So here we are in Fuerte Amador, a very short distance to Panama City. Actually, the four small islands just outside of the canal’s exit were connected to each other and the mainland with a causeway, using materials excavated from digging the canal. This had a double purpose, but most importantly, the roadway kept the area from silting up the entrance. Over the years, we have charted the progress with the locals developing the area with creating a 3 mile walking and biking path to the big city.
At the furthest point lies Isla Flamenco with a beautiful marina full of shopping and restaurants. This is the area that the tender boats drop us off. As you make your way towards Panama City, this causeway has plants and trees lining the walkway, as well as frequent restrooms. Benches are numerous for viewing the Bridge of the Americas and canal traffic, which is constant.
Halfway is the quite unusual structure everyone says….what is that? Multi-colored and put together like a Lego puzzle, is the Bridge of Life Museum of Biodiversity. It is worth a visit if it happens to be included in a local tour, like we did years ago.
So, what did we do today? Taking a tender over around 10am was easy, as we went in between calls for tender tickets. That way we could go down to deck A without passing anyone in line. Chairs were set up there, so we could wait for the boat to disembark passengers already coming back. We were in bird heaven, watching the cormorants, pelicans, terns, gulls, and frigates work the waters. We would soon discover what they were eating.
Once we pulled into the marina, we thought we saw white bird feathers floating on top of the water. Nope….they were dead and dying fish. Small ones 4 inches long. There were thousands of them, explaining the presence of so many sea birds. They were scooping them up fast as they could. And they smelled bad. Wonder what killed them? And we hope the birds don’t die as well.
There was a free shuttle today, just like they had the last three years. It went to the Albrook Mall, a 20 – 30 minute ride each way. With two other cruise ships anchored near us, we shared the bus ride with other passengers. Last year, we were taken into the heart of downtown to a very large mall with highend stores. Not a whole lot of practical shops that we all really need. This mall had hundreds of stores like Zara, Tommy Hilfiger, Apple, etc. However, there were no grocery stores or general retail stores like a Walmart. At least not that we could locate. Few local folks spoke English, and there was no map of the place. Go figure.
The only shop where every day drugs were sold were pharmacies. Could not believe there was no aspirin to be found. Everything but Bayer aspirin. We did locate most all of the items we had forgotten at home, and the rest we know will be found in New Zealand. And the good thing was that they accepted the US dollar, since that is their money as well. Some of their coins are Panamanian, so they needed to be spent here.
This place is so big, lots of people we know said they needed to leave a crumb trail. The best way we learned to locate what we needed was to ask fellow passengers as we passed them. By noontime, this mall filled with locals, and by late afternoon, it would most likely be crowded. With a visible military force of armed guards, it is unlikely there is ever any problems here. They shoot first, ask questions later.
We walked 1 ½ hours, then found our way back to the bus stop. On the second floor in this area, was a place called “Do It”. This turned out to be an Ace Hardware store, perfect for buying some larger plastic flower pots. Guess what? The sunflower seeds in the little Dollar Store pots have erupted, and are growing beautifully. Needing to be transplanted soon, we even found a large bag of soil for less than $2.00. We’ll have to tell Barb we have “dirt”, which she will expect juicy gossip. No, it’s really dirt or soil. She’ll be disappointed.
A shuttle was waiting, and we made it back to the marina in 30 minutes. Remembering a very good place for lunch, we went to Lenos and Carbon, an Argentinian steak house with a view of the marina. It was a full house, but a table opened up within minutes, and we were seated. Sharing nachos and mixed quesadillas, we sipped Panama beers before we split one slice of lemon pie (aka: key lime pie).
We were back to the ship before 4pm, which was the time to catch the final tender boat. As it turned out, when we went to the aft deck to watch the sail out of the area at 4:30pm, Captain Mercer announced that two HAL tour buses had been stuck in traffic due to a bad accident. Our departure was delayed by an hour. We highly suspect that if these buses had been independent tours, the ship would have left them behind.
Our long time buddy, Eddie (without his wife, Lee) sought out our company for a while. He has to be in his 90’s, and has traveled like forever. We have had the pleasure of meeting one of his daughters and son-in-law on previous cruises, and it turns out they live very close to us in the Est Bay of San Francisco. Small world. If Verry and Bill are reading this, your dad and mom look great.
Well, that gave us an hour to work on reports and photos before it was time for dinner. Barb was waiting for us in the dining room, and as always, we had a great time visiting. She told us about the 5pm Sip and Savor $5 glass of wine and appetizers event on deck five. Well attended, she said it was a great way to finally get a reasonably-priced glass of wine on this ship. The going rate is $9 a glass. Barb continued with treats with a dinner of appetizers, while we dined on salads and breaded veal….all small portions. We are finding that passing on dessert is a good idea. Tomorrow night, we will miss dinner with our favorite waiters, since the three of us and Don MacD have been invited to the very first Captain’s Dinner in the Pinnacle Grill.
Bill & Mary Ann
