Call me Isthmus

Back to the Grind.

Having returned to my computer, my apartment, my life, my BQ, I feel inclined to post some more picks of my winter wonderland escapades throughout the Caribbean. There are, however, very little photos to post, as I just got bored of always carrying a camera around and shooting junk that every other travelling North American/European idiot was shooting. I suppose it was a mid-break crisis, my hair, thinning; my vacation, passionless; I had no purpose, and needed to reafirm my place in life with a Porsche, or an affair with a woman half my age, which would make her a girl, really, not a woman. Anyway, that weak metaphor aside, here are some pics from Panama and whatnot.

The Panama Canal, as I found out at THE PANAMA CANAL TOURIST/VISITOR SITE, INFORMATION CENTER AND MUSEUM, is one of the 20th century's engineering marvels and, like nearly all engineering marvels, is really, really boring. I ate an exceptionally overpriced sandwich, learned what kinds of machines they used to excavate all that rock and dirt, and saw dead and faux examples of the original flora and fauna. No mention was made of how many poor bastards from Trinidad and Tobago or Haiti died making this thing, which is too bad, cause I bet the number is pretty damn high. I watched a ship get dragged into position (this took about forty minutes, and for all of it, I was on the edge of my seat).

Panama isn't a real country, it's a hybrid, walking a very tightly stretched cable between Latin America and the good ol' USA. It's Miami-Light, or Diet Miami, or Skim Miami. I can think of no other diet drink terms now, maybe later. Anyway, American fast food places abound and the Canal museum was positively spotless. I forgot I was in Latin America. Everyone spoke to me in English; I responded in German, and I don't speak German.