which has nice parks, schools, and many non-profit groups devoted to helping the under served of Panama. It is a person I met through the Yoga classes. She is Jewish and was born and raised in Jamaica. She showed us a book that her mother wrote on the history of Jews in Jamaica. She said her family has been there since the 1600s. She came to Panama 6 years ago when her husband from Trinidad was relocated here. You can see that Panama is a real international city with people of quite varied backgrounds. She picked Nikki and I up and drove us to her house. The house is located on a park in a place called Colonel's row, where former high ranking officers lived during the Canal Zone days. We had juice, tea, quiche, and baklava. We also visited with her son and husband. I may pick up something at the store for her that would be very expensive to mail and is difficult to get in Panama. She lent Nikki two books, one by Bill Bryson called something like A Small Island. It is funny, light hearted reading. They belong to a book club and exchange English books because they are more difficult to find here.

Also yesterday, someone answered an ad I had in put in Craig's list a couple of weeks ago about offering English tutoring services. She is from Canada and has lived in Panama with her husband and children for about 3 years. She has 6 children (ages 6, 7, 11, 13, 17, and 19) and has been home schooling them. She is looking for someone to come in and work with the younger children a few hours a week. I am supposed to meet them tomorrow morning at 10:00 to discuss it and meet the children. I also need to figure out if this will fit in with my new job at the private school that I started last week.

Panama Update #55

Panama Update #55
September 28, 2008

This weekend we are taking it easy and not planning any special activities. We are leaving town on Thursday (Oct. 2) for a week. I go to Miami for 3 days and then meet Nikki in Houston. She goes directly to Houston for a Geology convention. She is busy (as usual) preparing for her two presentations at the conference. We have a reservation in Houston at a hotel that is right on the light rail line. From researching it on the web, they have a light rail line in the central corridor of downtown Houston that starts at the Astrodome on one end of town, goes through the medical district, the museum district, the business district and then ends up at the convention center where Nikki's conference is. We are staying in the medical district which is about a 20 minute train ride to the convention center. It is cheaper to stay in that area than within walking distance of the convention center. Nikki will be there for 8 nights and I will join her there for 4 nights. While she is at the convention I think there will be a lot of activities. It looks like there is a lot of museums, college campuses, and a zoo right off the light rail line. I think it will be a nice break from Panama.

We are still waiting to see if and when the apartment we found will be available. The person who is moving out is waiting to hear from his potential new landlord and until that is settled, we don't know what will happen. We walked over to visit our potential landlord yesterday to let him know we are still interested if the guy moving out can work things out.

We don't have any special plans for the holidays. The only thing we are thinking about is inviting a couple people over Monday night for some borscht and apples and honey.

Panama Update #54

Panama Update #54
September 26, 2008



So far I have spent two days at the new job. The second day was better, after the initial shock wore off for me. I haven't been in a 7th grade class for a long time since for the last 6 years I have been working with high school students. As I mentioned in the last blog, most of the students have a lot of trouble with English and/or math. It is supposed to be an English based school, but they have a lot of catch up to do. Same with math. Most of them need a lot of review. With academic problems usually comes a lot of behavior problems. I am assisting the regular teacher by taking small groups of students who are either ahead or behind the class and are either bored or frustrated. This seems to be how I can best help, but the job will probably continue to evolve. I think it will be a nice way to fill out my day a little and give it some consistency, since the private tutoring students seem to come and go. Last night there was an open house at the school and Nikki came along. A lot of parents came to hear the teachers talk. It is a new school and they are paying a lot of money (about $10,000 per year) for tuition. This is a huge amount for Panama and a large amount for anywhere. Nikki found some of the religious teachers to speak Hebrew with. Because of all the Jewish Holidays coming up and the trip to the US from Oct. 2-10, I don't go back to work again until Oct. 13. We are not sure where we will celebrate the High Holidays this year.

