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Background: With US backing, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903 and promptly signed a treaty with the US allowing for the construction of a canal and US sovereignty over a strip of land on either side of the structure (the Panama Canal Zone). The Panama Canal was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. On 7 September 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the US to Panama by the end of 1999. Certain portions of the Zone and increasing responsibility over the Canal were turned over in the intervening years. With US help, dictator Manuel NORIEGA was deposed in 1989. The entire Panama Canal, the area supporting the Canal, and remaining US military bases were turned over to Panama by or on 31 December 1999.

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By davegtt
June 3rd 2008

Day 1 Travelling to Panama City

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Panama City

New York skyline

Day one, after leaving home at 4am in England I eventually made it to my hotel at 11pm (5am England). The flight was nice and comfortable, didnt have anybody sat next to me for the whole journey which made it a little more comfortable. Trouble started straight away though after arriving in Panama and Im the only person left stood at the baggage collection and no bag. Hmmm, I was quite lucky to get an American woman at the airport to help me out and found the bag still sat in New York. Great. So here I am in Panama still [View Full Entry]

By TimEllen
June 2nd 2008

Isla Grande

Central America Caribbean » Panama

Our taxi to the island

On the other side of the canal on the Caribean side we found a small island to relax on. We were pretty much the only tourist on this island, because we came on their off season. It was great, we brought our snorkeling gear and found a great coast to check out. We went on a hike that turned into a coconut cracking adventure. We managed to find one really great one that we carried around with us for over a week. The bugs were pretty bad during the night, so much of the evening was spent in doors playing cards. [View Full Entry]

By zerotonine
May 29th 2008

panama - oder wie schoen ist havanna

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Panama Canal

der kanal

na ja.. meine lieben.. somit bin ich gestern in panama city angekommen, nach etlichen beinahe schon laecherlichen grenzueberquerungen, bei denen es vorallem darum geht, anstaendig dreinzuschauen, ein paar stunden zu warten, und dann deinen rucksack streicheln (kein witz) zu lassen. naja, ansonsten war ich dann wiedermal ziemlich fertig von der reise und habe mich dann mit ein paar reisenden in alten teil von panama in einem riesigen hostal einquartiert, welches zwar nich billig ist, dafuer aber eine wunderbare aussicht auf die skyline erlaubt (!) und heute war dann mal kleidershoppen anges [View Full Entry]

By Poupoune autour du monde
May 28th 2008

Les crabes remplacent les araignees! Crabs are the new spiders!

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Herrera » Chitre

Los Santos, fete traditionnelle

==== Manuel, si Usted lee esto, gracias para todo, la visita del museo, las fotos, y gracias de hablar despacio para mi! ¡Disculpame, mi espanol es muy malo! Puede venir en Francia cuando quiere, ¡sera bienvenido en mi casa! La fiesta di Viernes me encantaba, era muy bonita, ¡es un lastima que no le he visto! ¡Hasta Luego! ===== J'ai quitte Santa Fe mardi matin, en bus, avec mon sac... sur le toit!!! Quand j'ai vu le jeune (chaque minibus a un petit jeune qui aide le chauffeur, fait payer les gens et ouvre/ferme la porte...) monter la petite echelle qui [View Full Entry]

By Kim and Simon Forth
May 25th 2008

Panama Canal Transit

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Panama Canal

Chart of the Canal

The big day had finally arrived. No matter how much you read and speak to people about the Panama Canal transit, the whole thing still seemed like a daunting task. Firstly you need one captain, four line handlers and an advisor (from the Canal Authority). Jen and Ulf from Sea Quill, who we met on the way back from San Blas, kindly assisted with the lines. We also hired Rudy as our fourth lines person. Whilst in Colon, Rudy was our personal assistant, taxi driver & general advisor. He is Panamanian with many years experience transiting the locks. We where scheduled [View Full Entry]

By TimEllen
May 24th 2008

Panama City

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Panama City

Playing Cards Poolside

Our first stop in Central America is Panama City. Here, we booked using some of my hotel points 4 nights at the Country Inn and Sweets, on the Panama Canal. The hotel was perfect, we watched boats go by drinking home made rum and cokes, swam frequently in the pool, went for daily runs, ate mangos and coconuts, went to the Miraflores Locks, and traveled into the old town of Panama City. Our one regret for this time is that we did not go to the Yatch Club right away and try to find someone to let us go through the [View Full Entry]

By Sheeptours
May 23rd 2008

Heading for the hills to Boquete

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Boquete

The affectionate hostel mutt

Day 208: Panamerican passage to the hills beyond Not wanting to be searching out new lodgings in the dark, I had to set off early this morning, and having got up before the pervy security guard had poked his nose round the door, I got a taxi to the bus terminal and caught the eight o'clock bus to David. Fairly uneventful, the journey was fairly restricted to the usually tarmacked roads of the Panamerican Highway. In between the films being shown on board, I did manage to get a bit of sleep and met a couple of English girls a few [View Full Entry]

By Poupoune autour du monde
May 23rd 2008

And then she learnt what ´rain season means... Puis elle appris ce que veut dire 'saison des pluies'...

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Boquete

Carrying stuff up the hard way...
Rentree des courses... 5 km de montee...

Here are my first impressions of Panama... First of all, do whatever you need to do in the morning, unless you want to get VERY wet doing it. I tried, and tried again, I got soaked every time, so now, my planning goes with the weather, and I make sure I´m inside by 1pm! Believe me, when it rains here, it doesn´t half do it, it´s the proper 'oh oh I think it's raining season' rain! It looks like Panama is richer than Costa Rica. Well, not eactly that, but it´s like the rich are richer (there are some lovely houses [View Full Entry]

By Kim and Simon Forth
May 22nd 2008

Panama

Central America Caribbean » Panama

Kim and Baby Sloth

After another night of watching big ships pass us by we arrived at Panama on Sunday 27th April. We passed through the breakwater into a very large harbour then made our way to “The Flats” near the Panama Yacht Club. It is the popular anchorage used by yachts waiting to transit the Canal. After a few celebratory drinks with Greg and Dan from Cadans, we went ashore to have a look around. Within the first 10 minutes of speaking to a few cruisers, a couple of themes started to emerge. Firstly, crime in Colon is rife. Apparently an Aussie guy had [View Full Entry]

By Sheeptours
May 21st 2008

Panama City

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Panama City

Pimp my bus

Day 206: Traumatic flights, unique bus journeys and famous waterways Having had to wait until nine o'clock to check my luggage in, I was told that I was 'overweight' and would have to pay extra. I didn't know there was a baggage limit, but after some negotiations, I loaded half of my things into my daypack. Initially, this seemed to appease the airport staff, but I was a bit shocked, when five minutes later, they insisted that I got on the scales as well. Initially I thought they were joking, but sadly not and there followed a humiliating weigh in, in [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Central America Caribbean » Panama