Go Flames!
Ok I had to! 7 game winning streak! Woohoo!
Anyway, today was a big day so I should get typing! We started the morning off a little slower today because the last few hours of sleep were a little um...interrupted. At around 6 am the parrots which are in a big cage out back on the patio started squaking...about every two seconds....for an hour and a half... it was kind of neat for the first minute or so because it was a sound we´d never hear at home, but it got old fast when we couldn´t get back to sleep. Needless to say when it finally shut up we wanted to get a few more winks in!
Once we got going we had a complimentary breakfast at the hostel (just some toast and juice) and then headed for Casco Viejo. This was a city that was built in 1671 after Capitan James Morgan (yep the guy they named that yummy spiced rum after) invaded and sacked Panama Viejo or ´old panama´ where the city originally sat and is now in ruins. The two areas are about 8km apart and are now connected by the current city. Our tour of Casco Viejo began with a walk along the high wall by the sea with views of the skyline of downtown Panama. From there we went to Plaza Francia where we spent about half an hour translating some large stone tablets that told the story of the conception and construction of the canal. We continued our walking tour through the narrow cobblestone streets and took in the main cathedral and the churches of san jose (with a very impressive golden baroque altar) and san fransisco de assisi. We also saw the home of the President of Panama and the cultural institute of Panama. Many of the buildings have been beautifully restored but the streets were spotted with buildings now in ruins. Otfen times the ruins would lie between or be connected to restored buildings, looking quite out of place!
From Casco viejo we took a Taxi downtown to the Plaza 5 de Mayo where we wandered a pedestrian only shopping district and had a quick look. If we didn´t have to carry all of our belongings on our backs we may have bought some very inexpensive but nice clothes...but we´re hoping maybe we will find some similar things at the end of our journey in San Jose, Costa Rica.
We were hoping to catch a but from the Plaza 5 de mayo out to the miraflores locks at the Panama Canal, but after about 15 minutes of standing on the corner in the muggy heat we didn´t see the right but pass by (and at least 40 passed in that time!) so we gave up and caught a $5 taxi to this place about 9kms out of town. At the miraflores locks we paid an $8 admission to enter the Miraflores locks musem which also had a great observation deck on the 4th floor were we watched a few boats go through the locks. For anyone who doesn´t understand the locks (because I sure didn´t before!) I´ll give you a quick rundown. There are three sets of locks in the canal which runs about 50km from from the north to south of the counrty. Ships are required to pay in cash (or by an electronic transfer of funds) 48 hours in advance of their transit through the canal. The trip through the canal takes approximately 8 hours as ships are first raised up from sea level to 26 meters above sea level where they transit into Guatun lake which is one of the largest manmade lakes in the world. Once they travel through the lake they are then lowered back to sea level by another set of locks at the opposite side of the canal. Each lock has chambers 330meters long and 33.5 meters wide where ships move up and down using the water from the Chagreas river. The first chamber of the lock will equalize with sea level by opening a valve and in 8 minutes 26 million gallons of fresh water from lake Guatun are spilled into the sea. Gate A is then opened and the ship enters the chamber. The first gate is then closed and the ship is raised by opening a valve between chamber one and two and equalizing the water between the two. Gate B is then opened and the ship moves to chamber 2 where the process is repeated to raise the boat again and move it on to chamber 3, etc. Through 4 gates and into Guatun Lake. An opposite process is then used to lower the boat at the other end.
We watched two massive cargo ships go through before heading inside to check out the 4 storey multimedia museum dedicated the the construction of the canal, the Canal watershed, and the insects and wlidlife found in the area. After checking out the museum we were back on the observation deck in time to see a very large cruise ship enter the locks. We then headed down to the second floor open air restaraunt where we enjoyed a glass of wine and some yummy chicken tacos while we waved to the tourists on the criuse ship.
We then headed back into the city and grabbed our bank cards from the hotel to make our first attempt at withdrawing money from the bank machines here. Both our cards worked so we now know we´ll be fine for finances for the rest of the trip! Yea!
After that we stopped in at a little corner store were we bought ingredients to make ourselves a spaghetti dinner at the kitchen in our hostel. And went to the supermarket to buy a bottle of Rum. The total cost of the Rum, spaghetti ingredients, including shrimp; 2L of Coke, a box of tea, a few chocolate bars and laundry detergent under $15. We might do some cooking more often!
So we came back here and cooked up a feast and planned the next few days of travel! We head west tomorrow for Penome and Aguadulce, so we´ll have more stories to tell soon!