Panama Update #53

Panama Update #53
September 24, 2008

I started at the new job today. In the blog I have been trying not to mention specific names of institutions or schools for several different reasons. If anyone wants the names or the reasons, send me an email. I can see why they asked me to come and help at this school. It is a brand new private school that combines both secular and religious education. It seems like the older students who transferred to this school must have been having problems at their other schools. I was assisting the teacher in a 7th grade math class and it is only the first day so we are still trying to figure out how I can best be of assistance. There are all different ability levels in both English and math. Some speak English well but can't read, and the same goes for their math levels. Some have skills for algebra and some have trouble with basic multiplication and division. They asked me to come to parent conferences on Thursday night to introduce myself, meet them and answer any questions. I only stay at the school for about 2 hours a day, and with transportation it is about 3 hours. The timing is good because it allows me to still continue with my other activities.

Panama Update #52

Panama Update #52
September 23, 2008



Yesterday the school that had offered me the very first job in Panama City called. I had turned them down several times because I was set on finding something part-time. Also, it was a middle school math and science position, and I was more interested in high school at this point in my career. I took a taxi out to the school this morning to discuss what they had in mind. The school is located across the Bridge of the Americas in a place called Howard. There is no traffic in that direction because all the traffic is going the other way, toward downtown. It was only my second time crossing that bridge (story was told in blog #41), which is the main connection between north and south once the canal was dug. In a way, it is the link between the continents. Until 1999 there was a huge US military base in that area. Because of that there are some very nice neighborhoods which are still very cheap. The area has not been developed much yet, but I have read that big plans are in the works. There is a huge Dell computer building and many other large international companies are planning to move there and a whole city will be built for the new influx of population with housing, shopping , etc.

The job is helping tutor in a 7th math class for 2 hours a day that has a lot of students who need extra help. The taxi ride is 10-15 miles, but only takes about 12 minutes to get there. We will try it on both sides for a while and see if I can be of some help. I start tomorrow.

Panama Update #51

Panama Update #51
September 21, 2008

Nikki returned this morning after completing her 3rd week aboard the research vessel. She was on the other side (Caribbean) of Panama from where we live. They explored the Kuna Yala (San Blas) region, going almost to the Colombian border. They slept on the boat but during the day went on geology expeditions in the water and jungle. She has many stories to tell about cutting their way through the thick jungle and seeing all sorts of enormous spiders, millions of gigantic ants and gigantic ant rubbish piles, monkeys, snakes, all sorts of colorful plants, huge trees with big thorns in the bark, vines, and crocodiles. In the water she saw dolphins, flying fish, needle noise fish, gigantic corrals, and much more. Maybe she will share her experiences some time first hand in the blog. Today she caught up on her emails and was generally feeling good and in good spirits. She wasn't land-sick at all like she was when she returned the time before.

Yesterday I led the Yoga/Meditation at the Center across town. Someone going there from this side of town gave me a ride. She is a Jewish woman from Jamaica who is married to a man from Trinidad. She came to Panama originally because of a job transfer for her husband. She was dropping her son off at a synagogue near where we were going for some Saturday activities. She and her family had just returned from a 2 week trip to Israel that was a family reunion of about 75 people from all over the world. It was a nice, friendly crowd at the Meditation of about 20 people. It was a diverse group of people including native Panamanians to Yoga instructors to first-time practitioners to people from the US to people from Europe and Poland. I am not sure how they all heard about it, but it was advertised on a couple of websites. Here is one webiste if anyone wants to follow the Panama social scene: http://www.panamasocialcalendar.com/month.php (click on Sept. 20 at 2:00 PM for a description of the Meditation session)

