Land of Volcanoes

Sunday, February 8, 2026

I wanted to say something nice (or at least, neutral) about El Salvador, so I looked up its nickname and found out it is called Land of Volcanoes. That works. You can see several volcanoes from the port.

We are in the port of Acajutla. It is El Salvador’s main port. We can see about a dozen large tankers and bulk carriers anchored offshore. There wasn’t a lot of activity, though. The ships did not seem to be docking or loading or unloading.

When we docked, we found ourselves parked next to a “floating bomb.” This kind of ship (LNG carrier) will likely be coming to Anchorage soon when we run out of natural gas. That is expected to happen as soon as 2028.

The port here is very industrial, and we were not permitted to walk through the port to get to the town of Acajutla. I think there was a shuttle to the port gate, or maybe to the central part of Acajutla. There was also a shuttle to Sonsonate.

When I was back at home planning this trip, I was not aware that Acajutla was more of a gateway to Sonsonate than a tourist destination in its own right. A port talk a few days ago clarified this. We were told: 

• Don’t go to Acajutla, and don’t try to walk there. 
• Go to Sonsonate. 
• Sonsonate is hoping to become a tourist destination. They really want tourists to visit.
• Free shuttle buses will be provided to Sonsonate (by the local government, we think). It is a 25-minute drive. Don’t try to walk there.

If I had known this when we were still at home, I might have just opted for a tour arranged through the ship, though some of those tours were lengthy and had a lot of bus time. But even after hearing this, I thought we could see Sonsonate on our own, especially with a free ride there on the shuttle bus.

My AI itinerary was actually based on visiting Sonsonate rather than Acajutla, though it was a little vague, so I felt comfortable going to Sonsonate, a place I had never heard of until it popped up on my Copilot itinerary. Copilot described Sonsonate as “one of the region’s most historic towns and a hub of local culture.” Sounds good, right?

So let’s get started. The first thing to know is that El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and the most densely populated (pop. 6,000,000). The second thing to know is that El Salvador has been controlled by a series of kleptocrats and dictators since 1931. Third, the country has one of the highest crime rates in the world.

We were able to get tickets for the 10:00 bus to Sonsonate by using our Navigator app (Holland America’s app). We got off the ship a bit early, but the bus was there and it all seemed very organized, so we boarded the bus. After a few minutes someone came on the bus and said there was another bus farther down the dock that would be leaving sooner, and we could take that bus. We walked over to it, and climbed aboard. About a dozen from the first bus came over right behind us. Nobody counted them as they left the original bus and walked over to the alternative bus. There were only about 6 seats left on the alternate bus, but the extra people seemed ok with standing in the aisle.Then someone came along and said standing was not permitted and they would have to get off. Then there was a big kerfuffle about where to send the standees. During this time I noticed our original bus driving by and leaving. Eventually a decision was made and the standees were taken to another bus. At no point was anyone asked to show their bus tickets. After further discussions and some false starts, our bus finally left the pier. It seemed very disorganized.

There is a highway that runs straight from the port to Sonsonate. No turns needed. As soon as we left the gated entrance to the port, we passed what looked like a large prison. I looked it up later. This was not the notorious CECOT prison that has been in the news lately. It was not any prison. It was a complex of warehouses and offices. They just have to put a lot of concertina wire and security around everything here. 

Soon we started to pass small ramshackle houses and businesses located in what might have been the highway right-of-way. Who knows if the highways here have rights-of-way? There were a lot of places that might have been junkyards. 

Many of the houses and businesses were protected by razor wire and/or locked gates, even though they looked just as poverty-stricken as the other houses. About 20% of the sad-looking houses had satellite dishes.

There was a lot of trash along the side of the road, including near the houses and businesses. Some of it had been there a long time. There were a lot of junk cars and trucks. There were often piles of tires by the side of the road.

The “businesses” seemed to be mainly tiny bodegas or markets, tiny restaurants, auto repair garages, and junk stores. Most of the time there were no sidewalks.

