Panama City

Greetings this morning on our second morning in Panama City.
Weather has been really nice the last few days with not so much rain in this city jammed with high rise buildings around the edges on the numerous bays.
After heading the other day (we seem to loose track of time sometimes) towards Panama City, we left very early and were lucky to miss the afternoon showers before getting to the city.
'Elsie' ran just perfectly all the way through and we did not stop for much except for the odd pee break in obscure places along the way.
We had one appointment, Nigel, who had found a room for us in a small hotel, who were going to meet on the waterfront and follow back to our 'base' for the duration of our visit here.
On getting into town we missed the turn off and we found ourselves trundling through the slums of Panama City, not a pretty site to be sure and Angelika was nervous about even taking pics at the time. Be that as it may, I stopped to ask a cab driver for directions and he kindly lead us out to where we needed to be but through the insanity of Panama City traffic where little or no road rules apply.
Crossing over the Panama Canal Bridge was really cool as we have heard so much about it and to be there to see all this tankers lined up out in the ocean waiting the get through was quite a sight, as was it when we saw it last night from the heights of a tall hotel club.
Nigel has been incredibly kind to us and has facilitated numerous meetings and contacts for us since we have been here and run us around town on our errands in his very compact little car.
Once we go to our hotel we hit the road running and went directly into our first meetings.
As we have much to accomplish in the City, we tried to get as many appointments into the first full day here so yesterday was back to back meetings, most all of them kindly came to meet us here at our hotel except for one where we had to look at a site on a 14th floor terrace of a high rise.
Panama is incredibly friendly and literally every person we have met has asked us if we are enjoying and like Panama or have welcomed us in their opening words - there is truly a pride here and the hope that every visitor will enjoy their visit here.
Today is Saturday and we have only a few meetings but also need to get 'Elsie's' fluids changed because the engine oil looks like tar and we have had little time to deal with this issue until now because of all the other vehicle hassles we have had recently.
We also need to stock up on some supplies today but got our all our laundry cleaned yesterday for only $4 - it is a lot cheaper here than in Costa Rica and they use the US Dollar so it is easy to know what we are spending without making mental conversions all the time.
Tomorrow we will be out most of the day visiting sites on two islands to the south, called the Pearl Islands. we will either be going out by plane or boat depending on the weather - we are very excited about this vist as the projects there are pretty exciting with much uniqueness behind them and the folks we are working with are very nice and interesting people.
We also have a few follow up meetings in the next few days so we do not expect to be getting out of town before Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and will then be heading towards Bocas and Bocas Del Toro in the NW of the country before reentering Costa Rica on our way west through Central America.
I am sure we will be updating this blog again before we leave the city, so please keep checking back.
Pics, In the boat heading the other day to Cebaco Island with Joe, Angelika's lobster dinner, the famous island hotel and just a shot from the beach the morning we left.
We hope you enjoy.
Paul & Angelika