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Published: February 3rd 2008
PANAMA CANAL
Us girls, the ship and the Panama CanalAfter spending the previous few weeks chilling on the northern coast of Colombia followed by five days out at sea and on beautiful islands, arriving in the bright lights and concrete jungle of Panama City was a little shock to the system. After a very long day of travelling in the middle of no where and feeling like we had been on a complete adventure we were happy to be finally in the city and finding a bed for the night. By this stage a shower and food were the only two priorities on the list and that was all I could manage for the night before colapsing in bed. The part of Panama City that we were staying in was pretty flash and we could have been in any city in the western world, probably more so the United States as there was a lot of influence and money from the Americans, so the city looked like one of theirs. After speaking with the owner of the hostel he said to us to wait till it rains and then we will be reminded that it's a third world country because the road and the sidewalk will flood within minutes as
PANAMA CITY
Here road signs even have a big bum! there is not great infrastructure there. We were to see this not long after arriving as it bucketed down in the morning of our first day there and the owner was right. The other thing that gave away where we were was the very colourful old buses that are one means of transport in the city. Amongst the concrete buildings full of malls, fast food shops and the road with American looking vehicles, there would be the big old school buses in all sorts of colours roaring up the main road with horns blaring (no photos of these as I have sent them home accidently). I loved them and everytime that we caught one we had a great experience as the locals would help us out to find our stop and be really friendly. We had been told by someone that had been to Panama recently that the people were not friendly or helpful at all and were incredibly different to the Colombians who are all so hospitable, but our time in Panama was quite the opposite and we found the Panamians extremely friendly. As in a lot of Latin America cities and I am guessing in cities all around
PANAMA CANAL
It's the busy time of the day at the Miraflores Lochs the world, it didn't take long to get out of the nice part of town and into the reality of how most people live in the city. Highrise flats that looked really dirty with laundry hanging from the balconies, busy streets with litter everywhere and buildings that look like they might fall down soon were only a short 10 minute bus ride from where we were staying. We had two things planned while in Panama and they were to see the Panama Canal and also to go shopping as we had heard things were cheap here. Our first day there we headed out to the canal which is only a 20 minute bus ride from town and then we walked the rest of the way in. I was suprisingly excited about seeing the canal, I guess after hearing so much about it I was looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about. They have a building that is right next to the locks and if four stories high so you can get a good look at whats happening from a few different levels. So a little bit of information and history for those of you that are not
PANAMA CANAL
The ships lining up to come through all that familiar with the Panama Canal. In 1534, King Charles V of Spain ordered a topographic survey for a proposed canal across an 80km section of the Isthmus region, but it was beyond the capabilities of that time. The French in 1880 began construction of a sea level canal, but could not overcome the disease or geographic and climatic conditions they encountered. In 1894 a second French company who collected information on the area and recommended the construction of a lock-type canal on account of the sporadic changes in river floods. The company went bankrupt and sold their canal equipment, rights and ownership to the US Government. In 1904 the US Government purchased it for $40 million. The previous year, in 1903, following Panama's declaration of independance from Colombia, Panama and the US had signed treaty by which the US undertook the construction of an interoceanic canal across the Isthmus of Panama. It took 10 years, a labour force of more than 75,000 men and women (many who came from Caribbean Islands), and almost $400 million to finish the canal. The builders were faced with unprecedented problems like tropical disease, frequent landslides, the complex job of having a huge
PANAMA CANAL
The ships coming through amount of excavation work, the enormous size of the locks. They also had to deal with establishing new communities, importing materials and organising the massive work force. Finally the Panama Canal opened on August 15th, 1914, and since then has had thousands of vessels transit its waters. On noon on December 31st, 1999, the Republic of Panama assumed full responsibility for the administration of the Canal, as provided in the Torrijos-Carter Treaty. A few other bits of information that could be used at a pub quiz sometime........the lowest toll paid for crossing the canal was by Richard Halliburton, who paid 36c to swim across the canal in 1928. In 2006, there was 14,194 transits which represented 296 net tons and $1.02 billion in toll payments. The toll is determined by the weight of the cargo on the vessel. The oil tanker Arco Texas holds the record of cargo carried through the canal and therefore toll paid.......65,299 tons of oil in 1981. The fastes transit was completed in 2 hours and 41 minutes by a US Navy hydrofoil. The canal is 80kms long and runs from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. It was carved through one of the narrowest and
PANAMA CANAL
