The Drunkard

The second and third year students from the Music Theatre – Performance Program at St. Lawrence College (Brockville) put on a fantastic performance of Les Miserables at the Brockville Arts Centre over the weekend. I caught the Sunday matinee and was very impressed with the show. Previously, I had seen Les Miserables in Toronto (a few months ago) and the recent movie (a few years ago). Maybe because I was expecting less, I was blown away by the talent.

My adventure today was to go check out the ruins of Panama Viejo, so I hopped on the Panama Viejo bus (this is getting easy) after a short walk to the Multicentro which is a large mall in Panama City. I was, as usual, relying on my gps and offline maps to find just the right place to get off the bus, and I got off where the map said there was a Panama Viejo museum. This was a good place to get off since it is where the main entrance and visitor center is. The entire cost was $6 for the interpretive center and the entrance to the ruins.

There aren’t too many people who have traversed an entire continent in 1 hour, but that is exactly what I did today.

I woke up nice and early and caught one of the $0.25 buses to the main bus terminal which is very close to the Panama Canal Railway station. From there, I took a $3 cab ride to the station and arrived just in time to buy a $25 ticket on the train from Panama City to Colon.

Okay, so I am in Panama, so it is obligatory to go see the Panama Canal, right. I don’t want to sound too negative, so let me tell you how nice the locks in Sault Ste. Marie are … well, maybe later.

If you read the guidebooks and travel websites, they all suggest steering clear of local people who actually want to talk to you. I’m still too young and naive to follow that advice…

Staying with Diana has proven to be a wonderful experience as I get to experience everyday life in Buenos Aires. On most weekends, Diana and her friends meet at a country club in Tigre which is just north of Buenos Aires. Tigre is right next to the Tigre Delta which is where I explored for the day while Diana played tennis.

Apparently, staying downtown is not always the best option. This is definitely the case in Buenos Aires. My friend took me on a short drive to show me some places that I could explore today on foot or on a bike. What I discovered was a beautiful city full of parks and bike paths that I would have never imagined after staying in the somewhat depressing downtown area the last time I was here.

One of the main reasons people travel to El Calafate is to have easy access to see the glaciers. The glacier that is most accessible is the Perito Moreno glacier which is only about 1.5 hours out of El Calafate. I signed up for a small guided tour the night before and hoped my cold would be mostly gone in the morning.

Today was a travel day. As usual, I showed up to the airport at the recommended time (in this case two hours before the flight) and spent two minutes checking in, and had to wait 1.5 hours before they even opened security to go to the gate.