Big City Now Now

---

Believe it or not, we are just about beached out. So we said ¨Adios¨ to one of the best Caribbean beaches we´ve ever seen and road down to Panama City.

Panama City is as metropolitan as Central America gets, which means there are skyscrapers, casinos, nightclubs, malls, movie theatres, and huge grocery stores full of goodies. There is also big-city transportation, which means better chicken buses decked out with not only amazingly detailed paint jobs, but also flashing black lights and bumping sound systems. Rock on. Trevor also spotted nitrous BMX bikes - the same stuff used in rocket motors. All the better to speed through traffic.

The Casco Antiguo part of town is the former city center and now a Unesco World Heritage Site. It´s a lot like Viejo San Juan in Puerto Rico or Antigua in Guatemala (same Spanish colonial architecture), except that much of it is in disrepair while they pour money into the downtown high-rises and seaside promenade instead. Eight out of 10 of the highest buildings in Latin America are right here. It could be nostalgia taking over, but the view of the seaside high rises from Noriega´s old hangout along the water almost looks like a Latin version of Chicago´s Lakeshore Drive from the aquarium.

By far the most impressive part of Panama City is the famous Panama Canal. We learned all about the most amazing (and most trecherous) engineering project ever completed. The French began construction in 1880 and the US finished the job to open for business in 1904. Today the seventeen artificial lakes, several artificial channels, and two sets of locks creates a canal about 50 miles long that cuts what would take ships two to three weeks around the Americas into eight to ten hours through. And up to 14,000 ships pass through each year for about $400,000 a pop.

The awesome museum ensures that you know almost everything... about the canal. We examined the world-wide trade routes, learned about the flora and fauna around this key conduit, and practiced driving a virtual, extra-large ship. We also saw several ginormous vessels pass through the Miraflores Locks, including one packed with 4,000 cars - and the mystery of how the world gets their Hondas was solved. Construction for a third set of locks began this year, so by 2015 capacity will increase to 600 million tons!

Tune in next time - it´s almost time to kick off the South American section of this Latin adventure!

---

Photos

Noriega´s old gentlemen´s club
It is just a ruin now after the American invasion now. Thats a vulture sitting up top.

The local buses
They are even better on the inside with really expensive sound systems, black lights, and flashing lights.

Ship before lock is filled
This ship is carrying 4,000 cars from Asia to Europe. It´s toll is about $400,000 to pass through the canal. As my dad Mark pointed out: that is a lot of quarters to feed the toll booth.

Ship after the lock is filled
30 feet higher

The mule
4 to 6 of these for each ship to keep them from bumping the sides. The biggest ships have a clearance of 6 inches on either side of the canal.

Adios ship
Get those Europeans their Hondas soon!

Ships waiting to make the canal crossing
Guess these guys had to wait until morning