The gates at one end of the first holding area. These gates are only opened once the water is transfered from one area to the next and then the boat can continue lowest areas of the Isthmus mountainous region that joins Central and South American continents. It takes about 8-10 hours to cross the canal and the boat has to be given over to a pilot who will drive the vessel. The canal uses a system of locks, chambers with gates that open and close and are used to raise the ship from sea level to that of the Gatun Lake (26m above sea level) and then back down again. Each lock chamber is 33.53m wide and 304.8 long, which means the maximum dimensions of a vessel to transit the canal are 32m wide and 294.1m long and have a draft of 12m. Boats all around the world are made with these measurements purely so that they can use the Panama Canal. We visited one of these locks, Miraflores Locks, to see the ships come through and see how it all worked. It was pretty amazing to watch as one section of the locks would fill with water taken from the section the boat was in. Can't remember the amount of water that passes from section to section each minute but it was pretty damned impressive and it really didn't take all
PANAMA CANAL
The ships are in control of a pilot and then are controlled by these small vehicles that run on tracks that long to fill. Once that was done the gates would open and then the vessel was taken through to the next section. The pilot is in charge of the vessel, and no doubt getting paid a lot of money to be, but there was also small vehicles attached to the boat that pulled the boat through and kept it straight. We made it to peak hour and saw a number of smaller and then massive tankers come through which only had a foot or so between the walls on each side. It worked very efficently and professionally and I guess when there is that much money involved there is no other way it could be. There was quite a few ships lined up to come through the day that we went and there is a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon that they operate the locks. A look around the museum there was great because there was a lot of history that I didn't know and I had no idea how they actually built the canal and all the problems that came with it. So that made me appreciate the experience even more aswell as the fact
PANAMA CANAL
And a close up of the little vehicle.....Sharyn really liked these that it was all man made and a massive undertaking. By having the canal here it cuts off so much time for ships in transit that otherwise would have to go all the way around the bottom of Sth America, so trade has become a lot easier for countries like the US, China and Japan. I never thought that I would see the canal or be that interested in it, but I had a great time just marvelling at what man can create and make happen.
The other mission while in Panama City was to go shopping. So the following day we headed off to a shopping mall that was supposed to have everything that you could possibly want there. I am not too much of a shopper and especially when it involves going into air conditioned concrete monstrosities with floro lights......they usually give me a headache within half and hour and then I am out of there. Sharyn is also the same. So on this day I am not sure what overcame us but we managed to spend the whole day, yes 8-9 hours, in this damned shopping mall which meant we had to eat twice and have
PANAMA CANAL
A bigger ship coming through the locks a couple of cups of coffee to keep us going. The funny thing is that it was full of shops that basically had similar clothes and items that weren't that different to home, but I think it was the fact that we could shop and that we might just get a good bargain just around the corner that kept us going. By the end of the day we had brought a few things, not really enough to warrant a whole day there, but we were both glad to be getting the hell out of there and back to normality in the outside world. I have not returned to a shopping mall since and I think that I will never be involved in a day like that again.......once in a life time I reckon!!!!!
By now we had changed hostels and were staying at a hostel that was run by a friendly Australian guy who was easy to understand (finally) and very helpful. The downside of the hostel was that the rest of it was pretty crap..........rooms full of bunks, air conditioning that was turned on and off at a certain time, only 2 bathrooms for about 40 people, over
PANAMA CANAL
Looking out to the end of the locks as the ships head towards the Pacific ocean zealous staff members who throw your half drunk glass of nice white wine down the sink in front of you and all the losers that could be found within a 50km not lets say 100km radius were staying there. For some reason Sharyn, myself and one other English guy seemed to be the only normal people in the hostel......the others ranged from a 60 year old lady from Panama who basically lived there and whinged about everything, a weird Australian guy who sat on the couch with his laptop and made you watch dodgy clips, our ever faithful American friend and a whole range of other losers which was so noticable we all made comments. And this is where I left Sharyn, by herself with all the losers. Our 3 or so months of travelling together came to an end in the loser hostal of Central America over a home cooked meal and a couple bottles of my favourite white wine from Chile. Thanks Shagga for a great few months together and for being part of my adventure for the year. I would never had made it to some of the places we went to if you were not there
PANAMA CANAL
The Miraflores Locks and each place that we went to I loved, so thank you for being there and up for the adventure as usual. So after a few hugs and feeling weird that we were both going separate ways and wouldn't be with each other the next day, I jumped in a taxi and headed to the airport on my way back to Bogota and sadly to the last week of my time in South America.
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