Day 12 - Panama Canal and FIFA.

I simply MUST stop going to bed at 3am. We drug ourselves out of bed this morning around 9:15 to find Mateo wide awake playing with his toys. Of course. But we got ourselves together anyway and schlepped over to pick up Andres in order to take a tour of the Panama Canal.

As we got out of the car, I told Mat I wanted to take his picture because he was so handsome. Then he kept holding up his hands like this. (Get it? HANDsome?)

Then I told him to put his hands down and got this. That kid is a riot.

After Rafi nearly killed us by getting the stroller stuck on the escalator (ha!), we ate lunch at Miraflores, a restaurant that is on the Miraflores lock of the canal. This website has a live feed of the lock, as well as other points of interest in Panama. While there we ate their buffet lunch (good cheesecake, by the way) and watched a ship come through the lock. Mateo liked the "boat" and the watermelon.

Then we made our way back downstairs to the museum. Things have really changed since four years ago when we took my mom to Miraflores. They have some nice exhibits and even a lock navigation simulator, which we all really liked. It really made you feel like you were moving.

As usual, Mateo was in love with the fish.

They had a computer available for you to view the work records of those who had worked on the canal. Of course there were no Cadle records (I'm guessing the Scottish weren't too involved?), but there was one Campana. Rafi was happy.

At the top viewing balcony we watched a very large cargo ship (likely had 4,500 cars on it, I overheard) come through the lock with very little clearance on either side. I would imagine guiding that ship through must be very stressful.

Just about that time Mateo started to melt down, but cookies and iPhone games helped - thanks, Old Macdonald iPhone app! Then we watched a cruise ship from the Netherlands come through the lock.

And then we hung out at home. And watched football and cartoons. Not at the same time.

For dinner we had Chinese food from Don Lee (the best!), and then Rafi and his friends had a FIFA tournament at the house. As I'm writing this it is about 8:30, so I think I'll take this opportunity to shower and read a book. More tomorrow!