Panama Update #50

Panama Update #50
September 19, 2008

The weather here is very consistent. There is no need for a weather report on the news. In fact, they do not have weather reports on the news here. Only news and sports. I guess they figure it is fairly straightforward. You can expect to sweat every time you walk outside and it will rain at some point everyday. It is amazing how relentless the heat and humidity is. If you live, eat, and work in air conditioning, it is really not a problem. But I have noticed that there are a lot of people here who don't have air conditioning because of the cost. I guess they just get used to it. For the people with enough money, it reminds me of the winter in Minnesota in that people go from the heated home to the heated garage to the heated office and may not go outside much. People here move from their air conditioned home to their air conditioned car to their air conditioned office. But I have seen a few others here who run and bicycle. The only places I have seen people do this are on the Ancon Hill where we live or on the Causeway by the Pacific Ocean. Otherwise the town is not bicycle or walker friendly. There is no such thing as a bike path and the drivers are very aggressive and do not respect pedestrians or each other. They do not stop at signs or care if someone is crossing the street. They go very fast on neighborhood type roads even if people are around. I am surprised they do not have more accidents here, but I guess that the people have also adjusted to that, like they have adjusted to the heat and rain.

Nikki is supposed to return from the research vessel on Sunday AM. Tomorrow I am scheduled to lead a Yoga/Meditation class on the other side of town at a place I have never been to. Someone is picking me up and taking me there. I was referred to this place by someone and so will see what it is like. This session is for English speakers and normally they don't do classes at this place in English. It will be another new Panama experience. Every new experience seems to lead to something else, so we will see what happens. The website for this place is http://www.lwcenter.com/.

Panama Update #49

Panama Update #49
September 18, 2008

One of my goals since coming to Panama was to write everyday. If I do that, study some Spanish, and read in English a little, then I feel like I have had a productive day. I haven't written in this blog everyday, but at least 4 to 5 times a week. Sometimes I think there is nothing to say that anyone would find interesting enough to read, but I plan to continue to write for the practice. Today I had an ESL (English as a Second Language) tutoring session from 7:30-8:30. It is with a native Panamanian woman who works here as a biology lab assistant. She is trying to raise her skills high enough to do well on the TOEFL (college entrance test for ESL students) so one day she could be admitted into a US university. We cover several different areas. For reading comprehension I copy magazine articles off the internet that are science related and about the same level of difficulty as the TOEFL. She reads it and I correct her pronunciation as she reads. After each paragraph or so she stops and I ask her questions to check her comprehension. In this way she also gets conversation practice. I find it an effective method for learning the language and it also seems interesting to the students, especially if I find articles that interest them. I also have some textbooks that I brought with me that have a lot of listening exercises. I read sentences that have a grammar mistake, or not. If there is a mistake the students tries to give the correction. Another exercise I do is to read a paragraph at a medium to high speed and then ask the students questions about comprehension. Of course this all varies by the level of the student and what they want to study. If a student wants to study writing, then I assign an essay topic taken from the internet site of TOEFL and check it over with the student the following lesson. We may end up doing several revisions if the student can stick with it. But in the end, the overwhelming thing that most students want to do is practice conversation. So whatever lesson we are doing, I always like to take time for that.

Panama Update #48

Panama Update #48
September 16, 2008

I have not heard from Nikki since she went back to the research vessel on Sunday so I do not have anything new to report from her. I am continuing with my usual schedule with the English tutoring and Yoga classes. My schedule is not packed so I have some time to go on some local outings. Sunday night I went with group from the dormitory to the mall to see a movie called Ledron que Roba Ledron. I think it means the robber who robbed the robber. It was a funny movie that all of us liked a lot and I got most of the jokes even though it was in Spanish. Today I went out to the Causeway, which is the strip of land with the nice walking path bordered by the Pacific near the entrance to the canal. I met a friend who works in that area and we had lunch. It was great oven roasted pizza and only cost $4.50 for a size that easily feeds two people. Afterward I went to the marine museum there adn the admission was only $2. It was a simple exhibit, mostly aimed at school groups, but it was worth seeing. They had hands-on type of displays and also aquariums with the local Pacific Ocean fish. They also had tanks where you could get up close to big turtles and star fish. There was also a nature trail where you can see sloths and iguanas, although I did not see either one. We also have a sloth and iguana living in the jungle by our dormitory. After the museum I walked along the Causeway and even though it was peak afternoon sun, there was a pleasantly cool ocean breeze. It was the first time I had felt a cool breeze at that time of the day, or maybe even the first time ever in Panama. It is still raining here everyday and the humidity stays high, but it does not rain all day long. The time varies, but usually it will rain late morning or sometime later in the afternoon. It rains hard for about an hour and then slows up or stops completely. I read that on this side of Panama it rains about 6 to 8 feet a year and on the other side of the country about 10 feet a year. From December 15 t0 May it is supposed to be the dry season, with no rain at all, so all that rain is squeezed in a period of several months.

