Panamá: on my way back

Interesting chat with a UN World Bank worker (light blue UN passport) from Alsace, who speaks 6 languages.

Was upgraded on each leg.. Just before boarding, the guy behind me (a Silver status) was asking if he got upgraded but alas, it was not robe for him.

Disappointing ground beef empanada like thing for lunch on the plane:

image

Ships outside Panama City:

image

You can just make out the highway over the water going good around Cacao Antiquo

image

Lots of skyscrapers

image

And a wide low tide line

image

Guyana: more misc photos (McGuyanaver)

From top to bottom ( i hope they aren’t really that small like thumbnails in the post)
1. A temple with a large boa statue on top
2. The pink banners just went up while I was here, for breast cancer awareness month
3. McGuyanaver moment – the outlets were loose and my mobile phone battery charger wouldn’t stay in, so the band aid worked at first, but needed reinforcement from the water bottle
4. Cars on the beach and people in the sediment-laden waters
5. Waves in the brown water, brown as far as you can see
6. Little fish, maybe mudskippers, playing in the water movement close to shore (2 beady eyes on top of their head out of the water, and they skipped along the surface)
7. View from the entrance to the rather wide and brown Demerara River
8. Yeah, i think that circuit breaker panel looks to code

image

Guyana: more misc notes

Random notes:
– longest floating bridge
– heavy traffic at 2pm already, getting out of town
– big cricket stadium
– mosque with a volleyball net in the yard!
– some houses on stilts
– most of G/Town is actually below sea level, hence the big seawall along the Atlantic coast in town
– 270mL bottles of beer. Local brand is Banks, definitely drinkable
– Canadian School of Arts and Science about half way tithe airport
– I did see a handful of people swimming in the muddy water today
– on Sundays, the seawall is packed with people

Guyana: no Kaieteur Falls for you!

Went to the local Ogle Airport wth the tour company, but the last 3 passengers arrived 5 minutes after the cutoff (island time!). The trip would have cost US$170 for a one hour flight each way including 2 flybys of the falls, and 2 hours on the ground with lunch (apparently there is not much jungle canopy there).

At this open air airport, small planes (13 pax) fly sightseeing tours, and supply runs into the jungle. And yes, they do weigh passengers in addition to cargo.

image

Got a little free car tour out of it – there were some nice new houses near that airport!

I don’t feel like this miss will touch my pantheon of travel misses/skips: Taj Mahal, Abu Simbel and hot air balloon over the Serengeti.

Don’t know just what to do with myself… And it feels like I’m waiting… waiting for Godot.

Lunch I guess… tasty Crab and calaloo soup and an iced latte (G$1500/US$7.50 for both).

image

And yes, Oasis Cafe is now fixing their A/C (it didn’t stop other people this morning as the joint was hopping) and Wi-Fi did connect this time.