Blogs from Panamá, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 12

With ten hours to kill on my main flight I decide to read a bit of my Costa Rica Insight book. I find out that Costa Rica was dubbed The Land of the Happy Medium by an official at the World Bank and although it is classified in economic terms as a third world country its high standard of living and social development seem at odds with this label. My favourite discovery so far is that Costa Rica got rid of its army in 1948 and since then the government has been able to devote a massive percentage of its resources to more useful and civilised pursuits such as education, health and conservation instead of killing and maiming fellow human beings in the patriotic fervour that is deemed necessary by testosterone fuelled power struggles and waving ... read more

Geo: 9.00968, -79.6018We are currently in the Panama Canal. We have passed through the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks and are currently in the Culebra Cut heading to Gatun Lake then the Gatun Locks at approximately 1:50 this afternoon then we will be in the Caribbean Sea with a stop in Colon. If you are reading this before 1:50 on March 25th, there is a live web feed of the locks of Gatun.Check out www.pancanal.com You might see the Celebrity Infinity on her journey. She is classed as a PanaMax ship. There are just a couple of feet on each side. The new locks will handle larger ships.... read more

While not really on the top of most people's travel radars, Panama City definitely has enough to keep even the most seasoned traveler interested for a few days.December 2013Day 1 - A Rainy Introduction to the CityThe wonderful part of this journey was that Copa Airlines does a direct JFK-Panama City (PTY) flight that leaves New York City around 1:00am, landing in Panama City early in the morning, and saving me lost hours of travel time. I did not understand the concept so much before landing, but once I saw it in action, it made sense - Panama's currency may be the Balboa, but the dollar is what is really used here. Occasionally, you will get change back in balboa's that are modeled after existing US coinage, but otherwise, there is no reason to look for ... read more

This is the last entry! We are sitting at the Tocumen International Airport waiting for our plane back to the States after a great three weeks of vacation. During our last couple of days on Isla Colon (the "main" island of Bocas del Toro), we took the four-wheeler out to the jungle looking for white-faced monkeys. Didn't find them, but did find a troop of howlers. They talked to us, but we didn't know at the time that we should have talked back. Apparently they like to listen to tourists making fools of themselves, so they'll call back just to get you going. One highlight was a 30-minute ride to another island where a retired dentist from Oklahoma, of all places, runs an organic cacao plantation. He and his eleven employees nurture the trees, some over ... read more

27thJanuary 2014 Transit of the Panama Canal This to me is one of the highlights of the World Cruise. The sheer size of everything is something to try and take in, they are currently undertaking expansion work and at the first lock, on the banks were the new lock gates (picture). The Queen Elizabeth is known as a Panamax ship, i.e. it is the biggest ship in width that can fit .through the locks. There was 2ft each side when entering the locks, a tight squeeze!! It costs Cunard in the region of 300,000 US dollars to use the canal (one way). We arrived at the entrance to the first lock at 8 am with the temperatures already in the high 70’s. The transit of the canal takes about 8-10 hrs depending on canal traffic. Some ... read more