Pictures from Panama 11 (Kuna Yala/San Blas)

Panama Update #47

Panama Update #47
September 14, 2008

The pictures on the previous page were all taken on Nikki's research adventure in the Kuna Yala/San Blas region. She took a lot of pictures. All of them were nice but she picked several to put on my memory stick before she took off. She has a lot of stories about her experiences there on the boat, and the geology, and meeting the indigenous people, but did not get a chance to give them to me yet for the blog.

Nikki left at 5:oo AM today to catch her flight back to the research vessel in the San Blas/Kuna Yala region. Since I was up anyway to see her off I went for my morning walk earlier than usual. It was still dark, since the sun does not rise until about 6:00 AM. I was going to walk to the top of the hill that we live on to see the sunrise but only got about 3/4 of the way up. The gate to the park was locked, so it must open a little later.

In the morning on Sundays I like to find a place that has internet access and listen to the sports shows from Minneapolis. It is a fun season to follow the Twins baseball team. They are tied for the division lead with the Chicago White Sox with only about 15 games to go. If they make the playoffs I am sure it will be on TV here. They are pretty big baseball fans. Later on today I will probably go to a movie with some people from the dorm.

Yesterday we looked at an apartment that is only about a 3 minute walk from where we live now. We know the person who lives there now and he is thinking about moving out soon. He has another place in mind but hasn't signed a lease yet because he has had trouble getting a hold of the owner of that place. If he does figure it out and move, we are interested in the apartment that he is moving out from. Hopefully it will get sorted out in the next week or two. We took a couple of hours yesterday to look at the apartment while Nikki was in town. It is a 4-plex in a large wooden house of the style that is very common here. The street level is for parking and he lives on both levels of one side with his family and rents out the apartments on the other side. If we end up moving there, I can post some pictures which will describe it better. We like the owner and met with him briefly and we agreed to a price and what it will cover, so now we just have to wait to see if the other apartment works out for our friend. It is in a nice neighborhood and still within walking distance of Nikki's work at a fairly reasonable price. It is rare to find one like that in this neighborhood.

Panama Update #46

Panama Update #46
September 12, 2008

Nikki returned yesterday and has been getting some rest, although returning to the boat on Sunday for another week will be pushing it. She could definitely use more time to catch up on the work and recover before heading out again. I think the field work she was doing was very strenuous with hiking through unchartered territory in the jungle for long hours, carrying rocks back to the ship, and getting rock samples from swimming around the coral reefs in the Caribbean. She has a lot of interesting stories to tell about her time in the Kuna Yala (San Blas) region and eventually we will post some of the pictures she took there but it will probably be a while since the pictures were taken on a work camera rather than our personal one. The Kuna are basically a self-governed people, with a separate governing structure from the rest of Panama. Before they left for the trip they had permission from the overall Kuna Chief, but each individual tribe also has to give permission. So before they enter each particular area, they have to meet with the village elders and explain why they are hiking around and taking rocks. Some have not allowed them to take rocks because it would upset the various spirits for different reasons. Hopefully Nikki will write some of this down that I can pass along. We are thinking of going back to that area for a vacation later in the year because she says it is amazingly beautiful. It is getting more and more developed for tourists, but is still very pristine and the local indigenous culture is still well preserved. The guide that is translating for their group (the Kuna have their own language) is Nikki's roommate on the ship and we could hire her to show us around.