I wondered if the buildings right up next to the road were legal, and whether they had water or sewer service. 

We arrived in Sonsonate after about 20 minutes. It was a small city, population around 72,000. There was more traffic here, and it was more densely built up, but the poverty still predominated. Nothing was new, very little was well maintained. Yet, Sonsonate is considered the second most important city in western El Salvador.

The bus stopped in front of a dilapidated park and we all got off. Everyone seemed sort of shell-shocked and just stood there by the door of the bus (blocking the exit, of course) trying to figure out which way to go. There was nothing there, just a bit of sidewalk to stand on. About a third of the folks on the bus decided not to get off. They just wanted to ride back to the ship when the bus made its next run.

There was no one at the drop-off point to greet us or answer questions or pass out maps. There were no signs pointing the way to places. This was going to be 100% DIY. We only knew that there would be a bus returning to the ship every hour on the half hour. Thank goodness for that information. I don’t think the non-English-speaking bus driver could have told us when or where to get a return bus.

I knew that there was a railroad museum at the place where we were dropped off because I had been looking at Sonsonate on Google maps. We wandered into the park to see it. First we passed a group of high school students. Some students belonged to a band. A group of girls with batons belonged to some kind of marching squad. I wouldn’t call them batons twirlers. They were more like cheerleaders doing routines while holding batons. I noticed that the high school kids looked different than most of the locals we saw there. The baton girls were fairly tall and light-skinned. They had long, sleek hair. They looked like they came from middle class families. The band was a little more mixed, but they also seemed to come from a more affluent background. Most of the other people we saw were short, brown-skinned and dressed in more traditional clothing. I wondered if these kids went to a private school. I wondered if they were there to practice or if they had come tothe park to perform for the tourists (us). They didn’t really look at us or face us. After about five minutes they finished and began to leave, so that told me they were not here for the tourists. 

We continued on to a building that looked like an old car barn for the railroad. It turned out to be the museum. It was such a sad museum. It wasn’t really a railroad museum. It seemed to be more about the history of Sonsonate in the early 20th century. There were a series of easels holding posters, which were mostly text, mounted on cardboard or foam core. Everything was in Spanish. There were a few photos and a small number of artifacts such as clocks and an old typewriter. None of the artifacts were labeled. The lighting inside the museum was poor. The only thing we could really figure out was a series of pictures of young women who seemed to be “queens” of an annual festival of some kind, or a parade, in the early 20th century. There were no doors on the museum, and it was free to go in and look around, but very few people went in.

Inside the railroad museum

After the museum, we considered going to see a cathedral which was about 4 or 5 blocks away. We decided not to because it was Sunday and we didn’t want to intrude on people who were attending mass. Furthermore, it would have been difficult to walk there. It was hard to cross the streets and the sidewalks were quite cluttered with vendors. I also felt a little uncomfortable at the prospect of going too far away from the other passengers.

There was a big market across from the park. It looked dark and crowded. The idea of eating there was unappealing. Nothing looked particularly clean. The items for sale seemed to be things local people would want for their households, not crafts or souvenirs. We decided to jump back onto our bus. It was still there and we didn’t want to risk having to wait an hour for the next one.

One of the local shops

I felt a little guilty leaving after such a short time. I really wanted to get a better sense of El Salvador, and maybe see some crafts made by the Pipil, the indigenous group who have inhabited this area for a thousand years. I had hoped to try some of the local food somewhere. But the reality didn’t mesh with my expectations. 

There was nothing here for a visitor. Just a Sunday morning in a busy, crowded city. Was I acting entitled, I wondered, by being unwilling to stay a little longer, dive a little deeper into the local culture?   At least we got off the bus and looked around for a bit. At least we got off the ship. At least we tried to learn something about this region and its people.

