Panama City, Panama – April 9-13, 2011

We arrived in Panama City around 5:30 p.m. on the 9^th after a 7 hour flight from Rio.  The flight seemed longer than seven hours because the plane was packed full and only had one aisle with three seats on each side, and there was only one washroom working at the back of the plane for over 100 people.  Sitting in the back row was handy to the washroom but it meant there was a crowded aisle by my seat all flight long.  However, the food was reasonably good so that almost makes up for it.

On the taxi ride to the hotel I was amazed at how new and modern Panama City looked.  There are high rises everywhere and some of them are quite unique and beautiful looking.  There is one that is like a corkscrew.  Another looks like the sails highrise in Dubai (or wherever).  There is a lot of construction going on currently so I’m not sure how old these buildings are but they all look new.  Perhaps it’s all the rain that keeps them clean and shining.  Panama City has a population of about 700,000 but it looked much bigger given the spectacular skyline.

Once the taxi turned off the main freeway and headed toward our hotel I was feeling differently about Panama City.  The hotel area is full of old buildings that are not very high, perhaps 5-6 storeys max, and they are very dark and dreary.   The streets are deserted at times and at other times there are people standing or sitting around and they don’t look like the upper echelon of society.  Of course I don’t look like I am too sophisticated either with my rather crumpled, casual clothes that don’t match and look like they should be replaced soon so you really can’t judge the area by a first glimpse of the locals.  In fact, they are very friendly.  They are eager to talk to you and they all have a story to tell or a service to offer.  You only need to be on the street for a few minutes before someone will approach you to talk.

After checking into the hotel, which was okay but not quite as expected, the search for dinner began.  There were not many viable alternatives in the nearby neighbourhood but eventually the restaurant in a nearby hotel was selected.  The meal was tasty and quite inexpensive so it turned out to be a good choice, and it was only a block away from the hotel.

It was a slow start in the morning as I tried to get some hotel and travel arrangements booked for the coming weeks.  Eventually breakfast was in order and it turned out the hotel restaurant was not open on Sundays so everyone had to go to a restaurant down the street.  The meal was good and all I had to pay for was my large orange juice so it was a good deal.  

A bit later we took a walk to old town or Casco Antigua.  From the hotel the route went about six blocks towards the water and crossed a major highway to get to the walkway along the Bay of Panama and the Pacific Ocean.  We followed the walkway all the way to the old town and it was a nice relaxing walk.  There were lots of people out walking, jogging, riding bikes, etc.  To the right the old town with its low colonial buildings sits on a peninsula jutting out into the water and to the left there is another peninsula jutting out but covered with the modern high rises of the new town.   Our hotel was about half way between the two.

The old town is going through a major renovation and when it is completed it will be really nice.  Right now it is still very much in the reconstruction phase.  There are large wonderful old buildings that have been renovated and look magnificent and there are a lot of rundown buildings and empty shells of buildings.   Some of the streets are great places to walk and some of them are quite questionable.  The walled city was built in this location on the peninsula in 1673 as it was easier to defend on both sides by the pirate Henry Morgan.   The original city location had already been raided several times.  This newer sight was the hub of activity for Panama City until the start of the 20^th century.  After 1920 the area became less important and businesses started to leave the area.  As the people and business moved out of the area, the homeless and others moved in.  These squatters eventually occupied the whole of the old town and the area became very run down.  About ten years ago the area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and the work was started to revitalize the whole area. 

Most of the buildings in the old town are two to four storeys and they are quite large European-style buildings.   Some are painted pastel colours like blue, pink and yellow while others are white or brick shades.  Many have white trim.  The doors are often arched and the windows decorated and with small individual balconies or narrow balconies the length of the building.  Many of the corner bricks are also painted different colours. 

The streets in the area are very narrow and a few are cobblestone.  There are several parks or squares in the old town as well as statues and memorials.  One plaza, the Plaza de Francia, is a memorial to France’s attempt at building the canal and to the people who died in the attempt.  There is an obelisk in the plaza with a rooster on top and you can see the rooster from quite a distance.  Supposedly it represents France in some way but I never did make the connection between France and a rooster. 

Plaza Bolivar recognizes the South American leader Simon Bolivar, who has been recognized in almost every city we’ve been in.   The National Theatre is located on this square and is still operational.  Built in 1908 and restored in 1974, it is a very impressive building from the outside but we did not make it in side as it was closed.  The building is huge and the colour scheme on the outside of the building is very unique because it is pale pink, yellow, blue and white in various parts, which is something you don’t see every day.  However, since it’s a huge building the colour scheme works and I quite liked it.  