This afternoon I had an interview with the Berlitz Language School. They are, of course, a famous language school around the world. This branch is located in the downtown/hotel/banking area of Panama City and they serve business executives and other employees in the area. They were very interested in having me coming to work for them, but there are some problems with it such as low wages (about $9 per hour), unpaid training for 2 weeks, and no guarantee that they will give you several hours in a row. From where we live, it doesn't make good sense because of the cost and time for transportation. A lot of the wages would be eaten up in taxi fares and waiting time. The advantages are that the hours would be very flexible. For now I will most likely decline and stick to tutoring more in this area.

Panama Update #45

Panama Update #45

Sept. 10, 2008



The last 2 days have been fairly routine, although everyday is a little bit different. Nikki is still out of town but expected back tomorrow (Thursday , Sept. 11) morning for 3 days before returning to the research vessel for another week. There is a whole list of things that we need to take care of during the couple of days that she is here and I am sure she has a lot of things to catch up on in her office. Yesterday she emailed me the abstract for a conference in San Francisco where she is scheduled to present some research. The abstract had a hard deadline of September 10 and she could not submit it from the ship. I guess she cannot access web sites from the ship, but can only send messages to the marine superintendent who then can forward it to me. So she sent me all the directions for submitting it, which is a bit complicated. I hope I entered all the data correctly because it said in the directions that it cannot be changed after September 10, which is the day before she gets back. This is all new territory for me, but I am trying to be available to help her as needed, since at this point my schedule is much easier going. I still enjoy the English tutoring a lot, but I am noticing that clients come and go, so some days are busier than others. I am still looking into the possibility of finding a part time job at a school, tutoring for a couple days a week, but for the most part every school is set on hiring full-time or not at all. I think it has something to do with the work permits. They have to pay some costs for a work permit so they want to make sure they are getting as much out of the person as possible. On the other hand, 2 or 3 tutoring clients can come along at any time, so I may wait for that. In the meantime I am catching up on some reading, writing and studying Spanish. I have been studying Spanish mostly by watching TV, especially the cartoons. I think it actually helps a lot because I am able to understand a lot of what they are saying, more so than when I got here 2 months ago. Today the woman who cleans the halls in our dorm was talking to me quite a bit and I surprisingly understood all that she was saying. Her daughter is actually interested in taking English tutoring from me and we were trying to work out the details of how much she has had before, why she wants to learn more, and where we would meet. I gave her my number in case the daughter decides to do it so she can call me directly.

Panama Update #44

Panama Update #44
September 8, 2008

Over the weekend, with Nikki still out on the research vessle, I wanted to do a few activities, rather than spend too much time in our little dorm apartment. Friday I went shopping and bought groceries for the week and also bought a few things to send to Nikki on the boat. At lunch on Thursday I had met a woman who would be going to Nikki's research vessel for 3 days and she offered to take some things to her. She works in the communications department here and was going to take some pictures and do a story on their trip, since they are visiting an area (Kuna Yala or San Blas) that hasn't been researched in this way before. I sent some fig bars, canned pineapples, and snack mix, things I thought she would not have on the boat. When she comes back on Thursday (Sept. 11), she can restock before she leaves again on the 14th for another week.

On Saturday I went to out to the vegetarian restaurant that we had gone to before with 3 others from the dormitory. One was a scientist from Quito, Ecuador who studies how natural parks are managed. Quito has about 1.5 million people and is the capital of Ecuador. At about 3000 meters (10,000 ft.), Quito is the second highest elevaton for a capital city in the world, after La Paz, Bolivia. Another woman who went is a Ph.D student from the Univeristy of Florida, and Yasmin also went since David is on the boat with Nikki and she also wanted to get out and do some activities. The dorm has a total of 8 rooms and can house 24 if every bed was filled. Some apartments hold 2 people and some hold 4 people. Some people come for a week or two and some stay for several months. After being there for 2 months, I think we are the senior people in the dorm, so we have seen a lot of people come and go. Scientists from all over the world come here and stay in the dorm, studying many different areas of the land and sea. For example, yesterday a scientist arrived from Finland and her specialty is ferns. She is doing some kind of survey of ferns in the canal area since it is so diverse. Others specialize in fish, insects, marine biology, and much more.

