Panama City and the Canal

The days are filled with sun and warmth. There is so much to do here in Panama City and I don't have the desire to get out of the big city as soon as possible, which is the often the case here in Central America. This is not only because of the safety factor (capitals are often the dodgiest) but also because there is generally not much to do there. This however is not the case in Panama City. There is a lot to do and a lot of history surrounding the Canal and the city itself.
The past few days have also been quite busy for Dan. Panama City is more or less the end of the road for driving. Colombia is very close but there are no navigable roads though, and if you were to make your way though the mire of the Darien Gap, the area beyond is full of rebels and other characters you best not mingle with. So that leads those who are driving to go through the hours worth of paper work and bureaucracy in order to put the vehicle in a shipping container and send it to Cartegena, Colombia. This is what has been taking up Dan's time over the past few days. Dan has teamed up with a really cool couple from France, and have been working through all the paper work that is needed for such an endeavor. Vincent and Marie have been driving around the world for the past year. They left France and made their way through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and are now making their way down from Vancouver.
I joined them on the first day while they were searching out some quotes from different companies, and then on the last day when we went to Colon to drop off the vehicles and finish off the paper work required for the shipping. This was interesting to see the huge port city and all that goes into the running of such a massive operation as the Panama Canal. For me, though the paperwork was really boring and involved a lot of sitting around, it was good for me to see what all has to go into the process of shipping, and hopefully one day I will be able to do the same thing and go through the same hassles that they have.
However, during the other days that they were doing all the "fun" stuff I decided to do a little sight seeing in the city on my own. I started off by walking Casco Viejo again and taking some photos of the area. I also went to a museum that chronicled the history of the area and they development of the Canal.
The next day I made my way by bus down to Panama Viejo, which is on the other side of town, and is the home of Old Panama, the original location of the cities settlement. The city was raided and sacked by the famous pirate Henry Morgan back in the 1600's, and all that was left after the burning of the city is some ruins. It is a very nice walk along the ocean seeing what is left of the city. I made my way to the church tower that was left standing after the raid and decided to climb up it. I apparently made it past the guards and needed to purchase a ticket to go up. But the guard at the bottom told me that if i just payed him $2 instead of the required $4 then he would let me pass... or I could go back and pay the full $4. I payed the man the $2 and continued on my way. The top of the tower had some beautiful views of the city and a chance to see a mix of the new and old.
The other highlight to the past few days has been the chance to see the Panama Canal and the Miraflores Locks. This is one of the main sets of locks in the Canal system and we have the opportunity to see some massive ships making their passage from the Caribbean to the Pacific. All the man power that went into the making and now managing of the canal is so impressive. It was interesting to learn that Panama didn't take over the running of the Canal until 2000, when the Americans finally turned over the power to the country. This because a massive source of pride for the Panamanian people. When they took over there was a lot of skepticism about their ability to run it, and to combat that they decided to look into developing the canal to handle bigger ships and more volume. This should be completed in the next few years and will have a significant impact on world trade. Quite an interesting day watching these massive ships passing right in front of you.
One thing that my mom dutifully reminded me of forgetting in the last post was that I have now been reunited with my debit card and have a flow of money again. This is quite nice and takes a lot of stress off me. Thanks to the help that the family gave to me, I was able to continue enjoying the trip. It was however a bit of a good experience because it showed me that it is possible to continue on and travel, and that you can do some of the more expensive countries on a respectively little amount of money, and not feel as though you are missing out on things.

I hope that you have enjoyed and if there are questions or comments please email me, and I will make sure to get back to you. Thanks for reading.

Bye for now

Mike