Toucan in Cartagena Hotel

We arrived back in Panama on Wed night and spent two nights in Panama City, mostly just enjoying the restaurants. We visited an are exhibition of Paul Gaugan works, and although its not usually my first choice of entertainment, it was very interesting.
Back at the boat, the re-commissioning list began to take shape... and the list seems to take shape significantly more quickly than the jobs get attended to. Realistically, we'll be here for another week to get everything done. By way of example, we want to get two propane tanks filled. Because it takes two or three days to do, we can't send both out at once, so there's a week right there. And waiting for things is always a long job in Panama. This morning my two jobs were to get the dinghy gas tank filled and pick up a parcel that had been delivered here during our absence. I got the gas tank delivered, and with luck it will be back tomorrow at the earliest. No luck on the parcel, but by early afternoon I finally found it, after a three hour search. Its a new galley light, a spiffy new LED thingy to replace the old Flourescent one that died last October. Its been dark on the boat since it died, but now we'll brighten up again, and save energy too!!
Other jobs include things like repair the windlass (again!). I'm trying to keep it alive until we gat back in the spring. The major jobs are things like get the generator going (new parts from home willl hopefully do the trick), get the life raft re-packed, install new fans, haul-out for bottom cleaning, and about a dozen small jobs. And always a big favorite is getting our Zarpe, permission to sail off. That takes a morning trip to Colon and the Port Captain's office. To smooth my way and avoid getting knifed, I will use Teddy, a burly fast-talking taxi driver we use.
And we're trying to get it done by mid-week. Carnival is scheduled to start this weekend and it seems that it gets started informally a few days early, so no one is sure who will show up for work.
But one major prize I snagged was a duty-free case of Gin! At $11/bottle, I grabbed a case for stores!!!
So, lots to do, but we have no schedule as the winter trades are still blowing, so we won't be heading north for a bit yet.