DAY 87---COLON, PANAMA

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                       Today we are docked in Colon, Panama.  Partly sunny and 86 humid degrees.

COLON BACKGROUND INFO:

         Colon is a city and seaport on the Caribbean Sea near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal.  With the population of its metropolitan area of 241,000, it is the capital of Panama’s Colon Province.  The city was founded in 1850 by the United States as the Atlantic terminal for the Panama Railroad which was under construction back then to meet the demand during the California gold rush to provide a quicker route to California.  Much of the city was destroyed by fires in 1885, 1915, and 1940.  Panama City is just 50 miles away at the other end of the canal.

        The docks here were built by the US in the former Canal Zone (which President Jimmy Carter gave back to Panama in 1977 by signing the Panama Canal Treaty promising to turn over control of the Canal by 2000.  BIG mistake Jimmy!!)  at Cristobal which is basically a suburb of Colon now.  It was made a free-trade zone in 1953 and is now one of the world’s largest duty free ports.  Many live in poverty here and crime is rampant.   

LAST NIGHT:

        The show last night was a pre-dinner one at 6:15.  They have the shows at this time when we will be moving our clocks forward an hour later that night.  We much prefer shows at 9:15.  We went down to the Horizon Lounge just before 6pm to have Peter make our drinks to take to the show.  They serve drinks in the theater before the show starts but Peter's are better.  The show featured the ship's production cast singers.

                                                                   Paige started it off.  

                                                                          Pasquale

                                         My perfect Manhattan also enjoyed the show.

                                                                            Crystal

Kelsey

                                                                             Austin

                                                                   Crystal & Kelsey

Dinner in Prime 7.  Neil, the maitre'd, knows which table we prefer.  In the corner where it is more quiet.

                                                                     I like this red.

             Rebecca started with this wedge salad but asked Sadrick, our waiter, to cut it up.

                                                        I started with the crab cake.

                                                           Then some onion soup

We took our lemon pepper and I coated our 10 oz filets before they grilled them.  No way we could eat all of the filets.  Too big.

                                                   I tried this bread pudding and loved it.

                            I had already ordered the popcorn sundae but did not finish it.

Several other of our friends were also dining in Prime 7.  Harvey & Richard in foreground.  Marcia with Leon & Jan from Holland.  Nino also in this photo.

                                                                       Burt and Karen

David & Ronnie dining with Colleen & Steve.  They are usually at the Horizon Bar with us during cocktail hour and David & Ronnie in the gym with us.

TODAY:

A new terminal being built.
 

                                             Some photos of the area taken from deck 12.

I left the ship at 10:30 after our treadmill time.  I saw a pharmacy on Google Maps that I went to look for.  Never found it and returned at 11:00 soaking wet from sweat.  It 86 very humid degrees out there.

        I found the area around the port to be dirty and very poor.  At least I was not mugged.

        This afternoon we watched a great movie, "A Journal for Jordan".  It was a tear jerker and based on a true story.  We highly recommend it.

This is the break water as we left the protected harbor.

        It is now 5pm and just sailing out of the Limon Bay at Colon.  These are two huge container ships at the cargo dock.  We will be arriving in Cartagena, Colombia, tomorrow morning at 11am.

        No plans with friends this evening.  Pre-dinner cocktails in the Horizon Lounge bar with Peter.  Dinner will be in Compass Rose followed by a 9:15 show in the theater featuring a comedic magician, John Lenahan.