10 hours in Panamá

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Saturday we had a long layover in Panama City, so we set out to explore the city the best we could in such a short amount of time. Since it was pretty expensive traveling to/from the airport in a taxi, we opted to do a city tour with a company that left from the airport. It just made the most sense with the amount of time we had and the amount of money we were willing to spend. Plus it was just super nice to be driven around and not have to make a single decision after 30 days of doing that on our own. Unfortunately our tour began with a 1.5 hr. stop at a mall, which we both loathed. But from there we headed into the older part of town, where we drove up and down the streets and got to see some beautiful, but dilapidated buildings. We had a random stop at an Emerald Museum which was about as exciting as it sounds before heading to the highlight of any trip to Panama: the Panama Canal. We had an hour to watch HUGE ships cross through the last locks of the canal. It's a pretty impressive structure and we were super impressed with the fact that there are only 24 inches on either side of each ship as it passes through the canal! We decided that hanging out at "the canal de Panamá" (that's for you, Anne!) was the best layover we've ever had! It'd be fun to return to Panama again some day to explore more.

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Photos

This is Panama City
So much construction going on. Everyone wants to build the highest highrise.

Panama hats...
...are actually made in Ecuador. Go figure.

Hangin' out at the Panama Canal
What else would we do on a Saturday afternoon in Panama?

Navigating the canal
The ship gets a little help from these little cars

The lovely locks
The one on the left is starting to fill up again, as the boat just left.

Here comes some more
These two ships are heading into the locks