And I feel that I did learn something about Salvadoran society. When a kleptocracy is running the country, the resources are  funneled to the few in power and there is not much left for the general population or the public good. You don’t get to have new buildings, or museums, or decent parks with flowers and public art and playgrounds. You don’t get to preserve much of your own history. The police aren’t going to keep you safe, so you need barbed wire and locked gates. You may not even get to have clean water and sewer systems, and garbage trucks. On some level I already knew all of this, but it really sinks in when you go there and you have to figure out how to navigate it - if you can navigate it.

I think the HAL “travel guide” who gave a port talk about Acajutla did a poor job of preparing us for this visit. She definitely oversold Sonsonate. Some of this is on HAL, but much of this is on the locals/the port/the city/whoever. It doesn’t have to be like this, as we will soon see. (I have seen poor indigenous people in the Amazon, who live far off the grid and have less than the Salvadorans, do a fantastic job of engaging with tourists and showing us their way of life.)

I wonder if the next “volcano” here will be the population. The country is nominally a democracy, but it is more accurately an illiberal democracy, it seems to me. It is so corrupt that it is hard to see how it is sustainable. 

Don’t take my musings too seriously. I have only spent a few hours here and I have only seen a tiny bit of the country. I have not spoken to anyone who lives here other than the bus driver who does not speak English. I am simply trying to put what I have seen together in a way that makes sense.

Meanwhile, back at the ship, a military band played on the pier and a rather small “big letters” sign was available for photos.

Today’s fabric is Volcano, by sheenarae for Spoonflower.

Weaving as Resistance

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Yes, it’s another sea day! Today was always going to be a sea day, so they have better activities than they have on an unplanned sea day. Still, I tend to skip most activities. We have such a great balcony, it would be a shame to waste it.

Photo by MayanHands.com

However, I couldn’t resist going to a lecture on “El Salvador, Guatemala, Oaxaca - Mesoamerican Cultural Corridor.” Anthropology has always fascinated me. The theater was packed. (Hooray! There are a lot of serious people on this cruise.) And the lecturer turned out to be excellent. (Double hooray!) Dr. William O. Beeman is a retired professor of cultural anthropology and linguistics from the University of Minnesota. I think Holland America excels at getting lecturers who actually know about and lecture about a topic that is relevant to the cruise itinerary. Dr. Beeman was well prepared, and he did not dumb down his material or his vocabulary.

The more well-known cultures that populated Mesoamerica were the Olmec, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Mayan, and the Aztec. The lecturer spoke briefly about each of these cultures, their similarities, and their differences. For example, the Mayans developed a written language, they had an elite ritual hierarchy, they practiced statecraft and diplomay, and they engaged in trade alliances. Jade was one of their most valued trade goods. The Mayan calendar was 365 days long. Their religious worldview held that time was cyclical. Key features of their understanding of the universe included cosmic balance, the sanctity of nature, and reverence for ancestors.

In what is now El Salvador, a group known as the Pipil (sounds like “Pea Peel”) represented the dominant culture from the 700’s to the 1500’s CE. It is believed that the Pipil migrated to El Salvador from Mexico in the 8th Century. At its peak, the Pipil population covered most of western El Salvador, as well as parts of Guatemala and Honduras. They traded textiles and cultivated cacao for trade and ritual purposes.

The Spanish conquest, in 1524, was a demographic catastrophe for indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica. Around 80% of the indigenous population succumbed to Western diseases. Those who survived often faced slavery, relocation, and forced Christian conversion. Many survivors fled to the mountains.

My ears perked up when Dr. Beeman mentioned textiles. He said traditional weaving, using backstrap looms, encoded history and cosmology. my ears perked up again when he reminded us that Mesoamerica gave the world chocolate.

/\/\/\/\/\/\      /\/\/\/\/\/\     /\/\/\/\/\/\      /\/\/\/\/\/\     /\/\/\/\/\

Now we will walk through the Lido buffet. There are two ugly three-dimensional mosaics we are not going to talk about. Instead, We will look at this whimsical ceramic installation. We could not find a plaque for it. Too bad. Are they ducks? Penguins? Platypuses? Is it the Olympics?

