Panama is even more interesting than exp

Our first impressions of Panama are highly positive — architecture, history, and charm. They bill the country as the place where the world meets — “a land divided, the world united.”

Approximately 34 ships transit the canal each day. We saw a grain carrier, a car carrier, 2 container ships, and 2 sailboats pass through the 2 locks at Miraflores in a little over an hour. It’s quite an operation, with 4 locomotives on each side of the canal to hold the ship in place so that it doesn’t hit the side of the canal. At least 2 Panamanian pilots and as many as 4, take each ship through the canal. The entire transit takes about 10 hours.

We also toured the previous American zone, with its Victorian administrative buildings and houses. Looked similar to the American military tropical architecture at Pearl Harbor. I loved it!

Saw a great IMAX movie narrated by Morgan Freeman showed the history off the canal, quite a feat. It was started by Teddy Roosevelt in 1904 and completed in 1914.Read more