Posts Tagged ‘panama’

The title of this post is what I heard from more than a handful of people when I told them I’d be vacationing in Panama. They didn’t always say the “not” part out loud, but I knew they were thinking it because I was even thinking it myself. My engineer husband though was very excited to see this amazing feat of engineering wonder so I knew I’d be participating in the hard-hat tour whether I liked it or not.

The purpose of our trip to Panama was for scuba diving near the border of Costa Rica (the same handful of friends that dissed the Canal were surprised that Panama had anything other to see/do than visit the Canal. Yeah… I need new friends), but since our flight arrived and departed from Panama City we wanted to see all this historical city had to offer and of course the Canal, so we stayed in town for a couple days.

On our last day in Panama City we toured the Casco Viejo, the “old city” shopping for authentic Panamanian molas and before having a nice final dinner at one of the best restaurants in the city– Scena we visited the famous Canal.

apartments in the main square

the author in front of a huge door at a huge church in the center of town

Just a background for those of you who have forgotten what you learned about the Canal in your middle school history class:

The Panama Canal is a 48 mile ship canal that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and acts as a key conduit for international trade. Traffic has risen annually from about 1,000 ships in the early days to 14,702 vessels in 2008.

One of the largest engineering projects ever undertaken, the Canal had a huge impact on shipping between the two Oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. Instead of traveling the 14,000 miles around Cape Horn, a ship now traveling from New York to San Francisco via the canal only has to go 6,000 miles.

The concept of a Canal near Panama dates to the early sixteenth century. The first attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under French leadership, but was abandoned after 21,900 workers died, mainly from disease and landslides. The United States launched a second effort, (with 5,600 more deaths) but were successful in opening the canal in 1914. The US kept control of the Canal until 1977 when US President Jimmy Carter gave the Panamanians free control of the Canal so long as Panama signed a treaty guaranteeing the permanent neutrality of the Canal that led to full Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.

As with toll bridges, ships passing through the Canal must pay a fee. This fee is usually based on the size of the ship and the most expensive toll I could find recorded was a Disney Cruise ship that paid $331K to pass through in 2008. According to the tour guide at the Canal, this fee is around the norm these days for all large ships.

In case you were wondering… it seems that they charge ANY kind of vessel that goes through this passage. The least expensive toll recorded was .36 cents charged to an adventurer that swam the Canal in 1928 (where did he keep the money)?

My husband enjoyed the tour as his engineering background sort of pre-disposes him to that enjoyment. For me–it is interesting yes, I was surprised at my interest. BUT–I have been to the Ballard Locks SO MANY TIMES (in Seattle that this to me was just the Ballard Locks, on a larger scale; and with no clam chowder restaurants within walking distance

I kid, I kid. The Canal is an amazing world wonder and its construction brought a great deal of international presence (and a bit of money) for Panama and after being in that country and meeting the wonderful people — I am very grateful for that.

Here are some pics of the Canal that we snapped:

The beginning of the Canal from our hotel in Panama City.

for more info on the Panama Canal visit this website.

To celebrate this Travel Tuesday I am attaching a video I created on my mac for my group of friends (and me) that went on a fabulous trip to Panama in December. See the scenery, the locals and underwater dive shots.

Turn on your sound, enjoy and hopefully be taken away to Panama! Happy Travel Tuesday!

If you tweet as I do, you know that Tuesday on Twitter is Travel Tuesday (#TT)! Friends and colleagues that follow each other tweet great travel sites to follow, articles and pictures that are travel related.

On Tuesdays I will be posting a picture I snapped from my own travels or from some of my very talented twitter friends! Enjoy!

Today’s #TT picture was taken in the main shopping district in Old Town Panama City, Panama at a general department store. Along with backpacks, cooking supplies and household items you can see front and center a variety of machetes to suit all of your… machete needs.