Panama Canal tomorrow!

A good night’s sleep

Finally

Then we watched a TV program about the hydraulics/hydrolics of the old canal. Really amazing actually.

Special Panama program

This started out with the audience practicing Spanish phrases led by a Brit. (use your imagination). Then a native Panamanian came via satellite (well that’s what they wanted us to believe) to describe various aspects of his country.

Destination Panama
This information supplemented rather than duplicating the previous presentation. Lots of photos through the years and a good history of the canal.

Trivia: no one came close to the winners. Also in reply to the question: what South American country is very poor despite it’s oil? Well Venezuela is today’s clear answer but the book says Bolivia. This left us with the dilemma of second guessing what answer was desired. This afternoon we had another couple join us so we had a clear 6; still we weren’t even close but we had lots of company. The team that won left the rest of us in the dust.

Weather

Very warm, humid, with a terrific breeze. But walking into the Lounge after walking along the track up top is like walking into a blast freezer. We know there is land nearby because of the birds around the ship. They follow along looking for food and flying fish.

David McCullough

We viewed the Nova documentary based on his book: the path between the seas. I was so glad to see it as I had just finished reading his book when this documentary came out and we went through the canal shortly after that. What an amazing story. What an amazing feat.

Dinner

We laughed and laughed as usual and were (almost) the last persons at the dining room to leave.

Entertainment

It is several “instrumentalists” so I’m not going but Ed probably is.

Prep for Panama Canal passage tomorrow

Ed and I made posters today with letters we cut out of white poster board and using some of the flags and photos from the ship. One is red; one is green. We figured that would get noticed. We were careful not to festoon the Christmas tree with so much detail that it was impossible to enjoy.