A continuing saga: Christmas in Panama

Entrance to the Miraflores locks

Japanese car hauler on the canal

A Great ride to Colon with friends Juan Carlos on a 1200 GS BMW and Manuel on a 950 SM KTM

and Ken on our 650 Vstrom Suzuki

Beautiful farming countryside on the Azuero peninsula

Too bad the street drainage goes into the bay

A beautiful view over the beach at the tip of the peninsula

Christmas in Panama City what an experience. Can you believe we spent the total day of December 24th in the mall. Walking around watching all the people buying those last minute gifts, happy we didn´t have to worry about it. We couldn´t get away too easy, we found an awesome deal on a camera. I´m sure it is the answer to all my problems downloading pictures onto the Blogsite, a little late but better than never. After an exhausting day of shopping we took in the new 007 movie ¨Casino Royale¨. Great movie, action packed. After dinner, a trip to the store to pick up a bottle of Xmas cheer, and to the phone to make a call or two to friends and family. With the day drawing to a close Ken and I, along with our travel buddies Kelly and Della, headed to the rooftop to watch the crazy Panamanian fireworks show. Every Juan, Pedro, and George was setting off fireworks in every which direction, including under a car directly beneath us. Crazy but fun.

Hah, Christmas day. We can sleep in, have quiet leisurely breakfast and go for a ride on Christmas day....no snow! After a short distance we decided to stop for a walk and enjoy a little needed exercise before our big Christmas dinner. When what off in the distance do we hear??? That all too known sound of thunder! Within seconds, and I mean literally seconds, it is raining so hard cars are pulling because they can´t see where they are going. A quick look around and the only place to hide is under a huge tree, not a very safe place to be in a lightning storm but it will have to do. After 20 minutes or so we decided the rain was not going to let up and we had better salvage our new camera from the weather and ran back to the bike to stow it safely away. Us on the other hand was going to be bit harder as there are no building in site, only a bus parked on the side of the road behind us. Ken checked the door, yes it was open (actually half of it was missing) so we jumped in and wondered when the owner would return. Not too soon, if he was caught in the same storm as us. After about 30 minutes in the bus the owner did return and much to his surprise founddrowneddround rats inside. Nice man, let us stay for a while longer, until the rain letup a little. We were off the the hotel to find a hot shower and dry clothes. This trip would have been much faster had all the streets been open and not flooded, but Ken made his way around as best he could. Thank goodness it is Christmas day and the streets are much quieter than normal, it makes uturns much easier.

Christmas dinner, at last the moment we have been waiting for all day. We found an excellent buffet aMarriottarriot Hotel and we sat down for a feast. Turkey, ham, seafood and the fixins, even a glass of chilled white wine. All this for $70.00 for the two of us ( to us a deal, to a Panamanian...a weeks wages at least). We enjoyed and Della and Kellys company was great.

What a day. It was fun and to us Christmas is about friends and family, it was a great day!

Merry Christmas, everyone.