Panama...on the way to more diving...

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Cartagena to Panama is a short 50 minutes flight. Going through Cartagena airport is quite something…smooth and pretty fast, but with a huge amount of drug searching. It must be the first time somebody is actually sniffing the inside of my computer.



I arrived at my hotel just before lunch time. My goal for the day was to visit the Miraflores locks at the Panama Canal and then have a walk through the Old City, Casco Viejo.



This time I’m staying right in the middle of town, with a huge upgrade…huge bath, huge bed….well needed as the last night I had only two hours sleep. I did get the feeling I wouldn’t see much of the nightlife of Panama…and I was right!



The great thing about Panama is that taxis are dirt cheap. They don’t have meter, so it’s a good idea to do some homework ahead to get the right price. The bad thing is traffic is even worst than in Bangkok. With such traffic, the taxis seem even cheaper.



I first made my way to the Panama Canal. Till the end of the 1999, the place was own and run by the US Army. Since 2000, it is back to the country. The Canal itself has 3 locks, two on the Pacific side, one on the Atlantic. It takes 8 to 10 hours for a boat to go from one Ocean to the other. They have a great visitor center at the Miraflores locks. My little problem, the first boat was only to go through the locks after 4pm…and I reach the center at 1.30pm. Took my time to enjoy the experience, and could see the massive boats going down the other lock, something like a kilometer away.



Next I went to Casco Viejo, the Old City. The place house a lot of government buildings, like the Presidential Office, as well as a lot of bars…interesting mix. It’s also bordered by a very poor area….meaning you need to be careful where you walk, and not getting too lost outside of Casco Viejo itself. There are also tens of police and army around, pretty impressive show of force.



What amazed me is that they are doing a serious work of restoration into Casco Viejo. But this work is so massive that the all area look today as a full battle field. This pretty is going to be pretty cool when all this is done, but I've got no idea how many months it will take. Won't be here to see the finish job!



Casco Viejo is sitting next to the "new" Panama City. And yes the place look more like Miami than Latin America. This city is also full of expats, huge corporations, impressive airport. I think if you take the traffic out, must be pretty fun to live here.



Sunset was fast coming…I was dead and in need of a good sleep. Made my way back to the hotel, enjoyed an early dinner and some work on my computer….and it was bed time. Next morning, I made my way early by taxi to the Albrock bus terminal…to catch my first bus of the day…a long day on the road…to reach a lost place…full of nice fishes…



Next blog coming soon…with some pretty cool pics…

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