Sunday morning I showed 2 others the large fruit and vegetable market that is within walking distance of the dorm. On Sunday night, the same group of us that went to lunch on Saturday went to see a movie. The four of us got a taxi to the theatre. Because it was Sunday and also raining, it took a while to catch the taxi, but they only charged about 3 dollars for all of us to go downtown, which is pretty cheap. It was a free independent film festival and we saw a 90 minute movie from Mexico called El Violin. There were only about a dozen people in the audience. It had a gentle pace for the most part with some violence sprinkled in. It was about the struggle of a revolutionary group fighting against the government's army. The main character was an old man who played the violin on the streets for money. One day he met up with the leader of the government army squad and was forced to play violin for him everyday. He started sneaking out little bits of ammunition in his violin case to give to the rebel forces. It was seemingly going well for a while, but he did not realize he was being followed and in the end gave away the hiding place of the rebels. The movie was in Spanish, but I could understand enough of it to get the plot.

Panama Update #43

Panama Update #43
September 6, 2008

Nikki called last night from a satellite phone on the ship last night because the internet on the ship is not working for outgoing emails, and she had a change of plans. Originally she was supposed to return in 2 weeks (Sept. 14), but the director of the project requested this change: Could she return to Panama City for 3 days, from September 11-14, then go back to the boat for an additional week and then return on the Sept. 21. So she will come back earlier than expected, but then return out there for an additional week. They fly to and from Panama City on Panama Air, which runs smaller planes in that area. She couldn't talk long but she said the geology was amazing and the project was going well, but they needed more time to finish whatever they are doing.

I forget to mention in the blog a couple of days ago about a guy (Billy) I met in the Yacht Club in Colon while we were waiting to catch our train back to Panama City. He was sitting at the bar drinking a beer when we came in. He knew the names of the few people in the bar and of the bartender. I could tell he was a native English speaker so I asked him where he was from. He said he was from Indiana and planned to return there for the month of October to rake the leaves in the yard of his house. He said that he missed the fall season. He is a retired electrician and travels around the world (so far mostly in Central Americal) on a $30,000, 35 foot wind powered boat by himself. At first it sounded exciting, but then I thought that it must be lonely. But I noticed that he knew all the people coming into the bar. There is a whole community of people like him out there and they all know each other and visit each others boats. They have internet access either on the boats or at the wireless Yacht Clubs in each port. He said he had satellite radio on board and a very comfortable living area, kithen, and bed. He buys a cell phone and minutes in whatever country he is in and calls his grown-up kids often back in Indiana. He was excited to meet me, from Minnesota, because I understood how nice the fall season is in the Midwest.

Panama Update #42

Panama Update #42
September 4, 2008

It has been two days since returning from the unplanned night on the canal. I have received a lot of feedback from people that they like the pictures and writing from the last entry about the unplanned night on the canal. Spending a night on the boat did cause me to reflect quite about about where my life fits in the overall scheme of things. I don't have any answers, but if anyone knows, let me know what you think. I had a chance to contemplate the life of our good friend Swami Hari, who passed away a few days before I left for Panama. I wrote a poem about him during the night that we were on the boat in the canal, if anybody is interested. I think the way he lived his life can really be an inspiration to others. Here it is:

Swami Hari
By Daniel Hertz
September 1, 2008

To choose an austere life with no expectation of future rewards
To have a vision and keep it when you have no idea how it will come to fruition
To keep your spirits high in the case of relentless adversity
To fly against all odds of age and illness to achieve lofty goals
To live practically in an impractical world
To love others as your own son or daughter
To make something out of nothing at all

If anybody is curious, here is the website address (www.sriverm.net) for the project that he started with donations at age 66, speaking very little English and with only 30% capacity of his lungs because of emphysema.

