Transiting the Canal (Pt. 2)

More photos of the Canal, from my wonderful new camera (THANKS, Anna Rachel and David!)

First comes a small flotilla of 3 sailboats 

Here comes the first mule...

pulling the bow of the Maersk Bintan...

followed by the second mule.

Together, they pull the ship forward. 

The ship's captain must give up the bridge
to a Canal pilot who takes the ship
through the locks.

The crew came out to watch us watching them

The ship sinks as the water in the lock begins to fall...

until the name can no longer be seen.

Finally, the lock opens... 

and once the gates are completely open...

the sailboats scurry out into the lake

followed by the Maersk Bintan

And so it has transited the Mira Flores locks.

Sunday in Pictures

Today in pictures:

One of the rapidly disappearing "Diablos Rojos" - "Red Devil" buses

Decano (Dean) Nicolas and me at the Panama Canal

Elba shows us how big the chain links used to pull the ships
through the canal used to be when they still used chain

It's an occupational hazard for folks like me (and Elba)
Whenever you see a confusing error message or a
bad design, you feel you HAVE to document it

A simulation of the Canal control room

Nicolas was about here on the day the Canal started its expansion
He has a bit of rock from those first explosions

A large ship transiting the Canal

As the water level has fallen, the ship has settled deeper
into the lock.  There are 2 "Mules" - train engines
that pull the ship ahead at the bow.  The one had 3 on each side,
two on front and one on the back, which probably accounted for
part of the $150K transit fee

The railroad tracks right next to the ship in the lock are for
the mules.  They go remarkably fast considering what
they are towing.

Susan at the Canal

The Maersk Bintan from Singapore exits the locks

Elba in her hat - it's a Panamanian hat but it's not a Panama hat
(those are made in Ecuador - don't ask me why)

Next into the locks - the Canal runs 24x7x365

El Decano Nicolas

Nicolas and me

Nicolas and Elba

Coming into Panama City

Over a door in Casco Viejo (Old Panama)

A fanciful creature to keep your flat safe

Casco Viejo - newly painted

And a bit more "real"

Nicolas and Elba

And here I THOUGHT I was in Panama...

Lovely residence in Casco Viejo

The New Panama City across the water

Church

I couldn't pass up this lovely grill work

La Iglesia San Felipe Neri
Where I lit a "candle" for Kevin Brooks (who has Pancreatic cancer) and his wife,
Laura Packer, and another for the Computer Engineering Department
at UTP

Guess who?

I wish I could remember which Plaza this is (anyone?) but it
has lovely crafts and other delights

 It has been an amazing day with so many wonderful parts!  These photos are a bit of a window into it, but they don't tell the whole story because they leave out the wonderful conversations, laughs, new things learned (did you know that the Centennial of the Panama Canal will be on August 14?  I'm tempted to return for it!) plus the exercise of walking.  It was a lovely day.

And I'm exhausted, so please forgive me for not posting more.  "A picture's worth..." and all that.  (More photos tomorrow)

Saturday

Today began with some tummy bug issues which I will not describe, but which led to a long nap from which I awoke feeling much better.  Which was good.  Very, very good.

So I set off to the SuperExpress market up the hill on Tumbla Muerta (one of the main drags)  It's not far, and it was breezy, so I felt just fine walking up there.  Once I got inside, however, it became clear just how hot I was.  I sweated the whole time I was there.  Which was a while because I found the upstairs - and explored up there.  There's a really nifty escalator for carts in addition to the one for people.  Here are some photos of the way down:

Approaching the top (with my trusty shopping cart in the basket)

It enters the mechanism..

And engages with it..

to carry it down while I'm on the escalator

and as it approaches the bottom...

and voila!  We're down!

 It was fun as always to be at the supermarket, and this time, I really lingered and explored, finding many things I hadn't expected - such as an apron (to keep me from messing my clothes up).  I didn't find a Panama FIFA jersey in my size - but I'll keep looking.  That is definitely something I want to find.

I walked back home with my trusty grocery cart (THANKS, Jean Andino!) and felt very proud of myself that I had managed with exactly the right amount of stuff to fit into it, with the TP in a nylon bag I brought with me.

The results of the shopping expedition

So I put everything away, and did laundry, and now, I'm completely exhausted so good night all!  Thanks for coming with me on the journey!

Graduation, Rain, and Adventures at Albrook

What a great day!  Once again, the amazing Elba helped make it a very great day.  In the morning, I worked from home until Elba came around 11:30 to go to an area in Clayton - the part that used to be controlled by the Americans before the hand-over of the canal - called "Cuidad de Saber" or "City of Knowledge" for a meeting with a researcher at the University of South Florida (USF) Health Foundation of Panama.  She is doing work on Mobile Health for indigenous people in the case, the  Ngöbe-Buglé.  They live in extremely remote areas of the Bocas del Toro, Chiriqui, and Veraguas provinces in Western Panama.  She discussed a project where they had trained tribe members to be local health workers.  It sounds as though they have had great success with it so far.  The kinds of projects in South Africa, such as CellLife, were great examples too. It was really interesting spinning ideas with her.  I hope that she, Elba, and possibly I depending on timing (4 months really IS very little time!) can meet again and perhaps do some research together.

After that, Elba took me to the Albrook Mall in search of some short-sleeved blouses that cover my tat.  Unfortunately, tats are viewed quite negatively here in Panama so some of my strategies, such as using sleeveless tops with jackets over them, aren't going to work.  I need to be able to be in just the top - because most of the time it's just too hot to wear anything more than is absolutely necessary.  We walked all over the mall - partly because there are no maps of store locations anywhere in the mall!  We searched for tops but to no avail.  We did find a very small selection of beads at a local shop, but, aside from a few malachite beads, I didn't really indulge.  I'm going to have to have David and Sewellyn bring beads down.

