Panamania

On Friday we arrived in Panama. As you can tell from the tales of tendering, the day got off to a rocky start. But it picked right up from there. Oddly enough, Panama, which was the country we were least interested in going to was absolutely fabulous and I can’t wait to come back!

We stayed on the ship until it was time for our rainforest trip to go out that afternoon. The tendering wasn’t nearly as bad as it seemed it would be. But it was a hassle, and the seas were rough that day. It took about 20 minutes to get to shore. Once there, we took a shuttle to the Gamboa Rainforest where we took an aerial tram up into the canopy of the rain forest there. We got to see a three toed sloth, some white faced monkeys, and Ricardo saw a toucan which The Kid and I missed. We also saw wild poinsettias, heliconian, wild papaya, and coral flowers. At the end of the tram ride we climbed a tower that let us look out on the Chagres River on one side, and the Panama Canal on the other.

The Chagres River was the river that was dammed to create the Gatún Lake which is where the canal gets the water it needs to move ships through the locks. We could see some of the locks from the tower but there weren’t really any ships that day.

When we got back to the ship, we realized Ricardo had left his camera at the gift shop. This created a certain amount of panic and upset. Quickly though this was replaced with a crisis of greater proportions.

It seems that some of the women from the ship (adults, not kids) decided to go to an area outside the capital city. Ricardo was just getting ready to go out with one of his students (a Panamanian) when a call came in to the purser’s desk. It was the Panamania police and they had detained these two women. It seems that when the ship passes through customs, they don’t stamp all 500 or so passports (go figure!). So when the women were stopped, and their passports unstamped, it looked like they’d come into the country illegally. But the thing is the police were also messing with them. They were in a cell, and there were a bunch of them there, and what Ricardo was getting from the police was not what the women were getting. Long story short, they were released a couple hours later, Ricardo missed the tender that would have allowed him to meet his student, but he made it out and had a great time anyway.

We decided to do two nights in the Hotel El Panamá, which was a grand old hotel with a lovely pool and a fabulous breakfast. We checked in Saturday morning, ate a gorgeous meal and headed out to the Panama Canal Museum.

I never expected the canal to be all that interesting, but this thing is amazing!! Basically. it was begun by the French who wanted to build a sea level canal (like the Suez). But it wasn’t possible. So the Americans took it over and devised a system of locks which all work with gravity. Over the course of the canal, ships are raised 85 feet and then brought down 85 feet to get out the other side. It takes 8-10 hours to get through the canal, and it costs $2/ton (so about $259,000 for a Panamax, which is the largest sized ships to go through the canal).

After the museum, we met some students for a walk around the area called Casco Viejo, or the old part of the city. This is the charming, colonial heart of town, but it’s still a little sketchy and is gentrifying, slowly.

While there we bought some molas from some of the Kuna women. The Kuna are an indigenous group of people in Panama. They create these molas by layering fabric, stitching it and cutting away layers. They are very beautiful. Originally, molas were tattooed onto the women, but when the missionaries came, they forced the women to wear clothing. So the tattoos became the molas the women make and wear.

After that we headed for a delicious meal at Casuale in the Casco Viejo. The food was phenomenal. Sort of a new Panamanian fusion type thing. The best tres leches I have ever eaten, too.

Sunday morning, we got up pretty leisurely, and then headed out to Panama Viejo. These are the ruins of the original Panama City. There was a terrific tower which we climbed that gave us a view of the entire area.

After that we headed to the Miraflores Locks hoping to see a ship come through. We spent a long time in the museum. They had a simulator that let The Kid attempt to drive a ship through the locks which was greatly enjoyed. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see a ship come through. We bailed on it and grabbed lunch/early dinner at a Portuguese place in the Casco Viejo. Great food, crappy service, totally packed.

The next day we had a trip to Portobelo and the Spanish Forts. This was the area where Henry Morgan attacked and ravished Panama City. The ruins were mostly rebuilding of the original forts, but they were pretty neat. We went to the museum that’s in the old customs house. Then we headed to the Gatún Locks where we saw not one, but two ships come through the locks. It’s amazing to see one of these huge Panamax ships drop by 20 feet in 10 minutes. It was really fascinating. From there, we took the train back to Panama City, tendered back to the ship and set sail this morning for Ecuador.