Panama Canal

I’m not sure any of us really grasped the scale of the canal itself before we saw it with our own eyes. The locking system that are basically compartments where water levels can be raised to elevate ships or lower them, was dreamed up by brilliant engineers over 100 years ago is amazing. The Panama Canal is a man-made canal which joins the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and is 51 miles with a series of 3 locks that raise ships 26 metres to the Gatun Lake. One then just continues south through a channel in the Gatun Lake for 32 miles to Gamboa, where the Culebra Cut begins. The Pedro Miguel locks then lower ships 9.4 metres to a lake which then takes you to the Miraflores Locks which again lowers ships 16 metres to sea level. There are 3 locks in total and the scenery around the Canal is beautiful with enormous palm trees and other tropical vegetation. Saw 2 crocodiles plus loads of birds. A wonderful Panamanian lecturer came on board and gave us a very history of the Canal and she pointed out various points of interest en route. It was a really great day. In the evening we had the Ambassador's Ball which was great fun and it was so nice to see all the students so elegantly dressed. We have a final cocktail party tomorrow night and then disembark on Wednesday after lunch.

Guatemala

Our final destination was Guatemala and we decided to visit Antigua where we stayed for 2 nights. We joined 15 students in a shared taxi which was somewhat hair-raising at times, but drove through pretty countryside with sugar cane fields and coffee plantations. Antigua sits in a valley of Guatemala and is overlooked by 3 spectacular Volcanoes (Agua Volcano is 3,765 meters high). From our hotel bedroom window we could see the other two volcanoes - "Acatenango" and the apparently always smoking, sometimes erupting, "Fuego". Antigua is a lovely well preserved colonial city with its cobbled streets,houses and hotels with huge courtyards. We saw many Mayan people who constitute a diverse range of the Native American people from Southern Mexico and North Central America. They all wear very colorfully costumes and sell their handmade products that honor their traditions. The Mayan women carry their babies in brightly colored papooses, and wear "Huipils" which are weaved blouses that have very complex brocaded patterns in beautiful colors. We visited one of the many markets in Antigua and went to a textile museum where we watched the Mayan women weaving on foot pedaled wooden looms. Our first night we went to a wonderful hotel for dinner. It had a huge courtyard which was filled with wonderful flowering tropical plants. During a great meal we were entertained by a marimba band after which 6 traditional dancers appeared wearing masks, antlers and highly decorated costumes and proceeded to perform the Mayan Holy Deer dance which entailed shaking rattles and very energetic dancing. All the diners were fascinated to see this dancing and I was somewhat aghast when one of the performers pulled me onto the dance floor to join them. The shaking of the rattle wasn't too taxing, but the actual dancing was exhausting but great fun. The following day we explored the town and as we walked towards La Merced which is a mustard colored church on a lively little square we saw a large procession of people celebrating a saint's day with a band, fireworks and a life-size statue of the Virgin Mary carried shoulder high on a platform. It was a fun 2-days in Guatemala and although we had all been warned about possible dangers especially in some of the rural areas, everyone had a great time and felt very safe.



Coffee Beans