Ron and Sally Jo Blog

We finally got to the day when we boarded and started the Panama Canal tour.  Our boat was a catamaran that held 24 passengers.  It was docked in a small marina with other yachts—some very large!  The captain and crew were very friendly.  Our rooms were small but very adequate and we had wonderful food on board.

Our first visit was to Taboga Island which had originally served as a get-away for the white canal workers.  Known as the “Island of Flowers;” San Pedro is a colorful village.  Visited the second oldest continuously used church in the Western Hemisphere.  Built in 1527.  Paul Gauguin visited here in 1887.

The next morning our boat got in line ready to go through the first two sets of locks when we got the signal.  Every boat/ship (no matter how large or small) must have a Panama Canal pilot on board—and fly the Panama flag.  We went through the Miraflores and the Pedro Miguel locks.  We were teamed up with another small boat and 2 tugboats to go through the locks.

We traveled through the Culebra Cut.  This is a cut through the Continental Divide that was considered one of the great engineering feats of the time.  “Hundreds of large steam drills bored hoes in which were planted tons of dynamite which blasted the rock … so that it could be excavated by steam shovels…  Dozens of … trains took the spoil from the shovels to the landfill dumps about … 12 mile away.” … “Six thousand men worked in the cut, drilling holes, placing explosives, controlling steam shovels, and running the dirt trains.”  (Wikipedia)  We had seen part of this cut when we took the boat to the Embera village.  They need to continuously dredge the area because of landslides.  The Canal officials do not feel confident that it is wide enough for two large ships to pass in the Cut.  So it is single-lane.  Ships going north pass along the cut in the morning and ships going south travel in the afternoon.

While anchored in Gatun Lake we had time to do some kayaking and took a boat trip around Tiger Islands.  (Not sure why it is called “Tiger!”)  Saw spider monkeys, several sloths, and some birds.

The following morning we went to the Canal Expansion Observation Center overlooking the new larger lock.  While there we were able to see a ship go out of the lock and another go into the lock.  On our return to our boat we saw a manatee which was a highlight for our guide since he had not seen one in 5 years.  We also saw several coatis which reminded us very much of raccoons.

When we got the call that we could go through the locks we went through the older Gatun locks with what seemed like a HUGE ship; it was carrying cars.

We docked at a small marina about 10 miles from Colona, an old town.  There was a large old sail boat also docked here.  We took a short walk where we saw a church and an army battery and bunker.  Both were abandoned by the U.S. in the 1990s.  It is amazing to see how fast the jungle will take over when it is not kept at bay. Later that evening we had a rum tasting – 3 different agings.

The next morning our bus picked us up to bring us back to Panama City.  It is only 50 miles between the two ends of the canal.

We stopped at Fort San Lorenzo, a preserved colonial military structure at the mouth of the Chagres River.   On the road we saw both howler and capuchin monkeys.  (However, no photos!)

We also saw the Gatun Dam constructed between 1907 and 1913, creating the Gatun Lake, a necessary component of the Canal.  When it was built it was the largest earthen dam in the world and the Lake the largest artificial lake in the world.  The hydro-electric station generates electricity used to operate the locks and other equipment of the canal.

 

We drove southwest out of Panama City, crossing the Bridge of the Americas.  We spent a couple a days in the Azuero Peninsula learning the culture of this area.  We stopped in La Chorrera where we visited a “drive-by” vegetable market.  Cars do drive slowly down this street and buy vegetables and fruits.  We bought 3 pineapples for $2.00!  (I forget the name of the red fruit pictured; I just remember that it can be made in to a drink.  Anyone help me?)

We proceeded to the home of Edita where we participated in making and eating twice-fried green plantains and once-fried ripe plantains plus some fresh pineapple and pineapple drink.  The green plantains were cut, fried till nearly soft, smashed, and then fried again.

We then briefly rode a “chicken” bus – one of the normal rural buses – just for the experience.  Also called “Red Devil” buses; they are individually owned.

We stopped in La Pintard where we saw the Panamanian Painted Hat.  These are the REAL Panamanian hats!  They have been made for 200 years and are all hand-made – there are no factories to make them.  They use 4 types of plants (though we have photos of only 3) and weave the fibers.  There are about 60 different styles of braids, each having a different meaning.  The hat maker was also an artist.

Sally Jo went on an early morning hike to a fascinating National Park that might be considered a desert.  On the route she felt like she was driving on the rural roads of Kenya to visit student teachers.  The narrow dirt bumpy road with lots of acacia and eucalyptus trees and cattle.  The area was very dry and one could see the results of dry wind and lack of water.  They have started a shrimp farm which helps stop the strong winds and some areas are slowly being restored.  Saw interesting formations which had hard volcanic rock in the center but the dry dirt around it is “dissolving the rock.”

