Day 13 (Gatun Lake to Panama City- Flamenco Island) Panama

The final leg of our journey through the canal started bright and early (5am – and a good two hours before I woke up – God bless Eric and our provisional canal captain).  We made it through the final gate a little after 2pm, and secured our way into Flamenco Bay Marina on the Pacific side after much discrepancy over whether we actually had a place to dock the boat (welcome to the laissez-faire marina attitude world wide).  Coming into the marina, I was a bit overwhelmed by the site of Panama City in the distance.  Much larger than I expected, the city seems unfazed by the world wide financial crisis that consumes every other major location I’ve been to within a city this size.  From a 10-mile distance, I could see at least 12 massive skyscrapers in the process of being built.  Through the haze, digital billboards flashed brightly, and the buzz of city life burst well into the evening.