South for the Winter

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Arrived in Panama City in one piece very late and very tired on Tuesday night after 19 hours travelling. Dublin - Atlanta, Atlanta - Panama but thankfully me and my bags arrived in one piece, got through customs and even got a pickup at the airport to take me to the hostel and it all went very smoothly.

Still pretty jetlagged but getting over it ok (the 30 degrees and pool at the hostel are certainly helping ;-) Had a busy first day, met up with an Auzzie couple and we headed down to the old town to see where the original spanish settlers live and it was fabulous. It is a really beautiful city with some really cool skyscrapers and also the old town which is narrow cobbled streets with the old buildings some crumbling around you but very pretty. Went from the old town out to the Canal (no visit to panama complete without this trip) and I have to say I was pretty impressed with the whole thing.

There are 3 gates in total on the canal 2 at the pacific side and one at the carribean. We went to the main one in Panama which is the Miraflores locks. Its a serious set up out there, they have 2 lanes and in the morning time all the ships pass from the pacific to the carribean and in the afternoon it is in the opposite direction. The ships were lining up to pass through as we arrived.

We watched as 2 ships passed through as ye will see in the pics. The one in the Right Hand Lane paid $120,000 to pass through and the second one which was humongous paid $340,000!!! and that is flat rate they pay a ton of extras on top of that including the cost of the trains that guide them through and a for the container ships they are charged a dollar for each container the ship can fit regardless if it is full or not. So basically the bigger ship on the left cost a total of $400,000. The canal is open 24x7 and takes in an average of $6 million a DAY!!!! really wasnt expecting that. The alternative is to go around cape horn which would add 2 weeks to the journey and with the cost of wages and fule and time and cargo it saves them up to $2 million passing through the canal so in fact its cheap apparaently.

The ship comes into the canal and then the water level is dropped before the gates are open and it sails through the first section. The gates are closed again and the water level is dropped a second time so it can sail out the other end. One thing I was surprised with is that there is no pumping of water it is all worked by gravity so you only gradually see the boat drop as the water finds its level before the gates open. The whole thing takes about 35 minutes for the ones that we were watching - very impressive.

Ok other than the canal a couple of intersting things about Panama, all the busses are pimped up old US school busses and are all spray painted and colourful and they are class. Not sure what happens to the manhole covers but alot are missing and not replaced so walking around is highly entertaining with people trying to avoid these big holes in the middle of the footpath. The US dollar is the currency here. They refer to the currency as Balboa but it is the dollar which is handy. The local beer is also called Beer Balbo and it is very nice - I certainly approve ;-) Had one watching the ships pass by yesterday. Also its bird migration time and just like me they are all heading south for the winter - turns out most pass over Panama so the sky is full of flocks of thousands of birds making there long trip.

Well for me I am as far south as I am going, heading off to the North tomorrow to Bocas del Torro to a nice little group of islands for some beach and sightseeing and some chilling out for a few days - hoping to also take in some spanish lessons. Ill be in touch once I have arrived and checked the place out

Slan xxx

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Photos

Locke Gates
Waiting for the ship to come in to level the water level before the gates opén

Comments

[Alan Kennedy]

Told you!!!

[Hilary]

Loving your blog already
great start to your trip, I'm hooked already...keep it up, have fab time xxx