We went to Iguana Island which has a beautiful sandy beach.  It was a windy day and the boat rides both to and from the island were quite rough.  The photos don’t really show the high waves.  We got wet!  (Of course in the cove of the island it was calm.)  The island was a beautiful relaxing spot.  We took a walk across the island through the jungle to a smaller rocky/sandy beach on the other side.  We also saw the indications of where the US practiced bombing in case they needed to protect the canal.

Another day we stopped at a a lovely peaceful chapel in Chitre before going on to Las Tablas.  Las Tablas is recognized as the center of Panamanian folk art, music, literature, culture.  Las Tablas has the 2^nd or 3^rd largest Carnival of Latin America celebration.  200,000 to 300,000 people descend on the town with a population of 9,000.   “… the city splits into two competing factions, “Calle Arriba” (Uptown, literally “Street Above”) and “Calle Abajo” (Downtown / Street Below), both centred on two streets of the same name. Each faction will have a carnival queen, a parade, fireworks, music, a decorated plaza, food stands, presentations, concerts, surveys, games, contests, etc., all attempting to overpower the other faction’s efforts.” (Wikipedia)  A queen is chosen for each side.  There are contests between the floats which she rides and the clothes that she wears.  A parade happens twice a day for three days.  The queen wears a new outfit each time and rides a different float each time.  Extravagance!!!

We stopped at a workshop where grandiose Carnival floats are created.  Each side keeps secret their theme until the float appears.  The person designing the floats devises a way so that people working on various parts of the float do not have an idea of what the final result will be.   The creations are made out of Styrofoam.

We stopped at the home of a person who designs and makes headpieces for the Carnival and other celebrations.  We stopped at another home where they design many of the polleras or dresses for celebrations.  The lavish embroidered pollera has been adapted as the national costume of Panama.  Traditionally, polleras are white with a full, two-tier skirt, and are hand-embroidered with details that increase the value of the garment from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

We saw leather sandals being made.

Children demonstrated some of the folk dances.

We visited a man who makes masks for the “Red Devil” dances which are held especially during the Fiesta del Corpus Christi in June but also throughout the year.  The dances impersonate the fight between the devil and God.  He starts with molding the clay.  (Two of the tour members worked along with him.)  He sun-dries the clay mask, covers it with vaseline and then covers it with paper mache.  By using vaseline, when everything is dry, he can carefully cut the paper mache and use the clay mold again.  Takes about 4 days.  A young man then demonstrated the dance showing us the costume plus the mask. The costume must be red and black having a tail with a bell.  The dancer carries a stick, has castanets in each hand and wears leather sandals.  Dancers perform 4-6 hours at a time.

Our last visit in the Azuero province was to a fishing village.  On the way we passed the largest salt farms in western Panama.  Ernesto, our fisherman, said that he remembers when there were a lot of fish, and also dolphins and sea turtles near the beach.  No longer.  There are government regulations but they are not enforced.  Ernesto makes his own nets by hand—takes 2-3 weeks and can be 150 metres of netting.  We also observed  large wind turbines.

Our hotel that night was near the International Jazz Festival.  A small group provided a free hour of music at the hotel.  Our room at the hotel looked out over the first set of locks of the Canal.

 

 

 

We flew from Panama City to David, capital of Chiriqui Province, (35 min flight) and then a bus ride to Boquete (another 35 min) where we would be staying the next three nights. Chiriqui means “Valley of the Moon.”  With its more moderate temperatures it is an agricultural province.  Boquete means “sinkhole” and is located in the hole of a volcano that last erupted 400 years ago.  Eighty percent of Panama is at sea level to 500 feet.  The highest point is the edge of the volcano at 11,400 feet which is the highest point in Central America.  We could see this point from our hotel.  Since this is higher ground, many of the residents of Boquete are retirees.  It was definitely a much cooler place than Panama City!  (We also celebrated Ron’s birthday!)

We visited a honey bee farm and had a honey tasting.  They have about 40 different flavors—depending on the floral source to various infusions. Ginger, cinnamon, cocoa, etc.  They teach how to care for the bees and the variety of forage.

Since this is higher elevation than most of the rest of the country, 80% of the vegetable crops of Panama are grown here.  We saw large vegetable fields, orange groves.  The biggest exports for Panama are bananas, pineapples, and watermelons.  Farmers sometimes join cooperatives so that it is easier to sell their products.  They often will make “puercas” – large plastic bags filled with a variety of vegetables.  A family can buy one of these and get a variety of vegetables cheaper than buying the individual items in a supermarket. We stopped at a cooperative where farmers can take their produce which is then sold as “puercas” or individually.  We bought two bags and delivered them to a family farther down the road that our tour leader knew and said could use them.

One day we drove higher up in the highlands (close to 7000 ft).  Along the way we stopped to see a deep gorge created by the volcano.  We also saw “leaf carrying ants.”  We could follow them down the tree trunk, across a long stretch of ground, to their hole.  Fascinating.  We visited the “Finca Dracula” Orchard Nursery.  Beautiful area with some 2,000 species of orchids (some rare species) along with cloud forest type vegetation.  We also walked through their beautiful cloud forest.

