San Lorenzo fort and Gatun Locks

This morning, I wake up early to catch the train to go to Colon, on the Pacific Coast. This train goes along the canal and is very famous, but I heard it was difficult to get a ticket so I arrived at the station at 6 am. I understood quickly why. This train is for workers who live in Panama and go to Colon to work everyday. They is only a wagon for tourists and it's quite small, so places are limited.

Anyway I got on board! Built at the same time as the canal, the rail fell into disrepair but in 1998 the Panama Government partnered with Kansas City Southern, an American-based railway holding company, to create the Panama Canal Railway Company. In 2001 was introduced a passenger service.
It take 1 hour to travel the 76 km and 304 bridges and culverts. A nice trip looking on the Canal and Gatun lake.

On the train, I met Alan and Alan, 2 guys traveling together from UK and Canada. And we decided to take a taxi together to visit Lorenzo fort and Gatun Locks. But here in Panama all the touristic activities are very expensive. They started to ask USD80!! but we arrived to get down to USD30!

Fort San Lorenzo is perched at the mouth of the Rio Chagres on a promontory west of the Canal. Built in 1595, by order of Philip II of Spain, the fort was under constant pirate attack. It was abandoned in 1821 by Spain when Panama became independent. The fort was subsequently used as a Colombian prison, a post office for English mail and a campsite for gold miners en route to California.

Then we went to the Gatun locks, the first one coming from the Caribbean sea and the last one coming from the Pacific. It raises southbound ships 29.5 metres from Caribbean waters to the level of Lago Gatun.
You can have a good view on the locks, better than at the Miraflores locks. We saw the last ship for the day entering the canal and the first ship getting out of the canal. So it was quite interesting.

After a quick lunch, we took a bus back to Panama City for my last night in town. Tomorrow I'm leaving at 8:25 am to go back to Guatemala. Bye bye Panama, I'll be back!

Day at Taboga Island

Today I decided to go to Taboga Island, a small island at 20 kilometres offshore from Panama City. As it was Sunday the ferry was full of families going to the beach for the day.
First settled by the Spanish in 1515, the island has only one road and no traffic.

I decided first that I needed a bit of exercise, i decided to hike to Cerro de la Cruz hill. It was so hot that I thought I was going to faint... but I'm strong and got to the top where I had a beautiful view on the Island. I enjoyed the silence of the place and the beautiful view, until some others tourists arrived. So I decided to go back to town and find a quiet spot close to the water.

I thought I found the perfect spot... until some jetski came to make some noise... but I had a new friend, a small dog who decided to follow me. At least animals love me!

Back at the hostel, all red by the sun, for an other quiet evening. I haven't been out at night since I have been in Panama but I'm not looking to. Am I getting older? I guess I just want to enjoy the day. the day is for the ones who wake up early, don't we say??

Panama Viejo and the Metropolitan Natural Park

This morning, I decided to go and visit Panama Viejo which are the remains of the old city built by the Spanish in 1519. I wanted to go by bus but after waiting for 20 mn I took a taxi and ended up paying USD8 (because it's Saturday said the driver... right!)

Founded on August 15, 1519, by Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias de Avila, the city of Panama was the first settlement along the Pacific. In 1671, 1200 pirates led by Henry Morgan confronted the Spanish infantry who fall to pieces. Soon after everything of value was either plundered and divided up or destroyed by fire. In 1976 the government declared the ruins a protected area but most of the old city had already been dismantled and overrun.

After I decided to go for a short hike at the Metropolitan Natural Park, a 265 hectares of tropical semideciduous forest within the city limits. I saw a few birds and animals, and went to the Mirador where you can have a great view on the city and area. It was nice to get away from the hot weather and enjoy the fresh forest for a few hours.

Visit of an embera village in Panama

The one thing I really wanted to do during my trip in Panama was to visit an Embera Village. After searching on the internet, I decided to book with Anne Gordon who is an american woman who married a guy from an Embera Village. The day tour costs USD90.00 but it's really worthit!

At 7:00 am, Anne came to pick me up and after picking up everybody we head to the Chagres National Park on the road to Colon. The National Park has 4 Embera Villages and Embera' Puru is the farthest and less visited. We were the only one today so it was nice. We took a 45 minute dugout canoe trip on the river to get to the village.

The village has 24 families with a total of 114 persons. Kids go to school in a neighboor village until 6 grade, founded by the government. So at least all kids can speak Spanish and can read and write. Then if they want to continue school, they have to go to Panama City which is a big step. Anna has created a scholarship program to help some of the kids to study in a private school in Panama City. 3 students has finished high school last year and one is going to University. Which is really exciting for them!

People wear almost no clothes. Men wear only a tissue to hide their intime parts and have their bodies covered with painting. Women wear a colourful skirt (made in Japan with designs from the village). But with the heat, you wish you were like them!

We spent the day in the village, learing more about the culture, seeing traditional dances, doing a short hike in the jungle to learn about medicinal plants, and having tatoos! I did my left arm, it's supposed to last for 10 days so let's see ;)

We went with a young movie director and his crew who are planing to do a film in the village. They are from the States but Andrew, the director, has a Panamian mother and grand father. There was too the director of a TV from Venezuela named Latina Producciones who want to shot a small documentory on the ecotourism in the village. Seems they are very famous :o)

We were back at Panama City by 6 pm. To see my pictures, click here

5 days in Panama, discovery of the City

After 6 months in Guatemala, I needed to get out of the country for 72 hours to renew my visa. I heard about Panama from friends so when I saw a special offer to go there I decided to book a flight in March.

Yesterday I left Xela at 8 am to go to Guatemala City to catch my flight to Panama with a connection in San Jose, Costa Rica. After a long day traveling, I arrived in Panama City at 9:30 PM. I took a shared taxi to the hostel I'm staying. On the road from the airport, we passed in front of the huge skycrappers and steel towers that are growing like flowers. The residents of Panama often joke that Panama is the "Miami from the South", except that more English is spoken.

After a short night, I decided to go to the Miraflores Locks to see the famous canal. I decided to go there by public buses, after all I'm a world traveler and nothing scare me! Took a first bus to the terminal then found a second bus which brought me to the locks. All for only US$O.50! Here they use the old american school buses into the city and you pay the driver when you get off. You have to look on the front window for the name of the destination.

The Miraflores Locks were built in 1913 and stand at the Pacific entrance of the Canal. The canal is stretching on 80 kilometres from Panama City on the Pacific coast to Colon on the Atlantic coast. About 35 boats cross it everyday and pay up to US$126,000 of canal fees. But if they don't come through the Canal they will have to go via the Cap Horn and that will take them 2 to 3 more weeks. Crossing the canal takes 24 hours for big boats.
When I was at the Locks I saw 2 big boat crossing. Quite a spectacle!
The Canal was built by the American but in 1999 it was given to the Panamian Government.

Then I decided to take a taxi to Casco Viejo. Living in Guatemala teached me to negociate all prices and I'm getting good at it ;) I paid $5 instead of $8. Casco Viejo is the home of the last remnants of the City's colonial heritage. I especially liked the Plaza de Francia dedicated to the 22,000 workers, most of them from France, Guadeloupe and Martinique, who died during the construction of the Canal.

Back at the hostel, I realized that my camera was doing some strange noise. Oh no! It's not the time to let me down. As i was planing to buy a new camera here (because it's cheaper due to low taxes), I decided to do it today. I went to one of the big shoping center of the city and found one nice camera. So will try it tomorrow! How exciting!

To see pictures of my trip, click here