The wall of the old town is clearest on the point behind this plaza.  This was the main fortification of the city and it also served as a prison and barracks over the years.  Along the city wall there were vendors selling their handicrafts and there were lots of people out strolling in the area.  When we looked farther down the shore from this point we saw people playing baseball on the sand (low tide) and it looked like a lively game but it had finished before we got there.  

There were several churches in the old town.  One of the highlights was to see the golden altar at the San Jose Church but we never did find that one.  We found the remains of the Church of Santo Domingo and saw the flat arch.  It is apparently important as it was an attempt to tell the world that Panama was a safe place to build a canal because the area does not have earthquakes.  Since the arch is still standing and still horizontal, and the canal has been working continually for almost a century, I guess they proved their point.   We also saw several other churches but from the outside only.  The cathedral is impressive on the outside as its towers are inlaid with mother of pearl.  It took over 100 years to build the cathedra back in the 17^th century.  It is overlooking the Plaza de la Independencia where the founding fathers declared independence from Colombia in 1903.  The plaza has a large gazebo in the centre and that’s where I sat to enjoy an ice cream cone for lunch.   The Canal Museum was also on this square but it was closing so we could not go in.

The Presidential Palace is in the old town and it is a very impressive four-storey white building that seems to take up about three blocks.  It overlooks the Bay of Panama so has a fantastic view of the new town.   Although it is no longer the home of the president, it is still used as executive offices and visitors are not allowed in.  It is also called Palazio de las Garzas or Palace of the Herons because there are supposed to be herons around the area but I did not see any. 

After we left the old town we walked back along the water and continued on to the new town.  Part way there we were caught in a real downpour but managed to get rain gear on quickly and then find cover under the awning of a parking lot control booth.  We then continued on to a mall, which we knew would be open and dry and likely have restaurants.  Our lunch had been an ice cream cone so dinner was a definite priority.  We ended up eating at an Arabian restaurant and my meal was absolutely delicious.  It seemed strange eating in an Arabian restaurant in Panama but the city seems to have a little of everything, including different cultures and food from all over the world.

I also have to comment here on the buses in Panama City.  We ate our dinner outside at the mall and thee street was not far away so we heard and saw the street scene.  Much of the street noise comes from the local public buses.  They each have a driver and another person who continually screams to anyone on the street to tell them where the bus is going.  And it seems you can catch these buses anywhere on the street.  There are some designated bus stops but in fact they will pick you up anywhere along the route.  You simply have to wave at them and they will stop.   And just to make sure that their “caller” is heard, the buses honk their horns in various melodies that are long and loud.  The final thing about these buses is that they are old school buses from the US but in order to get rid of the school bus image, they are painted in bright colourful designs that really catch your attention.  I never figured out whether the same bus always took the same route so one could recognize their bus by its colour or if the buses changed routes all the time.  Regardless, they were colourful and they did liven up the street scene.

And while I’m on the topic of sounds I have to add a comment about a visit to a bank.  We had to deposit some money into an account to hold the condo we are currently staying in.  We went to the bank and stood in line for probably an hour.  There were two lines for the tellers.  One was for seniors and the other was for the rest of the population.  I wasn’t sure what their senior’s age was so I did not go into that line.  Both lines moved very slowly and I was probably there for close to an hour.  I actually needed that time though as I had the wrong form filled out so the lovely lady in front of me had to get me the right form and tell me how to fill it out.  Their forms have no English on them and there were many different ones so it was hard to know which one to use.  Anyway, the bank is very large and open and looks very modern but, even aside from the lineup, things are definitely done differently than back home.  People making deposits still had carbon paper between the sheets and one guy had some other forms he was working with and he must have pulled out at least 20 carbons.  The tellers also had to stamp everything and that was what I found really interesting.  Each one of the tellers had his/her own routine and each was distinctive and rhythmic.  One of the ladies used a fast thump/thump/thump/THUMP each time she had to stamp something and sometimes she had a lot of stamping to do at one time so the rhythm seemed to go on indefinitely.  Another used a thump/thump/THUMP and another thump/THUMP.  The only male teller in the group deviated from the format and used a THUMP/thump with pauses between.  And this all may sound quite trivial (because it is!) but the sound was amazing.  I’m sure someone could have composed a song from the sounds and made a fortune of it.  All I could do was smile.  

On the 11^th we went to see the Panama Canal at the Miraflores Locks.  The visitors centre is a four storey building with a theatre on the first floor, a museum on floors one, two and three, a restaurant on two, a special event area on three, and an observation deck on four as well as seated and covered viewing area on two.   Most tours drive you to the visitors’ centre and give you 2.5 hours to check everything out and then take you back.  We spent at least four hours there as it really was quite fascinating.  And it cost us less than what a tour would have cost.

