Panama City

After a great few days in the Bocas, we took a short flight and headed into Panama City. For us the highlight of Panama would be a visit to the Canal. It´s kind of weird to admit that you want to see a big Canal, but it truly is an incredible engineering marvel of the World. Once we got to Panama City we were presently surprise to find a city on the move that mixes its historical old town with a vibrant and exploding modern city where high rise apartment buildings, exploiting the city´s ocean views, are going up at a startling rate.

Our first point of call was ´Casco Viejo´ - The historical centre of Panama City. This could easily be a highlight of anyone´s visit to Panama but we´d say its probably 3-5 years away from getting there. Despite the fact that the area features many beautiful historic buildings from the 16th century, scattered 5 star hotels and restaurants and cobble-stoned streets, the area is still a bit of a work in progress as they continue to renovate more and more of the buildings which are still fairly dilapidated. Still, it was very relaxing and quaint to wander around for a couple of hours.

Also on the agenda before the Canal was a trek to the Parque Natural Metropolitano (Metropolitan Nature Park), stretching from Panama city along the Panama Canal. The park apparently has several unique bird species and other animals such as tapir, puma, alligators, etc. However our trek just revealed a couple of colorful birds and the odd turtle. Still, a relaxing walk under the canopy to avoid the city heat. The Park also offered sweeping views of the city and out to the sea which was pretty nice.

Here´s a slideshow of our time in Panama...


If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - PanamaCity

Okay....The Panama Canal. So the next day we headed off to see what all the fuss is, with what most would agree is the real highlight of Panama. We have to admit that we were both completely blown away by the canal and its functioning.

Here´s 5 quick facts about the Canal...

1. The canal consists of seventeen artificial lakes, several improved and artificial channels, and three sets of locks.The total length of the canal is 77.1 km (47.9mi).

2. A boat traveling from New York to San Francisco saves 7,872 miles by using the Panama Canal instead of going around Cape Horn.

3. Tolls for the canal are based on vessel type, size, and the type of cargo carried. The most expensive toll for canal passage to date was to the container ship Maersk Dellys, which paid US$249,165.00 for passage.

4. The lowest toll paid was US$ 0.36 and was paid by Richard Halliburton who crossed the Canal swimming in 1928. The average is $80,000.

5. Each year more than 14,000 ships pass through the canal, carrying more than 205 million tons of cargo

We spent a good 4 hours at the magnificent Visitor Centre that they have set up at the Miraflores Locks on the Pacific Side of the canal. The Centre had a great interactive museum which occupied our time between watching a variety of ships that came through the canal. During our watch we saw a massive freighter, Cruise Ship and a couple of tankers...nice. The size of the boats and the speed at which they pass through the locks is truly impressive.

A great day all up at the Canal and Panama City in general.