Another Day at Sea

Hi! I LOVE reading the comments you guys leave, please keep them coming! I'm sorry for not posting more pictures. I have to confess that I oopsed and left the cord for my camera at home. In order for me to post pics John has to download them from his camera to his laptop and I have to bring the laptop down to the internet cafe, etc. Lately its been easier for me just to run down and use one of their computers. We will be sure to put a few up tomorrow though. Think of it this way...now you can see most of them at once! :-)
So....yesterday was spent in Costa Rica. There really are NO words to describe where we were and what we saw. The actual port that we entered was admittingly not one of the nicer parts of the country but not too bad. It was the most central port however for the array of excursions that were offered. As I mentioned we traveled to Monte Verde and explored the cloud forest. Please check it out online if you can. To sum it up we boarded a nice, small motor coach with our guide Pablo. He was one of the sweetest men ever and full of info on Costa Rica. Our bus ride took about 2 hrs 45min. It would have been just over an hour however the road to Monte Verde is not paved. The paving of the road has actually been voted against by locals three times. When I say unpaved its an understatement. It took 2 hours to travel 17miles, and we're talking Costa Rica at its best! Cliffs and all! We drove to an elevation of 5,000 ft where we arrived at our destination. What I didn't mention the other day was that a tour of the cloud forest includes you having to cross suspended bridges up above the tree line. From this hike and of course the rocky ride we saw what had to be some of the most beautiful things in the world. John and I have never seen landscape like this. I simply cannot describe it and can only hope that the pictures we show you at home will give you a sense of its beauty. The sights and sounds of the rainforest and surrounding areas are things that we will never forget. We can''t wait to return to Costa Rica with Ethan when he is old enough to take it all in. Our tour actually started at 8am and didn't end until after 6pm...it was a long day!
Today was a much appreciated day at sea. We took our time getting ready this morning and let Ethan nap as much as he wanted! Of course we attended another wine event...tastings from around the world. Other than that we've been taking it easy!
Right now we are sailing a few miles out from the coast of Panama. We can actually see Panama from our balcony. (never thought I would say that!) We begin our journey through the canal early tomorrow morning. We enter the first lock at approx. 7:50am and end our journey around 6:30pm. I believe we are expected to enter Gatun Lake at 11ish. Although you are given the option to do an excursion in Panama and rejoin the ship at the end of the canal, we have decided to stay onboard and travel through the entire lock system. Otherwise we won't be able to say that we sailed through the Panama Canal! We are really excited to experience this. They are opening the helipad at the front of the ship for the day so that everyone can take pictures, etc. Our next port of call is on Tuesday in Cartagena, Columbia. I will try to write more tomorrow night after we complete our canal passage!
We miss you guys and can't wait to bore you with vacation pics. Hate to break it to ya but we are loving the long cruise and the exotic locations. We are already planning on taking the Galapagos Cruise as well as the Antarctic. :-) Have to admit we miss you all though and are excited to get home for Christmas. It is Christmas time right....87degrees right now!
Hugs and Kisses!
Kate