Location: Flamenco, Panama City, Panama
Hi!
So today was a wild day. We found out last night during our very fun night out that instead of leaving at 12:00 for the canal, we were at 2:30 am to arrive at 4:30. So that was great. We very quickly scuttled back to the boat, and because of our very kind instructors, we got to sleep until 4:30 (they got up at 2:30 to get the boat off the dock while we slept). We really do love them. Anyways wake ups were a little brutal to be honest, people were not too happy about being woken up at 4:15 am, especially those who went to sleep before the announcement and were very angry and confused as to why they were being woken up. Anyway, once we arrived sleepy on deck, we learned very quickly how to use amazingly large dock lines when we went through the canal and were able to see the amazing view of the entrance to Pieter, who is also so handsome. The entrance to the Canal to me looked straight out of a dystopian movie. Very cool. So, while we were running on very little sleep, the novelty of it all made up for it. We also had two little boats connected to us, one of which the people was from Colorado. Always by 8 am, it felt like we had gone through a whole day of activities docking the boat to the canal to make sure we didn’t crash. But we eventually got through to the lake, which was equally cool. Then we had some nice breakfast and debated ways to freak out the people on the boats attached to us, like saying mourning chants or singing the Canadian National anthem, then the Norwegian, then the Swedish, then the Belgium one. We are even debating really looking like a cult, and that we should start rocking back and forth, then all start hailing Gabe. We really wanted to see how far we could push it.
Eventually, we made it to lunch and the end of the lake passage and started going back down the canal. Personally, I prefer it at night, and it is really cool but also very cool during the day. At this point, we are in front of a different, VERY large tanker with three different men in orange who Molly, Kelsey, and I made friends with. They were very nice, sending us hearts back and forth on the different boats. Keep in mind their boat was 5x larger than Argo. Anyway, as we continued through, we continued slightly feeling like zoo animals as at a certain point in the canal, there were bleachers for tourists to watch boats go through the canal and video us. I feel like we were a crowd favorite. Even the cruise ship we passed was very intrigued by us and took lots of photos. I mean, it makes sense that we’re that great.
Finally, we arrived in the Pacific very happy but also very tired. We get cleaned up and do some much-needed laundry before dinner. We had some very good tacos made by Clay, who finally let me braid his hair and only complained once or twice. We all said our one-word appreciation for the day. Yes, one word that all you get. Some didn’t follow that rule very well….. anyways then everyone had to say their favorite thing about the person to the right of them. It was very sweet if you ask me. We then all argued about who should clean up for the day since it was National Women’s Day 2 days ago, so naturally, the guys should clean up instead of us. That didn’t go over too well. Now people are finishing up some homework and getting ready to pass out, then wake up for an hour and a half for anchor watch, then go back to sleep.
Okay, that’s all for today
Miss you guys back home!
Lots of love, Anna <3