Since I have returned from the canal, I have been working on some projects. I am still developing the English tutor business and have been talking to some people about that. I have been recovering from my first Panama cold and am feeling much better. I have continued to refine Nikki's website (http://sites.google.com/site/nstrongearth/) and today I formatted her CV. It is still under construction and she will continue working on it when she returns. I have also begun reading The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough (thanks Skip), which covers the building of the Panama Canal from the first thought of it in 1870. It is especially interesting to read after seeing the canal, but I am sure others would enjoy it.

There was a bus strike in Panama today that has been getting a lot of coverage on the TV. It didn't seem to affect the workings of this organization where Nikki works, but from the news a lot of the public schools were pretty empty. I guess it was a protest to increase wages and get more funds for the public schools. I delayed my shopping trip until tomorrow. I want to buy some treats to send to Nikki on the boat. Someone else from here is going to meet the boat in a couple of days so she can carry the items to her.

Pictures from Panama 10 (Boat Trip through The Canal)

Daniel passing under the Bridge of the Americas. Nikki and Daniel in front of a Cargo ship next to us.

Nikki on the deck of her home for the next two weeks. Tugboat that escorts the ships.

Dining room on the ship where they will live for the next two weeks.




Tight squeeze at the locks.

Escort tugboat next to us in the locks.

Machines that pull the big ships through the locks.

The ship behind us in the locks, going through at the same time.

The ship in the locks next to us.

Train ride back to Panama City from Colon.

Panama Update #41

Panama Update #41
September 2, 2008

The last two days have been quite busy and I have not had access to a computer. Our alarm went off at 4:00 AM on Sunday (two days ago). Nikki had to be at the dock for the research vessle by 5:00 AM. I was going with her for the first day when their boat went through the canal, and then planned to return at the end of the day with 3 others by taxi from Colon, from the Atlantic side of the canal. We arrived there on time, but Nikki realized she had forgot her hiking boots. It was critical that she had them for the activities she would be doing over the next two weeks. We borrowed a truck to drive back to our dorm room. We got there fine, but on the way back took a wrong turn and went over the Bridge of Americas by mistake. It was still dark and we were mixed up in the jungle on the other side, but called someone for directions. It was the first time I had crossed this bridge, which links the two continents. I thought is was interesting that I would be on both sides of that bridge on the same day I would be in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. We made it back to the ship on time. The ship slept 11 people, 5 crew members, and had a kitchen, dining room, a couple of outdoor decks, and a research room for storing samples. Nikki had a roommate from the Kuna Yala region. She would act as a translator and guide for the group of scientists. A boat going through the canal has to have an appointment and then has to wait for instructions on when they can proceed. The boat we were on was relatively small, so we had to wait until a bigger ship was going through that fit with us in the locks. We waited in the water by the Bridge of the Americas until finally we started on our journey through the canal at about 10:00 AM. Since we were late being called to the first locks, by the time we got to the entrance point for the 3rd and last set of locks, it was already about 2:30 PM. It normally takes about 8 hours to go all the way through the canal. We thought we would have a chance to go through, but the ship received word that we would not be able to pass through until the next day. So I and the 3 others had to unexpectedly stay on the ship for Sunday night. I had no change of clothes, toothbrush or other supplies, and it would be my first time sleeping on a boat. It was a calm, starry night on the water and for the most part a pleasant experience. They didn't have bunk space for us, so I slept on a mat on the floor of Nikki's room. The cabins are small but we all squeezed in. The next day they finally called the boat through the last lock at about 2:30 PM, so we ended up waiting for about 24 hours. When we reached Colon, the four of us caught a train back to Panama City which only takes one hour. It was a beatiful, air conditioned train ride through the canal and jungle for $22. It is the oldest transcontinental train in the Americas, from 1855, before the US had a transcontinental train. It was so valuable when it opened at that time, that it became the highest traded stock on the New York Stock exchange for a few years.

The experience of going through the canal was more meaningful then I could have imagined. It was traveling through a place that people from all over the world have gone through for over 100 years. It is truly a gathering place of the people of the world.