Happy Hour!!!

That's right folks...happy hour in the internet cafe from 5-7! That means I can stay on twice as long and bore you with my cruise antics!!

I seem to have pretty much recovered from yesterday. Thank god. I even got hungry late last night so we hit up the Lido's buffet for dinner in lieu of the dining room. By this morning I was starving and took advantage of my new found iron stomach!

We crashed early last night in anticpiation of an early morning and I slept like a rock. The ship was really a movin' as we fell asleep, but the next thing I know we were rudely awaken by our 5:30am wake up call. Several people mentioned how rough it was last night.....I could have rolled out of bed and never been the wiser! All those rocky nights on Toll Free I guess have made me immune!

We were able to watch the ship come into Colon, Panama this morning. It was still pretty dark when we arrived, but amazing nonetheless. How they park this bad boy is beyond me! We were running a bit behind schedule and didn't get off the ship until almost 8, but got right on our tour bus and were off for the day. We lucked out with a great younger crowd. Four other couples helped pass the long ride we had....made more friends and are going to cheer on one of the girls as she auditions as Britney Spears tonight in Kareoke.

As we got to our desitination, we saw the "boats" that were to take us to the Embera Indian Village and waterfall. I use the term boat lightly, as they're handcarved dug out canoes....with out board motors on the back. Haha. Once we got over the fear of tipping we took an amazing and very wet ride over to the island. The Panama hills and lush greens are gorgeous, and the lake was a site to see. Very clean and clear. There are several man made lakes throughout Colon that help feed the Canal during the dry season. We were greeted by several of the indians, very national geographic style. Many of the women don't wear tops and all the men wear these loin cloth, bead skirts. I told Adam we could pick one up for him, but he didn't think it was his style. Our group went over to the waterfall first, since it's the end of their summer here, the river was very low, and forced us to hike a bit more. Thank goodness for those water shoes, best 15 bucks we spent! The waterfall was beautiful, we even took a quick swim which felt great after the walk. Once we got back to the village we were served lunch, tilapia and fried plantains which I'll have you all know even I tried. The fish was kind of like chicken...would I eat it again? Probably not. But I was proud of myself for trying it. We had fresh Panama pineapple for dessert while they told us about their tribe and showed us some of their cultural dances. It was really fascinating, Adam and I both really enjoyed it.

Once we left, we stopped by the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. We got there just as one ship was leaving and another was starting it's trip thru. Talk about perfect timing. We stayed maybe 30 min, watched and then got on our way. It was enough time for me. The process of the canal, though fascinating in theory, is about as exciting to watch as paint drying. I'm glad I had the experience, but once was enough for me.

We did a bit of shopping at the pier, but had to hurry up and get back on board. As much as we enjoyed Panama, we thought be stranded there sounded less than ideal. We watched the Miracle sail away from our balcony and I even got to learn a new fun fact. Right below our room I noticed a Pilot ship hovering REALLY close, pretty soon it go even closer and a man jumped on board. I guess our capt is not allowed to bring the ship in and out of port, so a Panama pilot does it, and then as soon as we've pulled far enough away, jumps off. It was cool seeing it so close. So there's my fun fact for the day!!

Costa Rica tomorrow!!
Cheers!
Emily