PHONE/PARADE

I wish to take a day trip to Taboga Island, a little island 11 miles off the Pacific coast of Panama, and known as the Island of Flowers. So, instead of PHONING them up for their schedule, as my PHONE ran out of time, I decided to walk down to Balboa, which runs along the ocean, and check out Pier 18 for myself, and then come back another day to take the trip.

Enroute to the seashore I came across huge crowds of Panamians, and soon discovered that I had run into the preparations for the Children`s Chrismas Parade. It was a giant affair with many horses and firemen and other such. I had struck out at 1:45pm, and reached Balboa Avenue at 2:30. Failing to find Pier 18, and tiring in the heat, I flagged a cab and headed for home. The cab couldn`t get through on a direct route due to the parade, and it took him a half hour to cover the ground I had walked in 45 minutes. The charge? $1.20.

Later that Sunday evening, after the end of the parade fireworks, as I walked out to dinner along the Via Argentina, the parade had just finished, and people were disbanding everywhere to go home and resume their week in the morning.

More about phones: My gracious landlord set me up with a Skype account, which uses VOIP "Voice over internet protocal". I finally got around to using it over the weekend, and the voice quality is excellent. The cost, which you charge to your credit card, on line, to the US is about $.03 per minute. I`ve talked for 33 minutes, and have been charged $1.02. YOU do the math.

Further, with regard to phones, my friend Jack used the free number I gave you earlier, and called me the day I arrived. It also worked well and he hasn´t told me that he´s been charged for it. There is a lot of static on the line, and I haven`t been able to make out going calls on it lately.

Just finished reading The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury. If you like all of Dan Brown`s works about secret and religious organizations, you will like this book. It is a good read and entertaining; however, the end was not very strong.