We visited the small rural town of Cerro Punta where we climbed a hill to look out over the valleys.  We found the use of old tires in making steps for the trail interesting.  We saw the horse farm which we later visited.  They breed highly prized thoroughbreds who have gone on to win some of the top racing prizes in Central and South America.

On our last morning in the highlands, we opted to do the Canopy Walk – on hanging bridges.  We hiked up through the “cloud forest” and walked over 6 hanging bridges—some of which were quite long and very high above ground in the forest.  We saw a sloth curled up in one tree.  The path was quite steep at times and somewhat slippery with big steps.  It was heart-pounding going up because of exertion and altitude and heart-pounding going down because of fear of slipping!  It was a beautiful area.

Before leaving Boquete we stopped at the flower and coffee fair.  It had opened the night before and would run for about 10 days.  It felt much like our county fairs in the U.S.

 

We arrived a day early and spent the first day on our own.  We visited Ancon Hill, the highest point in Panama City where we had good views in three directions.  Ancon Hill is an area that was used for the administration when building the Panama Canal.  We walked through lovely rain forest to the top (about 30 minutes).  The Panamanian flag at the top is about the size of a basketball court!  The largest flag in Panama.    It is a symbol of national sovereignty after the 1977 signing of the Torrijas-Carter treaty which gave the canal land back to Panama.   The flag was at half-mast the day we visited because it was a holiday – “Martyrs ’Day”, a national day of mourning.  The day commemorates the January 9, 1964 riots over sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone.  The riot started after a Panamanian flag was torn and some students were killed during a conflict with Canal Zone Policy officers and Canal zone residents.

On the first day of the tour we walked along the beach beside the Pacific Ocean (Cinta Costera = Coastal Beltway).  Much of the area that we walked is new land, created by bringing dirt from the widening of the canal and placing it here around 1980.  Lovely landscaping with lots of possibilities for recreation.

We visited the colonial part of town—Balboa.  Walking through a market and along some streets.  We had a coke in the historic Coca-Cola Cafe, built over 100 years ago.  Many political meetings have taken place here with famous visitors, including Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Evita Peron, and Jimmy Carter.  We saw buildings bombed by the U.S. when they were trying to capture Manuel Noriega in 1989.  We saw an ancient “horizontal” brick arch which was used to prove to some US politicians (who wanted the canal in Nicaragua rather than Panama) that there were no earthquakes in Panama!

We visited several Catholic churches, one which was built in the Spaniards’ time.  We also visited a Panama hat shop – even though the real “Panama hat” is made in Ecuador!

In the evening we talked to a group of women who are part of a community protesting against the government about their land.  Balboa was made a World Heritage site.  When that happened part of the agreement was that the government would build some residential buildings so that the people who were born and lived on this land would have a home.  Instead the government sold the land to large commercial developers.  There are about 28 families protesting—sitting in the spot 24 hours/day for 4 months already.

We stopped to see the Panama Canal administration building.  It was built on an 85 feet artificial hill to represent the difference in height of the up and down of the canal.  The palm trees in front are in the shape and size of a lock.  A memorial as high as a lock with the names of three locks on the Pacific side is in front of the Administration building.  The Balboa High School is nearby – the site of the January 9 riot.

We took several excursions out of the City.  We visited SOS Children’s Village. This is an international organization which began work in Panama in the 1980s.  They provide homes with “aunties” who care for children who may come from abusive homes or poor homes.  They try to provide a stable home environment until they are either adopted or returned to the parents, or can be independent.

We visited the Harpy Eagle Research Station.   The Harpy is the national bird of Panama.  Also in this area they protect other birds and animals—ones who have been hurt, etc.  Saw macaws, tapir, falcons, etc.

We drove to Gamboa (which is about half-way along the canal) to visit an Embera village.  We first took a small boat into the canal to get our first real look at the canal.  In our small boat, the ships looked very large!  Then we went under a bridge and up the Chagras river which is the main source of water for the canal. Embera are indigenous people of Panama and Columbia.   We visited the village of Katoma which was founded in 1958 by a group of Embera moving up from the Darien region of Panama.  The founder helped train seven astronauts, including John Glenn, in case they landed in the jungle.  He passed away 5 years ago at the age of 97.  They now make their main income in tourism.  We had a lunch in one of the homes—fried tilapia and fried plantain plus some melon.  The wife also drew tattoos (hummingbirds) for each of us from a black dye made from the jaguar fruit.  There are only about 50-70 people in this village.  They performed some dances for us.

Later we took an evening boat ride on the Chagras River.  We saw egrets, heron, fish, bats, caiman, and crocodile.  (It was difficult to get photos in the dark!)