The evening show featured a clarinetist named Kenny Martyn. He opened with a Big-Band-style rendition of “Sweet Georgia Brown.” This is definitely not my music. I left after the interminable opening number.

Today’s fabric is traditional Mayan weaving. Mayan weavers would generally use cotton and would accomplish their weaving with a backstrap loom.

Backstrap loom: One end is tied to a tree or post.
The other end is attached to a strap that goes around the weaver’s back.
Photo by Laverne Waddington, at backstrapweaving.wordpress.com

From MayanHands.org: Myth has it that Grandmother the Moon, the goddess Ixchel, taught the first woman how to weave at the beginning of time.  .  .  . For centuries, Maya women’s weaving has been a form of resistance. Spanish priests and authorities colonizing the land that is now Guatemala burned Maya books and destroyed cultural artifacts. Using a hidden language of symbols and colors, Maya women documented and preserved stories and culture in their textiles.  .  .  . Today, wearing indumentaria maya (traditional handwoven Maya clothing) can still be an act of resistance. Maya women may face discrimination when they wear indumentaria, especially in professional spaces, but their choice is an expression of pride in Maya identity.

These Maya symbols represent ancestors. 
Although the design may appear to be embroidered, it is actually woven into the fabric. 
Photo from Mexicolore.co.uk

Photo from MayanHands.org

Weather or Not

Friday, February 6, 2026

Not Puntarenas

The Captain did an excellent job of preparing us for a potential bad outcome by alerting us to the possibility, more than once, as we sailed closer to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. This got me started thinking about foreshadowing and I decided now would be a good time to practice foreshadowing in my writing. How much is too much? How little is not enough? Is the point of it to help the reader guess what is coming up, or should I be trying to fool the reader so that they can say “I never saw that coming, but looking back now that I know, I see the signs”?

I think if you are writing a mystery or a thriller, you want to be very subtle when dropping hints so most readers are truly surprised. But I am not writing a mystery. I want my readers to have fun guessing correctly what is going to happen and feeling smart. I hope I made it obvious what was going to happen when I discussed it in both Winging It and Boat Drinks.

Yes, the wind was very forceful today and at 7:30 a.m. we learned that we would not be docking in Puntarenas today. Instead, we will spend the day at sea, moving slowly toward our next port of call, two days hence.

No Brainer

We did a lot of relaxing today. However, I would like to talk about what we would have done had we been able to visit Puntarenas. 

During my preparations for this trip, I began to experiment with using AI for trip-planning. Toward the end of this trip, I will try to remember to write about whether it worked, what to do differently, what I liked about it, etc.

I used Copilot. For each port I looked at the number of hours we would be in port, subtracted 2, 3, or 4 from that number to get x, and then asked Copilot to prepare an x-hour itinerary for that port, starting and ending at the cruise terminal or dock. 

Sometimes Copilot would ask me if I desired specific refinements to the itinerary, and sometimes I came up with more questions or criteria after seeing what Copilot produced. For example, if Copilot suggested taking a taxi to a certain beach, I might ask how much the taxi would cost. Copilot seemed to know, without being told, when it would be appropriate to include a meal or snack in the itinerary.

Usually, I was pretty happy with the first set of suggestions from Copilot for each port. If the list contained something Ken and I have done before, or something we don’t want to do, I would ask for a revised itinerary. When I was satisfied with it, I would ask for a printable version. The printable version was usually a shorter version of the itinerary. The number of stops would be the same but the description of what to do at each stop would be shorter.

For Puntarenas, we were going to stroll the Malecon (a walkway along the beach) and go to a lighthouse. Then we were going to visit a marine eco-park. After that we would have lunch at one of the restaurants along the beach. Then we would wander around among the shops and kiosks at the beach. I think Copilot also had us actually swimming at the beach, or at least getting our toes wet, before we returned to the ship.

