2nd shoot day.
Town square. 200 extras. Latin bands & dancing girls.
It was HOT! But, we had some cloud cover thank heavens.
Two huge shots.
Girls lovely, guys loads of fun.
Did I mention it was HOT
I was in one scene (which is basically a where's waldo)
another close up of fountain
HUGE steadicam shot.
Loads of noise, colour and movement!
Organised pandamonium.
These guys definitely know how to party (and their real Carnival is next week - it takes four days by the way)!
Home
dinner - gorgeous. Gaucho's Steakhouse. Grilled Chicken and mash! All the food in Panama is amazing!
Back to hotel
off to bed!

Down day.
Shopping in the mall
Lying by the pool
dinner
casino
up at 7.00!

First work day in Panama!! 7.30 call following another amazing breakfast.
In the van and off to the shoot. The location today is the banks of the Chagres river. Base camp is basically a couple of small buildings with no electricity and taps but no water! Wild dogs (actuallu tame wild dogs) and cats miander about the place looking bored. Being on a river bank meant that eveything had to go upstream by boat, including us! 20' dugouts to be precise. Little outboard motor at the back and we're skimming along the water in no time. Very cool. Crew had built mist if the village on previous days so when we arrived, the mock Congo 'village' was all there along with extras and everything Congo 'villagey' the are dept could muster. It looked great! The crew were wonderful, every one of them. Spent most of my time up the hill looking down over the set. Super view (I'll post pics when I get back)!
Oh, the set was right next to a real 'tourist' village where the locals dress up like natives and perform for the boats full of tourists who regularly floated up the river. As soon as they're gone, the 'natives' are pulling out cellphones. Hilarious
Precis...
huge shot... rehearsals couple of pictures.
2nd shot (yep, just a two shot day) was the boat POV as it came up on the shore.
The camera and crew were aboard a floating pontoon which was basically two dugouts lashed together with a board across. In action, it looked like an assault landing craft with a huge 4K on the back.
Wrapped
Home
Food
Casino

