Love this picture of Peter and Kathy in a ubiquitous water taxi. We are heading off to Bocas town for dinner and the sun is setting. $2 a person for a one-way 5 minute ride.

Photo from 2 days ago when we all went to Valle de Anton, a large, inhabited volcanic crater about an hour from here. Went zipping thru the jungle. We stopped at the local craft market on the way home to buy Christmas presents for everybody. We chose names and set a $10 limit (more or less). Chris and Peter get motion sick on the windy mountain roads....thank heaven for meclizine.


This a view of Panama City from Corredor Sur, an autopista that runs south of the city thru Panama Bay. It's undergoing a huge building boom in past years, mostly high-rise condos. The international airport at Tocumen is east of the city a few kilometers. The carretera cuota is nice driving, but otherwise negotiating city streets are a nightmare. It is cool however to see the organized chaos on the streets, and know we are traversing the same streets the natives and conquistadors of 500+ years have trod. I have driven over Las Puente de las Americas several times, and I can't get over seeing the Canal and all the ships, boats and tugs queuing to transit. Mark, I saw a catamarran heading east under the bridge and thought of our original scheme a few years ago. I still have not shelved that idea!


Had to add this classic picture to our blog site. This was from Bocas del Toro where chitras, mosquitos and large Mastodons bit us perpetually. Kathy in a genius ( or desperate moment) came up with this ingenious contraption which we will henceforth patent and call the 'Ronco Chitra-nator'...a simple vacuum attached to a high intensity light bulb, which when turned on invites all flying and biting insects within a 50 yard radius to a quick and merciless death.