welcome to mitchwood

Hola Panama!

Despite the best efforts of whoever was driving the bus from Tocumen Airport, we made it to Playa Blanca alive. Passed a smashup with a dead body on the side of the road, that certainly didn’t do much for our confidence. Serious thing, it was a scary drive, about 25kph faster than I really think that bus was meant to go.

Sunwing were utterly disorganized when we arrived at the airport. You’d think this was the very first time they had ever had a group come. Particularly uninspiring was the way they accosted us in the doorway, asked our room numbers, and then threw our bags into a big unmarked truck. I wasn’t all that sure we’d see them again. Luckily we did.

But, despite all that, we’re here, and it’s warm (bloody hot, actually) and the pools are great. Isabel has hardly spent any time out of it, and despite our frequent applications of sunscreen, she and Alex are getting a bit burnt.

Bought a new lens the day before the trip, a Sigma 18-200 3.5-6.5 with image stabilization. Sweet. Even Sylvia is impressed. Will, if you’re reading this, I’m still jealous of your fisheye lens, but less so now :)Tomorrow we’ll book a couple excursions. Foremost, a trip into the rainforest to visit the Embera amerindians. Should be great, and educational for the kids. Haven’t decided what the other one will be, maybe a trip to the Anton Valley.

Incidentally, this is my first attempt to write anything significant on my N800, and it’s not bad at all. A bit slower than on a real keyboard but not a lot. Going to go to the lobby after dinner to post it via the wifi service.