The Panama Canal

My year long work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia started on May 19th 2012. My first flight left Boston at 6:40 AM. I got into Miami around 10 AM. I had lunch during my two hour layover and then proceeded to Panama City, Panama. It was in Panama that I met the other two volunteers who I'll be working with for the next 12 months. Andrew is from Oakland and spent a year with PC Cape Verde in Africa. He decided to do the year in Colombia after Cape Verde was shutdown due to regional restructuring/budget cuts. Eric was a PCV in Central America for about a year and, like Andrew, decided to join up again after being asked to leave Honduras earlier this year due to security problems . Andrew and Eric are the two guys on the far right of the photo below. The photo was taken as we exited customs in the Barranquilla international airport. We arrived around 5 PM local time and were received by the country director, director of programming/training, and five other PCV's from Colombia. The welcome party was a nice end to a long day of travel. 

The picture above was taken as we flew over the Panama Canal. I had read about the canal for many years while studying Latin American History, so it was surreal to finally see an aerial view of one of America's most influential foreign projects.