I was looking forward to visiting the lighthouse because I really like lighthouses, and the Puntarenas lighthouse  is one I haven’t seen before, even though we have docked in Puntarenas several times over the years. And it will still be there the next time we go to Puntarenas.

I do recall one stop in Puntarenas a few years ago. We were going to go to a restaurant and the market by the beach, but it was brutally hot. By the time we reached the end of the dock we decided to turn around and head back to the ship immediately. Copilot did not address this sort of situation, but I didn’t ask it to.

It was very quick and easy to come up with itineraries for all of our ports. I saved so much time with AI. How good will they be on the ground?

Not Enough Walls

On today’s art tour, we will visit Deck 10. In the bow, we find the Crow’s Nest, a bar/lounge/coffee stand/game room, and observation venue.

The Art Studio is around the corner, but the whole forward space is “open concept” so it’s not a separate room. They did put up a few shelves between the Art Studio and the rest of it, and staged the shelves with cute art supplies and craft projects. Is this art? I suppose it is a form of “commercial art.”

If I had the extra space, I would like to have something like this in my “quilt studio.”  I am putting that in quotes because I am not serious enough about quilting to have an honest-to-God quilt studio. It’s more of a “Storage Space for Unfinished Projects.”

Here on Deck 10 is something that belongs with the port plaques on Deck 3. 

Shall we continue on to the pool with the sliding dome cover? There’s someone I’d like you to meet. She seems to be a little lost, but maybe she’s just snowbirding.

There really isn’t much space up here on Deck 10 for art. But there is a wonderful open feeling to the Crow’s Nest and the pool.

Not Tokyo

So, we did go to the Morimoto pop-up restaurant again tonight because we enjoyed it so much when it popped up on the first segment of the cruise. It only appears once per segment. 

We tried some different dishes this time and didn’t like them as much as last time. We both repeated the fabulous sushi plate appetizer we had before. I felt the chef might have been different this time. 

Photos of some of the new items we tried are shown below. The first two were Ken’s. I don’t think he would get them again. Mine were better. I would get them again.  

Tempura Calamari Salad (The calamari is underneath)

Angry Lobster Pad Thai

Grilled Beef Tenderloin Steak with Japanese -style gravy with mushrooms, 
sweet potato tempura

Baked Tofu Cheesecake with Mango-Passion Sauce and Blueberry Sorbet

Not All That

In the evening we went to a show called “All That!”. 

It wasn’t.

The onboard singers and dancers are very talented, and they did their best, but the script or “book” was lacking. There was no theme. The music picked was random, and not very appealing. The costumes were just bad. The choreography was not the best.

And so our bonus sea day comes to an end.

Shabbat Shalom!

Today’s fabric is one I really liked, but I don’t know what it is called. It is used for the curtains in the Pinnacle Grill onboard.

I would describe it as a fancy tulle with metallic stripes woven into the tulle. The stripes have tufts of metallic threads at regular intervals. There is also a soft, fluffy non-metallic thread mixed in with the metallic threads.

This is a close-up of the fabric. It’s hard to see the fluffy threads,
but I don’t know how to photograph them so they will show up in a photo.

Boat Drinks

Thursday, February 5, 2026

We did not stop at Panama City today. Most Panama Canal cruises traveling east to west do stop here after transiting the Canal, but for some reason, the itinerary for this cruise did not provide for a port call in Panama. We have visited Panama City several times, so we don’t mind.

That means today was a regular sea day, with lots of activities during the day. I attended a talk called “Tech for Travelers: Sharing Your Journey.” It was very informative. It was mostly about using the camera in your smartphone. The speaker covered how to take better pictures, camera settings to know about before you take pictures, and how to edit pictures after you have taken them. I learned about “live shot,” why you would use it, and why you might want to turn it off (uses up a lot of memory). I learned about photo composition, aspect ratio, the Rule of Thirds, and managing headspace. Great stuff.

