Last day in Panama

Well the last day of our trip to Panama has arrived and we did not have a day off, because we still wanted to do something special. This morning we had breakfast at 6 and we left to get to the train at 6:30. This train had a nice passenger coupe with a roof made out of glass. It was a trip which took one hour to Colon a city on the Atlantic coast. The traintrack followed the Panama Canal and we went through lake Gatoon. This lake was created for the Panama Canal so the Americans did not have to dig through the whole of Panama. The view was amazing and it was really relaxing to just see the different landscapes pass by. Afterwards Anna and Joost would drive to Colon to get us to the Gatoon locks. We arrived at the train station at 8:15 so we had to wait 45 minutes. After some minutes a taxi chauffeur was talking to us why we can not stay here and not leave by foot because it is too dangerous in Colon. After some more minutes a policeman arrived to stay with us till Anna arrived. Then a person from the railway walked towards us and afterwards had a heated argument with the cop in spanish about why we can not stay at the trainstation. The cop had the arguments of being official and protector of the state while the railwayguy did not care about that and wanted us all to leave the station. So the cop told us to get in the car and we drove away from the station and stayed just outside of the exit. Anna and Joost arrived at 9 as they told and we got out of the car. We said thanks to the cop for protecting us in this dangerous city. Well then we left for the Gatoon locks. Anna and Joost then saw the Disney cruiseship we had seen from the train. We thought it was not that special but Joost told us it was really special because it is one of the most expensive cruises a person can take and it only passes through once in 3 years. So we took some pictures and saw it go through the locks. We then took off to the visitors center some kilometers away and he showed us how the new locks were being built. They are really far in the process and will finish really soon. These locks will be bigger to let bigger ships pass through the Panama Canal. We then returned home and ate lunch. Right now we are packing our stuff and are prepared to leave in some hours. This trip was a lot of fun and we did stuff we will never forget. I also met some awesome people like Joost and his sons but also Rigoberto of the Smithsonian. As a nice souvenir from Panama I will also take my Smithsonian ID with me because it looks and is official. Tomorrow we expect to land in the Netherlands around 6 in the afternoon Dutch time.