Panama Canal

the other day we went to the miraflores locks on the panama canal, and it was so awesome! The panama canal is crazy! at certain places they have these "locks" that the ships have to pass through in order to rise up to a higher elevation. the ships enter the locks, the gates close behind them, and then they open up the front gate and the ship moves out. i didn't totally understand how this works but the locks raise and lowever the water level so that the ship can flow up to a lake in the middle of panama that is higher than sea level. these huge cargo ships come throught and it seems impossible that they don't scratch the sides of the canal. you can see the locks starting to open here. they say that the locks are 7 stories high. the little silver train next to the ship is helping to pull it through the locks.. the canal has a really good museum and a small theater where they show a short film about the history of the canal (i slept through the presentation). when the movie was over, they didn't turn the lights on or open the doors, and eventually people just started filing out on their own. it ended up that patch adams (that doctor that they made the robin williams movie about) was visiting the canal, and the whole staff was freaking out about the american clowns and television crews and what not. random, huh?
we are going to be hanging out in panama for a while i think because we are waiting for a ship that sails to ecuador. seems like a pain because flying will be quicker and cheaper, but peter really wants to go on a boat... i think i will try and be a good sport about this. we are sailing out of colon on tuesday. hope everyone is good!
-jessie