Panamá...an experience like no other!

I have never really seen anything on Earth like the Panama Canal. The tour was a good choice to start off my experience in Panamá. The tour guide was a bit lazy compared to the others (we had several vans, being such a large group.) He told us where to roam and when to return to the bus without providing us with much general knowledge you typically hear from tour guides. We toured Panama City first, spending most of the time in the Historic part called Casco Viejo. I ended up getting lost and ran into another tour guide. This moment of humility reminded me that I’m not an expert traveler, like I was starting to think I was. She tried to call my tour guide to inform him where I was, but her phone died. In a state of minor panic, I ended up in the exact same place where I started (where the bus dropped us off) in Casco Viejo in front of the French Embassy. I followed my same path, this time avoiding my previous wrong turn and I encountered my tour guide. He wasn’t in a rush to leave, and we stayed for at least another half hour. After being reunited with my group, I enjoyed the scenery and the skyline of Panama City. Although I tried to barter with a woman (who I believe was from a native tribe), and that was not too successful; I didn’t end up purchasing anything from her because I did not understand her at all. It has been in the 90s thus far, so an air-conditioned van was welcomed. Panama City seems to be building up its infrastructure a lot with new buildings, including a Trump tower. Someone asked why Donald Trump was building a hotel in Panama City; my response was because he wasn’t busy enough investigating Obama’s birth certificate. But in all seriousness, the city is divided into various parts. Some areas have a heavy European influence (Casco Viejo), while the main area seemed like a cross of New York and Miami. Other areas that I saw from the bus and taxis did not seem as affluent. Overall Panama City offers a wide variety of architecture and sights, which I found impressive. Casco Viejo was certainly my favorite part.

We continued the tour to the Miraflores Locks (which is the locks system connecting the Canal to the Pacific Ocean.) We saw the ships lined up (about 8 were waiting to enter the Canal) in a distance. The allows ships to pass through the canal in one direction for 12 hours (from Atlantic to Pacific) and the next 12 hours in the other direction (Pacific to Atlantic). We got quite lucky by seeing 3 vessels pass through. The little “trucks“ pulled the vessels through the narrow channels with no more than 3 feet of wiggle-round. The water levels rose and sank to move the vessels into the next channel and it was a very cool process. Fifty-two (52) million gallons are used to pass one ship through the canal. The water is only used once, so an improvement in the expansion project is that they will be using the water three times instead of once. I did not see any construction at the Miraflores Locks, but the construction is apparently more visible at Gatún Lake. Miraflores also had a visitor center, which was interesting. I found out that Woodrow Wilson sent a telegram which signalled the final dynamite explosion causing the Panama Canal to fill with water in 1914.

Remember I mentioned not being sure what I’d do after the tour? Well, I returned to the ship and ended up choosing the side of spontaneity. Two girls encouraged me to join them in Panama City, but after being anxious about the “adventure,“ I followed through and went (after lots of encouragement). I went back with a group to Panama City (so I drove from the Atlantic to Pacific coast twice in one day). We ended up staying in a hostel. But the interesting story is how we arrived in Panamá City. It usually takes about 50 minutes to get into the city. It took us over two hours and not just one taxi, but two! We took a very cheap van that had four groups of people going to 4 very different locations in Panama City. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that, nor did the driver have a clue because he is from Colón (and they apparently don’t have any sense of direction in Panama City. His English also worsened the more lost we got.) Through this driving adventure, I saw the sun set and more sections of the city than I could have imagined. SAS gave us a list of parts of Panama City to avoid, and I’m pretty confident that we drove through each one on the list. The van ended up breaking down and the remaining passengers piled into a taxi. Ironically enough by this time, I was as cool as a cucumber. This driver knew his way around and found our hostel, which seemed to be in a suburban neighborhood. After arriving almost an hour late, we went to dinner and I met a new group of people from Semester at Sea. They said they had never seen me on the ship before, but I said the same. It was a fun evening. I had a Hawaiian pizza with some chicken at a Lebanese restaurant with a Panamanian beer (Balboa). Now I call that multicultural! Although I tried the local beer, again, I couldn’t tell you the difference between the Trinidadian beers and those from Panama. Being a Sunday night, we returned to the hostel after dinner and hung out there. I spoke some German with another guest from Switzerland, so I was content. And it was awesome getting to know a completely new group of people, outside the niche of friends I’ve seen to fallen into. I got all of three hours of sleep at the hostel and we returned to the ship at 8:15am, this time only with minor traffic, but the taxi situation was much less stressful. It’s hard for me to fathom that all of that occurred in a period of twenty-four hours.

Later today, I’m planning on visiting Portobelo. I’m still recovering from yesterday. Should be interesting to see how that compares to Panamá City.

Bis nachher,
Matt

P.S. I heard some of you are curious about the life style on the ship. The food is buffet style in two dining rooms (one is more formal). There is typically a form of potato, pastas, and salad and for dinner there is always a fish and meat option. You have to purchase soda, so I’m sticking to water and juice. The food has been delicious thus far, although my diet is very regulated now in the sense of time because the food isn’t available all day. The cabins are a good size. My roommate and I have plenty of space and storage. I’m grateful for the porthole window because I can’t imagine how I would have reacted to having no natural lighting for a month. Deck 2 is literally four feet about the water, so the slight rocking has been really helping me sleep.