Panama City

 

We negotiated with a driver with a mini van who helped organize 3 other couples and he took us on a 3 hour tour for $20 each. First we toured around city of Panama, church with golden altar and The Miraflores Visitors Center (CVM)

 

Panama City is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of Panama.

 

 

Iglesia de San José protects the famous Altar de Oro (Golden Altar), which was about the only thing of value salvaged after Henry Morgan sacked Panamá Viejo. According to local legend, when word came of the pirate's impending attack, a priest attempted to disguise the altar by painting it black. The priest told Morgan that the famous altar had been stolen by another pirate, and even convinced Morgan to donate handsomely for its replacement.
Morgan is said to have told the priest, 'I don't know why, but I think you are more of a pirate than I am.' Whatever the truth, the baroque altar was later moved from the old city to the present site.

The Miraflores Visitors Center (CVM)

This museum was interesting, with a 3D movie and simutation of going through the locks
The Canal in Action depicts in an amusing manner how the Canal operates and allows us the experience of being inside a navigation simulator and one of the lock culverts. A virtual ocean-to-ocean transit is also made possible through the use of a topographical model. This exhibition showcases Canal improvement, modernization, and maintenance projects.

 

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

 

 

We spent 7 weeks in Costa Rica (see blog Rauhala Ramblers http://crauhala.blogspot.com/ Jan 2, 2011 to Feb 23, 2011) so we just walked into the town of Puntarenas about 3 blocks straight ahead from the ship and bought coffee at the grocery store. The tourist shops at the pier were charging $20 a pound for coffee we charged the coffee at the grocery store and paid $6 a pound. We checked internet for $1 for an hour, we had IPad but they had computers you could use. Costa Rica is a beautiful country and the people are very friendly, it is well worth visiting and do not judge it by Puntarenas which is not that nice and the people there were not that friendly.

 

 

Panama Canal Cruise

We cruised on Island Princess for a 14 day Panama Canal Cruise, food could have been better but enjoyed the cruise. We enjoyed having a balcony

 

 

 

long beach, california



 

hotel Current in long beach


 

 We were glad to leave the snow (snow shovelling) behind to fly to Los Angeles to the warm and sun. We stayed at Hotel Current for 2 days before our cruise

Spider Web

Spider web at my daughter's