Unfortunately, on the way to the mall, my necklace crimp failed.  Luckily I caught most of the beads (though I suspect there are still some on Elba's car)  But I was left without a necklace so I didn't look dressy enough for the evening's graduation celebrations that we were going to attend.  Bless Elba who waited while I fixed the crimp!

We went back to UTP after the repair.  There, because it was graduation night, people were getting dressed up.  The faculty was to march but not in academic robes (luckily given how hot it was).  We went over early - luckily because there was a huge downpour almost causing us to bail, but it all cleared up by the time of the ceremony, so we marched and participated in the ceremony.  However, with over 800 graduates, being called one at at time, it got very long.  Both Elba and I were exhausted so we left before the end.  It was still a very long day - but a fun one.

Outside the Computer Engineering Department

UTP!

Dean Nicolas Samaniego, kitted out for the graduation ceremony, and me

A Dean, A Project and An Office.

This morning before Elba arrived at 9:30, I cleaned up the apartment - not that there was much to do. I found beads all over (some things never change) and I will want to do a proper sweep this weekend, but overall it was in good shape.

When she arrived, Elba took me to the grocery store with her.  All she needed was water and some apples.  I ended up with a LOT more than that - but I am, after all, kitting out a kitchen devoid of spices, oil, and fruit.  There's still more to get of course, but one can only carry so much.

Especially since my ankle is hurting like stink, which is usually a sign that rain is on the way.  Which my phone's weather app agrees with but which the locals all scoff at.  We shall see.  The big dark clouds tonight are further indication that the weather might be changing.

We met with the Dean when we got in, and my schedule started to fill in.  Next Wednesday, I'll do a usability evaluation of the current UTP website.  Given my experience with it, we'll find lot of issues. Karla said that there have been many such usability evals, but that no one listened.  We're both hoping that they'll listen to me since I'm from more than 50 miles away and I have a briefcase.

My office, which yesterday was in a corner of an uninhabited room, was officially moved this morning so now I'm sitting with the professors.  Yay!  I want to get a plant to soften it up a bit, but it's just fine for a short stay.

The Dean, Nicolas, wants me to come with him to the Canal and then to lunch at his home in Casco Viejo!  Plus, he's very excited about taking me to the 7 "extension" campuses which has me floating at the thought.  All in all, we had a lovely meeting.

I spent part of the afternoon settling in before a team of Masters students brought their prototype of a "serious game" that measures attention.  Lots of good ideas - both the way it is now and the way it could (should) be if they changed it based on my "test" of their system.  I'm particularly impressed
that a team of 3 guys could work collaboratively together to produce this system.  That's something we need - (young) folks showing how well things work when we collaborate.

Even better than that, I finally met the incredible Karla Arosemena!  And she's gorgeous (which I knew from her photos) and TALL (which I didn't realize)  After so many months on the phone to finally meet in person was a huge gift.  And she's as amazing in person as on the phone.  Thanks, Karla.

In future installments of this blog, I plan to highlight some of the incredible people here at UTP, (like Karla, Elba, and the Dean among others) as well as other folks I meet.  Stay tuned.  I was going to do one tonight in addition to this post, but I'm out of steam.

I'm falling asleep once again and so am off to bed, even though it's only 7:30 pm here (and 5:30 pm PST)

Thanks for coming on the journey!

In which Tigger comes to UTP

This morning started with the Security Briefing at the US Embassy in Clayton.  What great people!  Apparently the main briefing was cancelled so Sarah Ferguson read me the security policy so I could sign it.  We did a bit of tag-teaming where she read and then I filled in the next bit.  We both found words that we didn't know - whoever wrote the policy was clearly a frustrated fiction writer who embellished the document with a number of archaic words.  But it was great fun also to talk about the security issues and how to avoid problems.  Yes, fun - because Sarah is such a lovely person!

I also had brief meetings with Public Affairs Officer Kristin Stewart de Rodriguez and Andrea Corey, the Cultural Affairs Officer.  Lovely people (women!) for sure!

After the briefing, I had the opportunity and privilege to have lunch with the Dean, Prof. Nicholas Samaniego, as well as Euclides Saminiego, Aris Castillo, and Elba (there was one other woman - help me remember!)  Quite a lovely meal with terrific food and even better conversation.  We discussed at a very high level the kinds of things that would be useful for me to do.  I'm getting a clearer picture with each meeting.

Aris then took me on a tour of the Computer Engineering offices, introducing me to a number of professors.  I must admit that, between my natural issues with names and my "brain-is-full" fatigue, I doubt I'll be remembering them for a while, but I'm hopeful.  There seems to be a lot of interest in (1) practicing English comprehension and speech and (2) a variety of projects.  However, after putting it all together, Aris and I plotted a bit and struck on the idea of doing a usability evaluation of the UTP website.  Should be very interesting.  We'll definitely have to nail tasks and recruiting.

But the title says that Tigger should be in this post and so he should be because I felt very very much like him all day today.  I keep getting more and more excited as plans firm up and I get to meet these most amazing people in a terrific department.  I'm very honored to get to work with them, but honestly, I feel rather like my feet are 3 feet off the ground and that I'm bouncing - bouncy, bouncy, bouncy - rather like the aforementioned Pooh friend.  I suppose that I will calm down a bit once things start in earnest - or not.  It's hard to tell with Tiggers after all.

Tomorrow, I will meet the faculty at a meeting.  Elba is picking me up earlier so we can accomplish great things together.  Stay tuned!

And thank you again for being on this journey with me.