It has been a few days since we updated the blog, we have been enjoying Panama City.
Day one we just relaxed and enjoyed the fact that we had arrived in La Playita anchorage. The next day it was time to shop for groceries and stock up again so off we went to Allbrook Mall for Sim Cards for the Ipad, sim card for our Claro stick and as we said groceries. Wow, it is a huge mall, it is a very long way from one end to the other.
The good news is that when they sold me the Claro stick in Costa Rica they told me it was unlocked but you are never really sure....well it is, the guy checked it at the Claro store and all we had to buy was a sim card and data plan, $20 later and it was done. We also got a sim card for the phone and the Ipad, they were $6 each and a data plan for the Ipad, $16 for the month, not to bad. The Ipad is on Digicel which actually seems to be faster than the Claro.
Over the next few days we went to the Port Captain and Immigration and checked into the country and went to the Admeasurement office to start the process for the Canal Transit.
Once the boat was measured we were able to make the payment and arrange our date for transit, February 22nd. We have to be at the MiraFlores locks by 9am.
During the weekend we headed down to the Marti Gras downtown, each night they had a parade and lots of food along the roadway. We had a great time!
We have enjoyed ourselves wandering around Panama City, we have needless to see been careful and we make sure we are using a reputable taxi driver. The cruising community is great as we are able to get names and phone numbers. We pay about $10 per hour if we want them with us for a bit, if not it is still around that to go to the mall, etc.