At noon, the Captain made his daily announcements. He had previously told us the weather forecast for Puntarenas was not looking good and he raised the possibility we might have to cancel the visit at that port. I’m reading between the lines here, but what I think happened is that a lot of passengers looked up the weather forecast on Google or weather.com or somewhere like that and they saw very pleasant weather forecasts and people started questioning the Captain’s previous warning and the grumbling and second-guessing got back to the Captain, as will happen on a cruise ship (or any ship, I suppose). I do know that Ken looked on the internet and saw a good forecast and he was surprised the Captain had such a guarded outlook.

So, today the Captain took great pains to explain why he said what he said. He told us HAL subscribes to a private marine weather service that reports on winds and currents and swells and so on, and this private weather service may render forecasts that are different than Google’s (not his exact words), but the special marine weather service is usually right, and that service is telling him that the conditions when we reach Puntarenas tomorrow may make it unsafe to try to dock. The harbor there is very shallow and there are no tugboats available there and these kinds of things must also be considered.

After lunch, Ken and I attended a mixology class for the first time. This one covered Mai Tais and Old Fashioneds. Eric, the bartender who led the class, was really good at making it fun and getting everybody involved. He included the history of each drink and went over the equipment and ingredients you should use.

There were about 40 in the class. We each found four different glasses at our seats, containing a mint leaf or a piece of orange zest.

Volunteers were brought up to help with the shaking, but first the whole group had to sing “Happy Birthday” twice while they washed their hands at the bar sink.

A volunteer helps with the pouring

Two different Mai Tais: The slightly darker Classic is on the right.

All four of my drinks

People from Indonesia who learn English seem to have trouble with possessives (as do many Americans who never spoke anything but English). So I thought it was interesting that Eric kept calling the recipe “Trader’s Vic Mai Tai.” Maybe he got this recipe from someone else and that’s what it said when he got it. Or maybe “Trader’s Vic” sounded right to him when he typed up the recipe. This recipe will always remind me of the lovely Indonesians who make up a large part of the work force on HAL ships.

In order from most favorite to least favorite, I would rate the drinks as follows:

Trader’s Vic Mai Tai

Classic Mai Tai

Old Fashioned

Oaxaca Old Fashioned

The Trader’s Vic Mai Tai was really good. I urge you to make one for yourself as soon as possible. But that’s just my preference. You are entitled to your own opinions.

Suddenly it was time for Afternoon Tea. Since we hadn’t gone to a Zuiderdam Afternoon Tea yet, we decided today would be a good day to try it. It wasn’t bad, but we think the Afternoon Tea on Princess is rather better.

Oh my! Only three hours until dinner time. I hope we can make it.

Red sky at night, sailors’ delight

Credit for the title of this post goes to the late, great Jimmy Buffet. I would have included a link to the song if I’d had better internet.

Today’s fabric is “Mid Century Hawaiian” by vinpauld for Spoonflower.

Coast to Coast Play

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

As soon as we left the bay at Cartagena yesterday, the water became very rough. It was windy, and being in an aft cabin magnifies the movement we felt. It was hard to move about in the cabin. The wind outside was howling. 

While we didn’t get seasick, it was too rough to stay in our cabin. With seasickness, you have to be very proactive. Once you start feeling seasick, you will be entering an unstoppable downward spiral. We took Bonine, which works very well, without causing drowsiness, and I also put on my wristbands. If you wait until you start feeling queasy to put them on, they will not work.

But I have buried the lede. Today is a Big Day. We woke up around the time the ship reached the pilot station. The water had calmed significantly. Behind us we could see at least a dozen large ships.

As part of our breakfast we ate “Panama Rolls.” These are fruit-filled rolls that HAL serves only when a ship is making a transit of the Panama Canal. They must have to bake at least three or four thousand of them. They serve them on the outdoor decks and in the restaurants until they run out. Here is theRecipe. Here is a blurry photo of one.