The viewing areas were great and there was a commentator telling us what was going on.  He was excellent and switched between English and Spanish perfectly.  There are two lanes each with two locks at this location where the water level changes by 54 meters, 27 in each lock.  The boats go from Pacific to Atlantic in the morning and from Atlantic to Pacific in the afternoon.  I think they go both ways at night when no one is there to watch.  Small sailboats went through around noon between the direction shift.  The big ships included tankers, bin storage units and container ships but no cruise ships.  One of the container ships had well over 1,000 containers on it.  They were 19 rows along the length of the boat and 13 across the width of the boat and they were piled 7 high.  That’s over 1,700 containers that could be accommodated.  In this case there were some shorter stacks so I’m not sure how many were really on deck.  The ships pay by container capacity, not number of containers actually carried, so I guess it pays to pile on as many as possible.  This container ship was 106 feet across and the canal itself is only 110 feet so there was very little room for error.  They have “mules” that run on a track beside the canal and ensure that the ship doesn’t hit the edges.  Each “mule” cost over $2 million (and that would be US dollars sine Panama uses the US dollar), weighs 50 tons and has an engine power of 290 horsepower.

The entire canal includes five locks with two on the Atlantic side, two on the Pacific side and one in the middle.  All of the locks have twin channels.  The 50 mile passage also includes a couple of man-made lakes and a couple of rivers as well as the Calebra Cut which is 8 miles long and 85 feet above sea level, the highest part in passage.   The French tried to build the canal from 1880 to 1900 but malaria and yellow fever and torrential rains and many other things prevented them from succeeding.  The US took over in 1903 and completed the canal in 1914.  The US controlled the area until 1979 when they negotiated with Panama and agreed to a December 31, 1999 transfer of ownership.  Since 2000, Panama has owned and controlled the canal and they are now in charge of the expansion that will see a third channel built with locks that are wider and longer and deeper so the new larger ocean liners can go through the canal. 

It was interesting to note that King Carlos V ordered the first survey for a canal in 1524.  It was also interesting to know that one of the reasons the US managed to succeed in building the canal was that they took the time right at the start to eliminate yellow fever and malaria.  The filled in all the swampy areas, bricked the wet muddy roads, cut the grasses and cleared the area and probably used a few sprays as well but at least they literally eliminated both diseases.  They also put in a water purification system that means the water today is pure and clean and can be enjoyed straight from the tap, which is a real benefit.  And speaking of water, I was amazed to learn that the canal locks do not recycle water and in fact they use well over 50% of the water in the Panama watershed.  The new channel will recycle the water.  Tolls for the canal average just over $100,000 per ship based on size and tonnage and displacement.  The highest toll ever paid was almost $400,000 and the lowest was $.36 but that was for a swimmer who swam the whole channel.  Can you tell that the museum was really well done and had lots of information in it? 

On the 12^th we took a taxi to the far end of the causeway and then walked back enjoying the sights and lunch along the way.  It wasn’t quite what I expected but it was nice to be out in the fresh air.  There are three small islands at the end of the causeway and the causeway just joins them to the mainland.  We had lunch in one of the restaurants right on the water overlooking the yachts in the harbour and it was quite relaxing.  From the causeway you can see all of the ships lined up and waiting to go through the canal.  I started counting at one point and I’m pretty sure there were over 30 ships there.  In the distance it’s sometimes hard to tell which way they are facing but I think these ones were all waiting to enter the canal. 

One of the tourist attractions on the causeway or islands is the Punta Culebra Nature Centre run by the Smithsonian Institute.  We wandered around the trails, which didn’t take too long, and read all the interpretive signs about the shoreline and things like the crabs and tidal pools and mangrove trees.  There were tanks with turtles and fish, a small aquarium, and touch pools where you could touch lovely things like star fish or creepy things like sea cucumbers.  There was also a dry trail through the forest and on that trek we only saw one very large iguana up in a tree.  The signs were definitely informative but other than that there really wasn’t much to see.

Dinner tonight was at the hotel restaurant as their picture of a pizza looked delicious.  It wasn’t as good in actuality but it still hit the spot.  Just before dinner I visited the department store at the corner.  It is six floors of everything from groceries to clothes to furniture to sports equipment and everything in between.  It’s quite amazing and the prices are really low.  The only strange thing about it is that there are guards at the door and they carry really big guns that look like machine guns to me.  Our area may not be the safest in town but it certainly doesn’t seem that bad!  Anyway, I got my M&Ms and left.   The next evening and the last morning I was in town I went over and did more shopping.  It really was a huge store with six floors and it had everything.  The guards were still there even during the day time and the place was always busy.  I bought clothes for the child I sponsor and three other members of her family in Cali, Colombia.  My next stop is a visit there so that will be in an upcoming blog.