OurBigAdventure

Sandra: Oh. My. God. Joshua Bell just walked in and is having lunch at the table next to me!!! What are the odds? I should gamble tonight at Aria!

Chris: People watching in Cartageña, Colombia... http://bit.ly/cJyMFM

We arrived in Colón, Panama pretty early but our tour of the Panama Canal didn't begin until 8:30 when we were to meet our bus on the pier. We climbed onto the large air-conditioned bus with 40 other people and began our tour with an hour drive to the town of Gamboa which is midway between the Caribbean and the Pacific and roughly the middle of the canal.



Our bus ride took us through some really rough areas and some incredibly beautiful forrest which was now a National Park and formerly the US Panama Canal Zone.

We pulled into the old US Army base where we were going to board a ferry boat and take a trip through the locks of the canal.



As we began boarding the ferry we discovered that there were 8 there busses of 40 people all joining us on the single ferry boat. There were not enough seats as you can imagine and the sun was brutally hot even this early in the morning.

The tour started off and we learned a few interesting facts about the canal, nothing you couldn't learn on the History Channel but seeing it in person made it much more impressive, especially with a massive cargo ship following behind us as we headed toward the Pacific locks.

The tour itself wasn't bad, it included lunch and unlimited sodas and water.





Beers were $2 and had the flavor of stale swamp water, which did not seem to bother a group of rowdy Russian tourists who were crowded at the front of the boat.



The ferry had three levels, the bottom and the middle floors had air conditioned areas and most of the deck had shade although the available seats were in the sun.

We had another day at sea after Colombia and we took it easy... really easy. We checked email then spent the day reading books (writing this awesome content for you guys) and taking naps. The great part about this many sea days is that you really are forced to do what you would do without your technology. Either way we did just about nothing and it was pretty nice. Not nice for the blog but great for our mental health. Tomorrow... Panama!

As the sun began to set we went out on the balcony to watch the city lights come on across the bay. The main part of the city is very impressive from a distance and probably has some nicer areas that we didn't get to visit. Before we could leave the pier however they needed to untie the ship from it's moorings and that's when the circus began.

There was a small boat with three guys on it. One to drive, one with a hard hat to unhook the ropes and the third for some unknown reason. The craziest thing about their boat is that it seemed to only have two speeds, full speed forward/reverse and off. They came racing toward the massive concrete mooring then just as they were about to crash they would floor it in reverse and the two guys on the bow would hang on for their lives. It took then about four tries before they finally were able to grab the ladder for the one guy to climb up to the mooring. Then as if they were done the boat with the other two guys would race away.

As the first three of six ropes were loosened the guy threw two of them off of the moorings and the ship began reeling them in, except the third one just tightened up again and one of the loose ropes was now looped around the third one which was now tight. They loosened the rope again, this time after making his way back up the ladder (Oh, did I mention the guy got back on his boat after loosening only two of the six ropes?) he finally threw off the correct rope. This time he stayed on the platform.

They loosened the last three ropes and the guy threw all three off of the mooring and jumped back on his boat. As they sped off the ship tightened up on the ropes reeling in two and the third caught on one of the bolts of the mooring.



The boat and the three guys raced back again nearly crashing twice before making it up the ladder once again. The guy threw the rope off of the bolt and raced back onto his boat. (You would think he would wait to see if he did it right this time.) Luckily the rope came in with no more trouble and we were back on our way.

It was an exciting day, full of unexpected stuff and plenty of great blog material!

We pulled into the port area where we all hopped out of the cab and paid the driver. We were immediately surrounded by security asking us to get back in the cab, we needed to drive further. We pulled up to a gate with a dirt road and some armed guards and were told to drive in. The first knocked on the window and asked to see our cruise cards, then another guard walked around the cab with a mirror to check under the car. Then we were told to drive ahead.

It didn't look right, it was dirt and dirt roads. When we left the ship it was asphalt and a nice looking building. As we turned the corner all four of us sighed with relief. The asphalt, the building and the line of $20 cabs was all right there waiting for us.



We walked back through the shops at the pier and found a nice bottle of rum and some coffee. After all you can't come to Colombia without buying coffee right? Then we headed back to the ship where security confiscated our bottle of rum for the remainder of the cruise. After all they have to protect their $10 drink price at the bar.

As we sat on the bench we noticed some workers removing some fake trees with yellow plastic leaves and little flowers with lights in them We think they were probably Christmas decorations for the entrance to the Old City.



We also were able to study our map and find the way back to the ship which was very useful because it helped us to discover that the cabs in front of the Old City were forced by the traffic pattern to go the wrong way and it would be much easier to pick up a cab across the street that was going the right direction. This would be huge later.

We didn't have a lot of quiet time on the bench, cab drivers were constantly honking and waving at us as if we were just too dumb to realize that we needed a cab. Then a lady walked over, she was from our ship (you could tell from her Royal Caribbean bag) and she wanted to know where she should get a cab. She said that she was told the ride back was $5 but she forgot where to pick up a cab for that price. We sent her across the street, the cabs in front of the Old City were not just facing the wrong way but were far too eager to be the kind of cab with a $5 fare.

With about 45 minutes to go until meeting time we spotted Aiofe and Lee. We walked over and said, "Hey guys!" Oh they were glad to see us, I thought we were going to get hugs for being early.

"Are you guys ready to go back?" Aiofe asked eagerly.

"Yes we are and we have the taxis all figured out."

They had one last shop to hit on the corner to get a Colombian hat, then we crossed the street to find a ride back. Our only problem now was that none of us spoke spanish and none of the cab drivers or anyone else for that matter, spoke English. Two cabs and one Policia later and I was feeling like a space alien... "Can you take us to our ship?" From the question I could almost understand the blank looks on their faces. Then I said... "Cruise Ship"... "Ah, Crusiero!", said the Pilicia and he translated to our driver who then gave us a price of $7 which we were all glad to accept.