Set my alarm to wake up at 4:45am... Went out to the tv room with my phones and waited for my call... It finally came at 6am (gggrrrrr these Italians) and I had my interview at last... Went ok! A bit chaotic but hopefully got my point across... Now we wait and see! Was going to just brave it out and stay awake seeing as Barbs and I were going for a run but the French Open was not entertaining me so I went back to bed for an hour... Unfortunately though when my alarm went off it was literally thundering down with rain so a run was out of the question... More sleep though so yay! We got up around 9am, had our yum healthy breakfasts and bought our tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus tour around the city and to the canal... We went to drop our laundry off at the closest laundromat (have no hope for our clothes haha) and we went to catch the bus at the Casco Viejo stop... The rain had stopped by now but it was still grey weather, didn't stop the heat though!! The tour took us through new town and all over... And finally to the canal! We were at the Miraflores Locks and our tour started with a ten minute video of the history on the canal... Really fascinating!! Then we walked through the exhibition and museum and were just blown away by the facts and statistics of this engineering master piece! They announced that the next boat to come through the locks would be at 2pm so we grabbed some food and then went to get our spot on the top platform to watch this master piece at work! It's a slow process but so fascinating... It's easier to google the canal than for me to try explain what I think I know but essentially it will take a boat 8 to 10 hours to cross the entire canal. When it gets to the locks, it is assisted by tug boats (purely to ensure it doesn't crash into the sides of the canal - the boat itself uses its own engine to get through). When it's in position, the one gate behind the boat closes and the water in that lock drains 8 metres - thus lowering the boat. Then the gate ahead of the boat opens and the boat moves forward to the next lock (which is now the same level)... The gate then closes behind it and the water drains again... This continues until the boat (by boat I mean gigantic ship) gets into the lake... Contrary to popular belief, the lock system is NOT used because the Pacific and Atlantic are at different levels, but rather because of the location of the canal between mountains - mudslides, loss of life, and time all contributed to the Americans using this system to build the canal. The boats need to pay their fees 48 hours in advance to cross the canal... And this is the only place in the world where a canal captain properly takes over and navigates the boat through the canal... Also, Panama only regained total control of the canal from the US in 1999- crazy... Now they're adding two more locks to allow bigger boats to come through! Should be open in 2014... Google it it's fascinating!

When we were all "canaled" out, we hopped back onto our bus and got off at the next stop called Isla Flamenco - which is an island that has been joined up to the mainland in order to protect the Bay Area... We walked around a bit and got the worlds most delicious ice cream (fatties!!) and just chilled out on the docks... We caught the bus back to Casco Viejo and took more photos of the incredible sky line... We went to collect our laundry (eish) and then me, Barbs and Se went to the pharmacy to try get some stuff for our bites! Not the friendliest of folks there... Anyways we made do! My deciphering of Spanish is becoming quite good haha... Got back to the hostel and Barbs and I went for a run... Was so stunning! There's this incredible boardwalk between Castro Viejo and the new city - it's packed with people and all lit up... Loved it although struggled with the heat sho wee! Glad we went though... Felt good!

As if was DuP's last night, we decided to go out for dinner... Took our time sorting out our laundry and spraying everything in site with mozzie spray hehe... Finally made our way into old town (after meeting American girls in our dorm who are out here in Panama working for 2 years with the peace corp of the US)... It's such a cute place and really vibey at night! We settled at a restaurant at one of the plazas and enjoyed a really nice meal... We then headed to this rooftop bar which overlooked the whole city- so stunning!! Was funny though because all of a sudden the heavens opened and everyone just got soaked.. People were panicking haha... Trying to find cover and scrambling downstairs! We embraced it and stayed under the umbrella... It was incredible- the rain was so thick that it literally covered the entire city into complete darkness and you literally couldn't see one light! Eventually we also went downstairs and just chatted and chilled there... We called it a night just after midnight and made our way back to Magnolia Inn... I became a doctor and tried to soak Barbs' bites (literally 3 times worse than yesterday) with salt water (worked for Vicks when she swam in the sea) and then put cream all over them... And then it was bed time! Exhausted after such an early start today! Fab day in an awesome city!

Lesson of the day: Maybe try only have 1 scoop of ice cream ciccia!!

Moment of the day: Sitting at the rooftop bar overlooking the lights of Panama City...