Blogs from Panama Canal, Panamá, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 6

Dec20 Panama Canal Sleeping with our curtains open helped wake me up at 5AM, there was a sea full of boats and lights everywhere in the Cristobal breakwater. Small panic to get in our housecoats and we watched for a few minutes from our deck. It is still dark and at the front of the ship it looks like a runway to guide us into the first set of locks, we have small boats on each side of us lighting the way. I could not stand staying in our room so within 5 minutes; I was dressed and we went to the front of the ship to catch the entrance into the Gatun Lock which has a total of 3 chambers. It is still dark but there are already people out, but coffee stations were setup ... read more

It was 5:45 in the morning and we were approaching the canal. A pilot boat came along side us to drop of a pilot to help us go through the canal. Our first set of locks were the Miroflores locks. When we entered the lock we had a cargo ship in front of us. We both were in the lock as the water slowly filled up the lock. When we were even with the next set of locks we proceeded. While we were in the lock we had to tie up to a tug boat because there was a lot of turbulence in the lock as it filled up with water. When the water finally got even with the water on the other side the lock gates slowly started to open. Then we cast off of ... read more

Breakfast this morning included plantain – boiled whole then fried and lightly coated in a sweet honey sauce. That great plantain flavour is in these plantains ripened on the plant. I had lots, with a couple of very bland chorizo sausages. The bus took us back to Panama City and out to Casco Viejo. This was the second site of Panama, after Panama Viejo was destroyed. This is the city of the French era and the streets look like New Orleans. Far too much is rundown, but work is going on to restore it. The buildings that are completed look very elegant, so in five or ten years, the “French Quarter’ should be lovely to visit. Don’t know where the current inhabitants will go. We visited the Canal Museum, one of the restored... read more

Managua, Nicaragua, a 20 de septiembre del 2009. Saludos a todas y todos. Saludos a todos, ahora desde Managua. Ahi les van unas fotos del canal de Panamá, en específico de las esclusas de Miraflores, donde el canal se conecta al Océano Pacífico. Lo intentaron construir primero los franceses en el siglo XIX (el mismo ingeniero que hizo el Canal de Suez), pero por andar en tranzas de ingenieros quebraron la compañía. Por lo visto, no nada más a los ingenieros mexicanos les gusta robarse materiales, inflar costos y reportar construcciones terminadas sin terminar (remember Loreto Bay)... Lo acabaron los americanos a principios de siglo. Para ello le quitaron Panamá a Colombia, país del cual formaba parte. Aunque aquí en el Museo del Canal dice la versiòn oficial que Panamà misma promoviò su independencia y que ... read more

The last 2 weeks of the tour have flown by!! We have done 3 days of more than 12 hour travelling so it‘s been tiring…but still had fun!! We left Guatemala on Monday morning 27th April and travelled all day to get to Copan in Honduras. This was a small village..not a lot to do here. We spent the evening just chilling out on the hammocks in the converted roof/barn..Was relaxing. We all went for an early dinner and got ready for a night out in the only bar ion the village that was any good! It was a good night, nothing too mad as the bars here all close at midnight. The next day here we just wandered around the village (which was mainly just a few souvenir shops and an internet café!)and the lads ... read more