UPDATE #2
Left Puerto Rico on Feb. 23 and immediately got lost on the freeway maze to the airport. No problem because we had 3 hrs. to meet our airplane. Right, then things went downhill. We knew we were in trouble when we went through the same paybooth for the 3rd time and were down to 2 hrs. til takeoff. Got into San Juan traffic jam. After another 1/2 hr. panic set in. We frantically made eye contact with,and asked,for help (from our first travel angel of the day) the SUV lady next to us for directions. "Follow me" she says,and the (am)maze(ing) race was on! We zigged and zagged through back streets and alleys, avoiding whenever possible lengthy red lights and traffic jams. After 30 minutes of (almost) total trust in her we started to have this feeling of ´'gee I think we´re getting close' but we don´t see any planes flying overhead or even the horizon, and how the he** are we going to get rid of the rental car....by now its 3:30 PM and we can´t even imagine being at the airport on time for the flight. All of a sudden we see National Rental Car drop off (about 2 miles from the airport) and WE KNOW WHERE WE ARE! Jim honked the horn, I leaned my upper body out of the car waving arms good bye and both of us blew her kisses, as we bid our First Major Angel of the Day G'bye. Huge waiting line at National. Bus waiting to whisk us away but Jim in long lineup at the counter. Second Angel shows up. I asked him how we could check in fast as we were late....he asked where are keys and I point to my guy Jim inside. He rescues Jim, whisks him through the process in 2 seconds flat and we are GONE. Arrival at airport. At Sprint Airlines at 4:00 pm-looong line. 3 people to go before we get to counter and 3rd Travel Angel shows up:  "Gee you doñ´t have your US Agricultural Inspection stickers on your bags...." oh my...." they kept our places in line, and we ran, dragging our 50 plus pound Wheelie Beasts behind us...(our REI huge wheeled duffle/suitcases). Through the scanner we fly, have stickers slapped on...FYI Bacardi Rum cleared with no problem. Now at the counter in time for Travel Angel #. Check in agent informed us we are not allowed to land in Panama without a exit/return ticket of some description (ongoing bus/air/train ticket). To his confusion we said "We don´'t know WHERE we're going to return from or WHEN we are returning from where we didn't know WHERE we are returning from". So we bought a return ticket and didn't know where it was returning to nor when....(makes sense to us, it was the cheapest alternative and after all our flight was 15 minutes from takeoff). Travel Angel 4 then waived our 28# excess baggage fee ($50), and told us to hurry through security check-in. Yeah right.  Long line (sound familiar yet?) our hearts at this point have been at aerobic levels for 1.5 hrs. At 5 min. before takeoff we are only 1/2 way through security, when our same Angel #4 rescues us from the lineup, grabs our bags and takes us through security bypassing the other confused passengers (gee how many times have we used 'confused' or some form of ??? Don't answer) Of course given heat and humidity and my consciousness around staying hydrated....guess who now simply does not care if there are 200 people and a jet waiting.  I AM GOING TO DAMAS BANOS. So we finally board,Jim is now sweating profusely as he boards at 5:01 and 10 seconds for a 5:01 takeoff.  ADIOS PUERTO RICO!!!

Layover (4hrs) Fort Lauderdale,Florida.

4AM February 24,2011 The Epic Journey Begins:   HOLA PANAMA

Get to our hotel room at 4:30 am after fying since 11 last night and the street noise in our room is deafening.Exhaustion trumps noise and we CRASH! After awakening we immediately get transferred to an a/c cooled and quiet room.WOW spent rest of afternoon discovering local surroundings.
Feb. 25  We take taxi to bus station and bus to Mira Flores locks to view the ships going through the Panama Canal....To be continued (we still have not found 1 WIFI connection yet)

Hi all! Our first week and we are FINALLY entering our first Blog: Jim and Sherry’s Most Excellent Adventure has begun.

TO  DATE

Very little access to internet, in spite of our sincere belief it would be ever so accessible…ah well. Rest assured we will blog when a) we are able to access internet and or b) we are not having too much fun, and c) we are reminded about how many people we told ABOUT the *&^%$ Blog

Week # 1

We left Seattle Tuesday at 10:30 pm.FYI American Air Lines budget seat size has shrunk a good 15% rendering even Gravol induced sleep only frustrating and impossible!  Our Thursday afternoon 2 pm arrival had us staggering out of bed after 12 hours in a lovely mauve bedroom, air-con cooled in our Puerto Rican condo. Note to Pacific North West coffee addicts:  at our Miami layover it took us 6 escalators and a 1 mile skytrain trip to find Sherry a Starbucks.  Seems the SE ,unlike the NW,could care less about decaf Americano.  In San Juan we rented our Toyota Yaris and drove to Fajardo not knowing that Hwy 3 is 1/2 Puerto Rican and 1/2 Indy 500.  We arrived, dent-free, but in last place  3 laps down. Right after getting acquainted with our condo (its great)we f  ound a grand daddy iguana sunning itself on a Bouganvilla fence – excluding the tail it was about 2 ½ to 3 feet long.  At dusk every Coqui Frog in the jungle sings us to sleep…. They are a PR specific frog that refuses to thrive, or even survive any where else other than PR and one Hawaiian Island. 

Alixandra  and Erik’s Wedding

Amazing, Wonderful, Beautiful and so Enjoyable!  The group of guests paled only to the glowing bride and  groom:   American, Puerto Rican, Swedish and (one) Canadian with smiling faces and friendly ‘love to get  to know ya’ chatting.  From the ornate Spanish Cathedral to the reception and party at a   beautiful PR mansion/home, overlooking tropical landscape and green/blue Atlantic Ocean,  It would be an understatement to say everyone had memorable day.

Kayaking Bioluminescent Bay:

Yippee! What fun with Christie and Shaun (Jim’s ever so cool niece and fiancee’)– involving a (occasionally) romantic nighttime paddle through the mangrove channels to the luminescent waters of ‘Laguna Grande.  With every stroke and splash of the paddle, the water glowed brightly with blue iridescent light.  A phenomenon occurring only in 5 locations in the world, this location is the largest concentration of microscopic plankton.