May 16th for Melinda

We're moving again! And this time *gasp* without a motor. I told dad to time it. So far it's been over an hour, which is very
strange indeed.

We had a nice visit on land. We went out into the jungle one night and heard all sorts of whoops and cheeps and weeerrrreeees. It
reminded me a lot of the Amazon, except I wasn't massacred by mosquitoes...yet. We saw a super long trail of leaf-cutter ants, which
I paid close attention to since I had on flip-flops. Looking closer at them, the ants carrying the leaves and whatnot were
medium-sizedish. Then there were "guard" ants walking along to kill people's feet with their shark-like mandibles. Neat. I saw on tv
somewhere that leafcutters bring the leaves into the ground to farm fungus, which they eat.

After bypassing the ants, Dad and I noticed something that sounded like things were being thrown at us from above. Typical, but from
above? Spider monkeys. They were clambering along the treetops, staring and making a cheep cheep noise. Everytime they moved, things
fell out of the tree.

Then there was the first night without air conditioning. Ahh yes, it was nice and cozy, just like a tropical sauna. Dad decided to
open all of the windows and doors, which let in approximately one million disease-carrying mosquitoes in. I'm almost certain I'm
doomed to die from some rare disease any minute now. I'll probably instantaneously combust.

Dad and I went to Colon the next day and didn't get mugged. The city has old, broken down buildings with colorful laundry lines
hanging outside shattered windows. The driving reminds me of a cross between Dad's and a monkey's. The streets aren't very sanitary
so next time I'll probably wear tennis shoes. It'd be interesting to spend more time there.

The next day we returned to the jungle and saw/heard many amazing birds.

Now we're at sea! The sky is gray and the water is gray, but there is beautiful, bountiful wind. We're headed to the San Blas
Islands, which should be great for snorkeling and molas. I'm very happy to be moving again, although it was extremely entertaining
to watch dad go after flies with a fly swatter for hours on end. Perhaps we can get him a fly swatter for when we get home?