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Dinner With A View

4/15/2016

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We spent the last three nights in Panama on the outskirts of Panama City.  Dad got us a room in an old, run-down place called Gamboa Resort.  It is on a river that runs into the Panama Canal.  The second day there we went to the Panama Canal Museum.  

At first the French attempted to build the canal but failed due to diseases spread by mosquitos and the lack of proper machinery.  The Americans picked up where they left off soon after and improved living standards dramatically. It took the US ten years to complete the canal.  

There are three locks on each end of the canal.  The lake that allows all this to happen, Lake Gatun, is 26 meters above sea level.  It takes the average ship about 10 hours to completely traverse the canal from one end to the other.

Right now the cement and even the gravity-fed water system are all over 100 years old and still in use!  Because ships are much bigger than they were "back in the day", the Panamanian government is constructing new locks that are larger and more water-efficient.
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We had lunch at the museum's restaurant, which we decided was the best restaurant we ate at in Panama.  The restaurant balcony is less than fifty feet away from one of the locks.  Right when we were leaving a large tanker ship was headed to go through the locks, but we missed it.  

The next day we did more schoolwork and had to switch rooms because the air conditioning stopped working.  We went back to the restaurant for dinner and this time we were able to witness more than 6 different types of ships pass through the locks.  It was so cool!  It seemed like the destination was just as amazing for the crews on the ships as it was for us because most of them were sitting in the front of their boats taking each other's photos as they went by the giant sign that says "Panama Canal".  

​All the ships are guided by electric machines that look similar to diesel locomotives.  Most of them have less than six inches of space in between their hulls and the walls!  The next day we drove to the airport and flew back to Miami and then to Dallas.  This trip has been an adventure!

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Almost Home!

4/4/2016

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​We are coming close to the end of our journey!
 
Two weeks ago we traversed the border into Panama.  On the Costa Rican side there wasn’t a single police officer.  When we crossed the bridge, walking I might add, there were several very strict looking soldiers that were wearing camo uniforms and holding ARs.  After some confusion with Panamanian customs officials involving proof that we were not just going to stay in the country, we all piled into a van and were off again.
 
The drive to Boquete, our next destination, took over five hours.  The house we stayed at was part of a golf course resort in a lush, long and skinny valley.  The house was the first on this trip which was similar to an American-style house.  Kylie and I did schoolwork most of the time we stayed there and Dad went golfing several times. 
The next place we went to was only an hour away as the crow flies, but took us four.  The first hour brought us to a river mouth, where we loaded all of our things into a tiny boat that we could barely squeeze into.  As soon as we were off the dock, we were soaked by spray coming over the bow.  Our driver tried his best to keep us dry, but he couldn’t make any progress without getting us wet.  It wasn’t long that we stopped caring about getting wet ourselves, but keeping our luggage as dry as possible   Our destination was an island that should have been a 45 min boat ride but, because of the wind and waves, it took 2 hours.  The island only had one house on it which relied on solar for power.  It was about fifty acres, and had many fruit trees and howler monkeys.  There wasn’t anything to do but stay inside or get eaten alive by bugs outside so we choose to do a lot of schoolwork and have a bunch of family movie nights.  The howlers were relentless early in the mornings and randomly during the day.  The house itself was very neat because most of the walls were glass.  Every night about thirty geckos would come out and attack the swarms of bugs on the outside of the glass that were attracted to the light.  There were four separate areas that you had to go outside to access.  Three bedrooms and a living room/kitchen.  The one big surprise was that the wifi was really fast!
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We spent almost a week on the island then moved on again.  Another five hour drive south took us to Anton Valley, which seems to be the Beverly Hills of Panama.  The houses are all huge and on several acre lots.  The house we are staying in has an indoor pool open to the living room!  There are also horses, chickens, and five dogs, which might even be as friendly as Noah. The dogs roam the property all they want and have been enjoying the company of dog-loving humans.  The other day we went on an ATV-UTV tour up into the mountains to the most amazing free-fall waterfall that we have ever seen.  Three more days and we will be in Panama City and three more days after that, home!
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    I'm 15 years old.  I like to fish, play soccer, poker and paintball.

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