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Dec 11, 2008 - Truck is Liberated!
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The container with our truck Container now on groud level That's a lot of smoke! 
In our last update, we reported that our ship had sailed (with our Toyota Hilux) on Saturday 12/6. It arrived in Panama City on Monday morning 12/8. We flew out of Guayaquil, Ecuador on Monday, arriving into Panama City late that same afternoon. We were kinda nervous because we hadn't been able to contact anyone from the receiving agent's office in Panama City. After further investigation, we found out that Monday, 12/8, is Mother's Day here in Panama - all offices were closed! So, Tuesday we contacted the agent, and everything was in order. We went to their office and turned over all our paperwork. We returned on Wednesday about 9:00 AM. By 11:00 AM we were at the port, waiting anxiously for the release of our Toyota. The port authorities & our agent's representative did a terrific job in speeding up the process. They also allowed us to tag along. You'll see in the photos the container on the transport truck & the container lowered to the ground. The custom's agent cut off the locks and our agent's rep started to open the container - but NOT yet! The truck had to be fumigated. You'll see the truck inside the container with all the smoke. We had to wait 45 minutes. The custom's agent was very nice, at 30 minutes he opened 1 side of the container, then slowly the next side to let the smoke out before we entered. The next photo is Ed driving the truck out of the container - WE WERE FREE to leave! Since this process didn't end till nearly 6:00 PM, we spent the night in Panama City, and left today, Thursday 12/11 to continue our trip to Nicaragua. We've included a few photos of crossing the Bridge of the Americas over the Panama Canal, the port from the bridge (the container ship is a Maersk Line ship, which was our carrier), and a rovendore vender selling dresses. One thing we've noticed in our short time in Panama is the US influence. Christmas is BIG here with live Christmas trees, decorations everywhere, and even Santa Claus. It makes us really anxious to get back to the states to celebrate Christmas. For those of you who are wondering, our South America leg was 9,615 kilometers, or 5,961 miles long! We hope to be in Nicaragua by Saturday. Keep those prayers coming! You guys have really made a difference in this journey.


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