After breakfast this morning, we were given a tour of the ship’s kitchen. Then we had a group picture taken with the crew and our tour group. Then we boarded the small bus that would take us back to Panama City. Our bags were put in a delivery-sized truck.
We just missed going across the canal bridge when they closed it for two huge container ships to go through . That delayed us forty minutes, but I thought it was interesting to watch them go into the first canal lock. We then continued on our way, and we stopped to look down on the canal expansion project. It will allow much bigger ships to pass through. We also watched a short film about the project.
After that, we got onto a bigger bus to continue on to Panama City. Another Grand Circle group on the way to the Discovery traded buses. Next we stopped for pizza. The cheese they use is really delicious! I don’t think they use tomato sauce at all.
We continued on to Panama City where we stopped at the Reposa Jewelry Factory. We were given an interesting tour that took us through the various steps in the lost wax process. They make a lot of replicas of ancient jewelry and decorative pieces. It was especially interesting to me because I had taken a jewelry making class in college, but I had not taken the lost wax class which followed the class I took. In the gift shop they sold pieces made with this process and they also sold items made by the Indians.
We then went back to the Tryp Hotel. Some of us made a rum run with Abdiel after we checked in. Then we had Abdiel Specials with rum, ginger ale, lime pieces, and ice by the pool. Dinner followed. We said our good-byes since we will be leaving in three groups tomorrow. Only eleven of us are going on the post trip. We were so fortunate to have Abdiel as our guide. He has been one of the best guides I have had!
Panama Canal Expansion Project
One of the worst prisons because of the extreme overcrowding at 65 per cell
The gold plating over silver on a lost wax replica at Reposa Jewelry