Panama: The Canal, The City and Two Oceans

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What a fantastic day!

I went on a personal tour around Panama today with a group of other crew: Kristina & Chelsea (production singers), Ricky, Luke, Ellie & Candice (dancers), Kevin (internet café manager) and Natalia (supper club server). One of the bartenders, Elmer, is from Panama and he arranged to have a couple of his friends rent a van and be our personal guides for the day.

We started out in Colon, the city where our ship docks which is on the Eastern side of the country on the Caribbean Sea. We drove to the Miraflores locks and visitor centre on the Panama Canal. It was great to see, only because it’s so famous and such a major achievement in bridging the two oceans. There were big ships and some smaller ferries going through as we watched. But ultimately it wasn’t anymore impressive than the Welland Canal back home. Later in the van, Luke asked about a detail of how canals work which I first answered and then got started into a whole lesson on canals. Everyone just stared at me and Kevin said “Where did you come from?” because I knew so many specifics on a seemingly random topic. It’s all Keating Tours. All I needed was a rubber duckie and I could have enacted an entire demonstration for them.

Again today I was perturbed by US control in foreign countries. The US built the canal & had total control of it, to the point where Panamanians did not even have access to the land along the canal. And it’s in their country! It’s only been since 2003 that they’ve had access to the canal and the land around it. Again it raises questions to me about “development” and colonization and foreign control.

Along our drive we got to see so many houses and lush landscape. At one point we drove through a dense Panamanian jungle. It was really incredible to see. The trees were so thick and the road just cut it’s way winding through them. It made me think of being a little kid and driving through “Spooky Hallow” where all of the trees tower over the road and Mom & Dad would make “spooky” noises. It was a rainforest spooky hallow.

After seeing the Canal, we went down to Panama City which is on the Western side of the country, on the Pacific Ocean. So we went from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back within a day - a crazy concept when you’re used to all of Canada dividing the two!

Panama City is really extreme. Colon is very poor. Panama City’s outer edges are also quite impoverished, but the downtown area is immaculate. Everything is clean and sparkling and new. The skyline is filled with high rises and is very comparable to Miami Beach’s. It was very interesting to see.

We then went for lunch at a Panamanian restaurant right down by the water in the night club area. The food was incredible! Fresh shrimp and clams, flavourful vegetables and amazing sangria. We laughed and chatted and Kristina and I played around taking silly pictures. It felt like a true change of environment and a break from the ship.

After lunch we made a brief stop at a nice mall on the outskirts of Panama City. I got an incredible deal on a new shirt and a formal dress. Shopping in Panama is ridiculously cheap. But then of course that makes it easy to spend money! Then we rushed back to the ship to get to work.

Panama. What a lovely day. I had so much fun, saw a good little chunk of te country, but the entire day felt relaxing. I’m so happy and so grateful.

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Photos

The Panama Canal
At the Miraflores Locks

Ricky, Kristina and the Kangaroos
The mall that we stopped at had all sorts of giant animal statues through out it. Really bizarre, but really fun.