Prodigious Panama project, purloining pickpockets, punctured pinky.
That’s what Paula and I encountered on our Panama Canal cruise, my ninth since my 1996 retirement from the Beacon Journal.
It was the first time through the Canal for both of us. Like most people, I knew that there were monumental problems before the 1914 Canal opening and thousands of deaths from disease and accidents. But I was astounded by the immensity of the project. Gigantic cuts gouged through the Continental Divide landscape made humongous Caterpillar trucks look like Tonka toys. During our 9-hour, 50-mile transit, I watched in fascination as 26 million tons of water rushed into and out of each lock compartment to raise and lower the ships.
Pickpockets filched Paula’s camera in Costa Rica with the ruse of “helping” us find an ATM. A woman in a “uniform” that helped her blend in with authorities lured us a distance away before her accomplice took the camera. I felt my back wallet pocket slapped. But they got nothing from me because that’s not where I carry anything of value on trips.
My finger got cut on a sharp rock as we walked from a rainforest waterfall. I extended my left hand onto a rocky wall to brace myself. The wound required four stitches from the Coral Princess doctor.
Onboard, we went to a performance by piano virtuoso Chris Contillo, who told the audience that he was from Cuyahoga Falls. Afterward, we learned that Chris lives on High Street in the Sill School area with his wife and their two children.
Another trip highlight was a visit to an Embera Indian village in Panama. We rode an hour by van to a dock, then spent another hour in a dugout canoe going up the Chagres River to the tribal village. Our guide was a blonde from Seattle who married an Embera man.
Otherwise, we did the usual things: Watched cliff divers at Acapulco, saw monkeys and crocodiles, and, in Mexico, rode a boat around Cabo San Lucas’ Land’s End arch and snorkeled off Hualtulco’s Entrega Beach. We also made port stops in Costa Rica, Colombia and Aruba. That extended the number of countries that I've visited to 33.
When we flew home to Akron, the temperature dropped 60 degrees and we went from sweating to shivering.
If you want to see photos from our cruise, click on the headline.
How about YOU? Have you taken a trip lately, a cruise or flight to another country or even a week or a month in another state? Or had a life event? Or would like to just catch us up on your life since the BJ, or about your spouse, children and grandchildren?
Email John Olesky at jo4wvu@sbcglobal.net
Or Harry Liggett at hliggett@sbcglobal.net
We'd like to hear about it, with photos. We know your co-workers would, too, because the number of hits to this blog spike when we run items about BJ alums.
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