a little lie in....
off to brekkie in this unbelieveably gorgeous hotel.
checked out details of a tour leaving for Panama's old town, new town, canal and the islands. Booked myself on it.
FANTASTIC! Panama City is breathtaking! The new town is basically a brand new skyline...we're not talking a building or two, we're talking a whole new skyline of a stack of buildings.
The old town included stops of the several squares in the city. Amazing architecture. The old town is enjoying a renovation to bring it upto a high standard. The property is creeping up considerably in value.
The canal was just mind-blowing on so many levels. The sheer scale is amazing. The ships that come thru are just enormous. I saw two container ships, one of which paid $123,000 as a toll to use the canal. Yes, it's a lot of money but not when you consider how much time and effort they save in not going around Cape Horn (about 10 times what they would have paid). The museum and movie theatre were superb too. We also went to onto the islands (via the casueway which was built using the displaced earth from the canal). Breathtaking views of the new town across the bay. Saw the QM2 which is too big for the canal and was moored out in deep water with a small ferry bringing people into the marina. Home again.
Drinks with Terry, Larry, Jeff & Craig and then onto dinner.
Checked out the casino with Bobby and played $5 hand BJ. Couple of tables later and I'm $25 up! Superb!
6.30am call tomorrow so off to bed, Central American style! zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Up at 4.20am and into the shower. Crept around so as not to wake anyone. Wrote some Valentine cards and left them out for M. Cab came at 5am.
Rocket-powered speeds to LAX (made it in 20 mins) - bugger all else on the roads at this time other than other cabs trying to break the sound barrier.
Arrived at LAX and presented my booking sheet to the nice lady...
No booking. Pardon? No booking. Ah, um.... Let me check....Nope, no booking.
So, I rang AmEx travel on the East Coast and asked them what was going on. "Oh, sorry, I can't talk to you sir, you're not the card holder."
"Yes, fair enough", I said, "but please bear in mind that it's 5.45am and I'm standing at a check in counter at LAX and the card holder is in Central America and can't come to the phone right now. I understand that you have procedures for protecting the cardholder and yourself but I politely request that you find a work around and tell me what the hell's going on."
"One moment, please", said the little voice on the other end...
"It looks like this reservation was just that, a reservation, and as it wasn't paid for, it expired two days ago." Great. Fine. Marvelous.
What am I going to do? If I go home, there's going to be a shoot with 200 extras somewhere in Panama without a leading man! Can't let that happen....
OK, what other flights are there? My new best friend, Blanca M, the lovely lady from Continental checks her screen and types furiously trying to find some flights. "Well, the flight you were meant to be on is full but there's a direct flight at 12.15am tomorrow with Copa Airlines."
I can get you on Delta which goes at 7.20am today and that goes to Panama via Atlanta. You'll get in at 10pm tonight.
Perfect, let's book it. $1708.50! Holy shit. Call M, no answer (it's 6am). OK, let's put it on the Visa card. BIG mistake....
Get on the flight. 737 in coach. But, a three seat on my own. Good.
Girl leans over to me and asks if I'm going to sleep during the flight and when I told her that I wasn't, she asked if she could stretch out and sleep. I said sure.
Just before takeoff there was another free pair of seats next to the window so I moved there. Little lady slid over after takeoff and gave me a poem on a card to say thanks. Ahhhh.
Nice flight, no worries. Movie was 'Yours Mine & Ours' which I saw on the way back from Atlanta, coincidentally on a Delta plane.
Coming into Atlanta and my ears goes absolutely mental with the pressure change. Really really painful. Landed and called M. Told her where I was, what had happened and that I paid for the ticket on the Visa card. She FLIPS out. Seems that 1708 will take us over our agreed credit limit and cancels out our 0% finance charge moving it to 28% on the total (which is rather a lot, actually).
Shit. When I get into the terminal, I call Continental to give them another card to pay for the ticket. No dice. Can't refund it. No way on earth. This is very bad news. So, I called Sonia who kicks into action. She calls Rachel and basically everyone wades into the fray. Long story short... they won't refund the first half of the charge but they will do the return leg. Bastards. No amount of pleading change their mind. Emails and calls make no difference.
Feeling very low, I get onto the plane to Panama. Things are looking up as I sit in First class. Rather nice. Waitress service the whole way and huge, huge chairs. Just what I need. Take off 40 minutes late.
Movie is 'Walk the Line'. Seen it. Read.
Approach to Panama and my ears give me a total nightmare AGAIN.
OK, I'm deaf, in pain, tired and my missus hates me. Great.
Land and thru immigration. Looks like the whole airport is getting a makeover. Gearing up for busy season, I expect.
Out the door and Rachel is waiting for me. Outside the terminal building and the heat hits me. Oh my god, it's SO hot, I cannot tell you. I get into a large bus and we're the only people on it! Chat til we get back to the Hotel along dark freeways and alongside huge swathes of black water.
Wow, this hotel is NICE. Very very upscale. The bar off the lobby is tres exclusive and lots of beautiful people are sipping cocktails.
Upto my room and I'm almost bowled over as to how nice it is. Art on the walls. Etched glass separating the basin area from the bedroom and the bathroom behind yet another glass wall. Wow.
12.30am. I'm wired. Change and go out to the Casino just to have a look. It's across a skywalk from the hotel so I don't have to exit the air/con world. Table games and electronic boards. Video roulette as well as real roulette, real poker and blackjack.
Come back to my room.
No work tomorrow, thank god. Feeling lousy. zzzzzzz

Littl'un being a two year old! Melt downs for no apparent reason are frequent and we just have to deal with them. He's being a bit of a challenge today...
Had an early Valentine and did cards and stuff. Munchkin presented his fingerpainting to his mom as a special Valentine present.
I spent the evening packing and we watched some tv. Cab at 5am tomorrow...

Please let me be the first to wish you a very Happy Valentine's day. Bah humbug.

Says it all realy, doesn't it!

Check the websites again this morning. No, didn't misread the info. I cannot believe I'm going to screw this trip up. Arrrgh. I have the numbers for the UK and Panamanian Consulates here in LA ready for early morning calls tomorrow. They're not going to be able to help me....crap.
But, life goes on - more fingerpainting! Yesssssss! At least monkey's happy and that's the main thing.
My god, it's hot out there today. Sheeess. Feb 12th and it's like an oven.
Mailed the production crew in Panama and told them the news and had an email back asking whether I was sure I needed a visa because the info on the Panama gov website didn't seem to think so. So, I checked again... and re-read it and.... it's as if the text changed over night OR I actually READ it as opposed to skimming over it in panic mode. Of course, UK nationals don't need a visa - FANTASTIC. I had read the paragraph maybe 10 times over in the last 2 days and STILL thought I needed one. Maybe I'm just dense... Epiphany... yep, I'm dense. Who cares? Because I don't need a visa!!
Celebrated with 'Madagascar' and 'In Her Shoes', 7/10 & 8/10 respectively....
Thank god I don't have to spend tomorrow ringing around embassies and begging people to help me...Bliss