The Panama Canal and our last days in Panama City.

The Panama Canal runs Southeast to Northwest and is the shortest distance between the Pacific and the Atlantic. It saves shipping vessels 8,000 miles off of their trip around  Tierra Del Fuego. Around 27,000 workers died building the canal which opened in 1914, and is the largest and most difficult engineering project ever undertaken.  What a wonder, and I was there to see it, live and in action!!!

Note: if you are planning on visiting the Miraflores Locks aim to arrive before 11am or after 2pm as there is little to no vessel traffic during the noon hour. There is an excellent visitors center at Miraflores with a museum, a restaurant and 3 levels of observation decks.

Panama City is on the Pacific Ocean and this is where the Miraflores Locks are located. Here are ships that have gone through the Miraflores Locks and are heading through the canal to the Atlantic or Caribbean side.

The gates closing on the lock, workmen walking on them checking on closure.

The ships coming into the lock.

The ships ready and the water starting to come in to fill the lock. The higher water level is ahead of the ships.

The water in the lock is rising.

All filled up.

The ships look a lot bigger once the lock is filled as they are so much higher up. They take off for the canal lake portion of their 8 hour journey through the canal, with more locks up ahead.

My friend Steve that I had met the  night before at Hostal Amador was working on this ship. A big surprise to me to see someone I knew on a ship in the Panama Canal!

From a photograph in the museum, this shows the huge quantity of containers that go through the canal on a daily basis.

Hostal Amador, our home for the last 3 nights in Panama. I met up with Ivo and Marga from the Netherlands, and Steve was still there, also.  The second morning I opened the door and found that my friend Avichai from the Santa Clara beach had decided to come there as well. It was like old home week!!  Hostal Amador isn't in the Lonely Planet guide book, a taxi driver had taken me to it when I told him I wanted lodging near the canal. I shared this find of a place with friends I met along the way, and then I saw them again when they came to stay.

A restaurant that fancied itself a castle. Los Templarios, good food and 2 blocks from the Hostal Amador.

I went shopping near our hotel but could only take about 15 minutes of it, too much stuff and I didn't need any of it. I bought a small hand made fabric piece.

My favorite outdoor kitchen at the Hostal Amador.

I spent many hours talking, laughing telling stories with Yolanda, her daughter and Maria. That's me in the middle and this was all in spanish, a great time.  Yolanda's daughter wanted to learn how to use my camera, so I showed her how and she was a very quick learner. She took this photo, but I set it up with too high an ISO so there's lots of noise... my fault.

Yolanda, her daughter Ann Rachelle, and Maria all work at the Hostal cleaning rooms and serving breakfast. They work 10 to 12 hour days and keep a smile on their face, they were good company.

Ann Rachelle. She loved posing for the camera.

Panamanian policeman who were friends of Yolanda's coming for a visit. As we were all playing with the camera, I asked if I could take their pictures and they happily agreed.

Our last dinner in Panama at the outdoor terrace of the Balboa Yacht Club.

Thursday, March 26th we rose at 4am to take the taxi to the airport back to our respective homes: Washington DC for Ian and me, Denver for Andrew and Cleveland, Ohio for Ethan. The birders here walking to our gates at the very modern Panama City airport and a good trip was had by all.  They saw many birds over our 10 days here, and I met many, very interesting travelers.

Panama City here we are!

Panama City is a very modern thriving high rise city, one of the most contemporary in Latin America. We arrived late at night on Monday, March 16th, and after some set backs found a hotel recommended by our taxi driver. All that research I did to find the perfect place and we didn't even use it. Luna's Castle was our choice, but we erroneously panicked when we saw it in the dark, and behaved badly by not canceling our reservations and just going to another part of the city. Luna's very nicely pointed out our bad behavior, and I would say they are a first class act and we should have stayed there.

Ian and Andrew have been birding and were met up with Ethan a few days later, after his delays at Atlanta. A good thing we are all flexible when it comes to changing plans!

Today Ian and I are heading to El Valle, a village nestled in a dormant volcano crater, higher in the mountains and cooler than Panama City. Ian became sick yesterday, so the other 2 went birding this morning at 5am and Ian and I are headed to the mountains on a bus in an hour.

View of Panama City from the Causeway, a string of Islands that juts out at the entrance to the Panama Canal.

Hotel Latino was our first night hotel, not very nice but it was safe. The restaurant attached to it worked well for food and internet.

The traffic and congestion in Panama City was too much for me, so after the first night I headed out to the Canal area. Diablo Rojo buses are prevalent all over Panama, most gringos don't get on them...

Andrew and Ian having lunch the first day. Really great fruit salad!

Intrepid birders with everything they own on their backs. Way heavy!!

A much nicer place to stay, Hostal Amador in the Balboa area. My room, and after ian got sick and came back, his room, too.

A new friend I met at the Hostal Amador, we went for a beer at the canal. He works as a line handler for boats going through the canal, and is from Michigan.

The Hostal Amador Familiar

View of the entrance to the Panama Canal.

A freighter going to the locks.