Anyway, today was a big day so I should get typing! We started the morning off a little slower today because the last few hours of sleep were a little um...interrupted. At around 6 am the parrots which are in a big cage out back on the patio started squaking...about every two seconds....for an hour and a half... it was kind of neat for the first minute or so because it was a sound we´d never hear at home, but it got old fast when we couldn´t get back to sleep. Needless to say when it finally shut up we wanted to get a few more winks in!
Once we got going we had a complimentary breakfast at the hostel (just some toast and juice) and then headed for Casco Viejo. This was a city that was built in 1671 after Capitan James Morgan (yep the guy they named that yummy spiced rum after) invaded and sacked Panama Viejo or ´old panama´ where the city originally sat and is now in ruins. The two areas are about 8km apart and are now connected by the current city. Our tour of Casco Viejo began with a walk along the high wall by the sea with views of the skyline of downtown Panama. From there we went to Plaza Francia where we spent about half an hour translating some large stone tablets that told the story of the conception and construction of the canal. We continued our walking tour through the narrow cobblestone streets and took in the main cathedral and the churches of san jose (with a very impressive golden baroque altar) and san fransisco de assisi. We also saw the home of the President of Panama and the cultural institute of Panama. Many of the buildings have been beautifully restored but the streets were spotted with buildings now in ruins. Otfen times the ruins would lie between or be connected to restored buildings, looking quite out of place!
From Casco viejo we took a Taxi downtown to the Plaza 5 de Mayo where we wandered a pedestrian only shopping district and had a quick look. If we didn´t have to carry all of our belongings on our backs we may have bought some very inexpensive but nice clothes...but we´re hoping maybe we will find some similar things at the end of our journey in San Jose, Costa Rica.
We were hoping to catch a but from the Plaza 5 de mayo out to the miraflores locks at the Panama Canal, but after about 15 minutes of standing on the corner in the muggy heat we didn´t see the right but pass by (and at least 40 passed in that time!) so we gave up and caught a $5 taxi to this place about 9kms out of town. At the miraflores locks we paid an $8 admission to enter the Miraflores locks musem which also had a great observation deck on the 4th floor were we watched a few boats go through the locks. For anyone who doesn´t understand the locks (because I sure didn´t before!) I´ll give you a quick rundown. There are three sets of locks in the canal which runs about 50km from from the north to south of the counrty. Ships are required to pay in cash (or by an electronic transfer of funds) 48 hours in advance of their transit through the canal. The trip through the canal takes approximately 8 hours as ships are first raised up from sea level to 26 meters above sea level where they transit into Guatun lake which is one of the largest manmade lakes in the world. Once they travel through the lake they are then lowered back to sea level by another set of locks at the opposite side of the canal. Each lock has chambers 330meters long and 33.5 meters wide where ships move up and down using the water from the Chagreas river. The first chamber of the lock will equalize with sea level by opening a valve and in 8 minutes 26 million gallons of fresh water from lake Guatun are spilled into the sea. Gate A is then opened and the ship enters the chamber. The first gate is then closed and the ship is raised by opening a valve between chamber one and two and equalizing the water between the two. Gate B is then opened and the ship moves to chamber 2 where the process is repeated to raise the boat again and move it on to chamber 3, etc. Through 4 gates and into Guatun Lake. An opposite process is then used to lower the boat at the other end.
We watched two massive cargo ships go through before heading inside to check out the 4 storey multimedia museum dedicated the the construction of the canal, the Canal watershed, and the insects and wlidlife found in the area. After checking out the museum we were back on the observation deck in time to see a very large cruise ship enter the locks. We then headed down to the second floor open air restaraunt where we enjoyed a glass of wine and some yummy chicken tacos while we waved to the tourists on the criuse ship.
We then headed back into the city and grabbed our bank cards from the hotel to make our first attempt at withdrawing money from the bank machines here. Both our cards worked so we now know we´ll be fine for finances for the rest of the trip! Yea!
After that we stopped in at a little corner store were we bought ingredients to make ourselves a spaghetti dinner at the kitchen in our hostel. And went to the supermarket to buy a bottle of Rum. The total cost of the Rum, spaghetti ingredients, including shrimp; 2L of Coke, a box of tea, a few chocolate bars and laundry detergent under $15. We might do some cooking more often!
So we came back here and cooked up a feast and planned the next few days of travel! We head west tomorrow for Penome and Aguadulce, so we´ll have more stories to tell soon!
posted by Dee @ 9:38 p.m.
2 Comments:
At 8:14 p.m.,
kristen said…
and make it 8 games!
At 10:34 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
Panama...minor details. Isn't it really close to Costa Rica? Sounds like fun. Again, jealousy is kickin in.
Cindy
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