Day 40: Panama City & Canal - Friday December 17, 2010

The morning was devoted to various errands. Carol & Julia shopped for a large suitcase for Julia to carry stuff home. I did some banking and made the first trip to the shipping agent for the first round of papers. Then the 3 of us met in time for lunch at the Miraflores Locks built in 1913. We watched the operation of the locks as ships went through. The “Peace Boat” passengers, mostly Japanese on this 3-month round the world trip, and the visitors at the lock enjoyed a mutual wave fest. The Canal museum has more detail on the building and running of the Canal.

We picked up the Cayenne with a shiny new windshield. Porsche of Panama was accommodating and treated us very well. We all had Snook for dinner prepared Novelle Caribbean style. Snook is a large, firm white fish and not endangered here. I miss chili.

We see Julia off and play golf tomorrow. It looks like I will spend a lot of time Monday finishing the paperwork for shipping the car in Panama City. Tuesday I finish the paperwork at Colon and drop the car off. It is scheduled to ship on the 23rd for arrival on the 24th or 25th. Either day runs into the Holidays. We fly to Cartagena from Panama City on Tuesday, the 22nd. We may be in Cartagena nearly one week. Fortunately, it is a great vacation spot. Lets hope Chac continues to favor us.