The next day Wilma wanted to take a taxi home instead of the bus. The 50 mile ride to Colón cost the four of us $30 and this convenience cost us only a $17 premium over bus fares. Meanwhile, we saved an hour and a half of valuable time. The route taken by the taxi was much more interesting than the bus. We drove along the canal past the two sets of locks on the Pacific side and we almost got to the new bridge, which crosses the canal at the continental divide. The spindly suspension bridge uses the elevation of the hills on either side of the canal as an approach—well above the shipping traffic. If we would have continued along Gatun Lake we would have ended in Gamboa. I love this drive but sometime I want to get out and hike over the hill to see the Culebra Cut (now named Gaillard—for the man who designed the excavation), which was the most difficult part of digging the canal. A documentary film on the Panamá Canal illustrated the huge problems caused by the rains and landslides in that mountainous area. I noticed for the first time that there is a second dam on the lake, next to the Pedro Miguel locks, draining the lake on the Pacific side.
One bit of brightness in our day: Elijah left his wallet in the taxi and it was probably back in Panamá City by the time he discovered it. Fortunately, the driver, Roberto, gave me his card. So Sudarshani called him and he did indeed have the wallet and arranged to have it returned to us. We thought it was gone forever–oh ye of little faith… The light is here also, we just have to find it. Meanwhile, Colón was experiencing the doldrums of the dry season: heat and no wind. It’s not as bad as the locals describe, they are spoiled just like San Diegans are and complain if it’s not perfect weather. All that is needed is a return of the offshore breeze. Sudarshani thinks that the wet season may be better than the dry because the overcast sky brings a cooler day. The possible downside is the more frequent and longer rains (like daily).
Sudarshani read the noise regulation to see how it would apply to us. It appeared to be very tough: only 45 decibels of noise are allowed at night and 50 during the day, measured from just outside the source. Slam-dunk! We are dealing with 90 decibels at least. From the description of levels, ambient noise is where the limit starts. That is, the music cannot exceed the normal noise level at the residence. If a subjective measure of the music reveals that it can be heard above the street noise, it automatically exceeds the limit. Therefore, complaints from neighbors are considered to be objective measures of the noise.
We walked over to the internet café to help a nephew to check out USA colleges. I forgot to bring my floppy disk, so I’ll be late in sending out a letter. While I was waiting around I watched boxing on one TV and rugby on another; sometimes I watched soccer highlights (the only part I like) or national baseball games between the provinces. On another occasion there was Sumo wrestling and drag-racing, as well as the horses and dogs. I could go on, but the point is: there is a lot more variety of sports shown during the day and at prime-time here than in the USA. Every sport you can think of, and some you can’t, gets coverage here. The locals seem to love all sports from everywhere. Perhaps the large international presence here may account for some of the coverage.
New bridge seen from canal locks
New bridge seen from top