After breakfast we rushed back to our room so we wouldn’t miss the first set of locks. Someone named Stephanie narrated the passage through the canal. I think she works as a “travel guide” on the ship. She did a very good job and made the experience so much better.

Most of these photos were taken facing aft. I’m going to skip over most of the history and just let the photos tell the story of how the locks work and what you see when you transit the canal. Here are a few facts about the Panama Canal:

• It took us around 9 hours to go through.
• The distance is 80 km (about 50 miles).
• Ships are raised to 26 meters (about 85 feet) above sea level in the course of the transit.
• The locks in the original canal are 110 feet wide. A ship that can fit in these locks is called a Panamax ship.
• The canal was finished in 1914.
• An expansion was completed in 2016, with wider lanes and locks. The original lanes and locks were not affected by the expansion and are still in use for Panamax ships like the Zuiderdam.

Jungle near the Atlantic entrance to the channel

This crocodile is such a pre-historic looking creature

With the Atlantic Bridge in the background, we have entered the first lock chamber at Gatun Locks. The water in our lock has started rising as a bulk carrier leaves the adjacent lock.

A locomotive known as a “mule” can be seen at the crest of the incline in the lock adjacent to ours. 

Our lock, on the right, is almost full. The white water indicates filling or emptying. The lock on the left is about half full, while a mule waits. The water level beyond the lock gates is noticeably lower.

We are now in the second chamber of the right-hand set of locks. The red ship is going in the opposite direction.

The Gatun Control House, built in 1914

The mules are very powerful little locomotives that pull ships through the locks and stabilize ships while the water level of a lock is raised or lowered. Here’s a 13-second video of one of the mules pulling our ship through a lock while climbing up a steep grade:

Professional photographers from our ship got off the ship to take photos of passengers as they pass through the locks. Passengers are not permitted to disembark here. Here they are escorted across a lock on top of one of the gates.

Look at the different water levels

Rowboats are still used to bring the mules’ lines to the ships. Newer technology has been tried, but the rowboats still work best. The green and orange arrow lights up to let a ship know which side of the channel to enter

This dam helps control the level of Gatun Lake and supplies the Canal with electricity

Gatun Lake is enormous

We were surprised to find that the canal traffic included about 20 sailboats or yachts (and one catamaran). They all had banners that said “World Arc.” We googled it and found out they are part of a annual around-the-world rally that takes 15-months and covers 26,000 miles. Apparently they stop for sightseeing along the way. You can track the individual boats on their website,

Apparently this group started in St. Lucia in January. What an adventure! World Arc website

This area is called Culebra Cut. The terraces were made during canal construction to control erosion.

The black and white signs are navigational markers. Centennial Bridge in the background.

Tugboat and pilot boat operated by the Panama Canal Authority

One of the monstrous container ships that can only use the 2016 canal extension

Sometimes it is faster to offload containers at one end of the Canal, place them on this train, and load them onto another ship at the other side.

The control house at Pedro Miguel Locks

Three mules standing by

Here’s a 42-second video of the doors of a lock closing.

In the background you can see the channel for the 2016 canal extension. It is at a slightly higher elevation than the original canal at this location.

Here we see the canal extension with a tanker passing through it

Passing through our final set of locks, Miraflores Locks

Spectators come here every day to watch ships go through the locks

Water pours ot from the sides as the chamber behind the doors is emptied

The Bridge of the Americas is part of the Pan-American Highway

Near Panama City we passed the stunning Bio-Museum designed by the late Frank Gehry

Panama City

Today’s fabric is the mola. Molas are vibrant hand-sewn textile panels created by the indigenous Guna women of Panama. The technique, known as reverse appliqué, uses several layers of colorful cloth. The top layers are cut away to reveal the colors underneath.The loose edges are folded and tacked down with tiny hand-stitching and the molas are often embellished with embroidery stitches on the top.