Panama - There's a Canal Here Apparently

So, we are now in Panama. A long way from Bolivia. How did this happen? Well, our original plan was to get to Panama by land and sea. We were going to travel up the Western side of South America, through Peru and Equador, and then get a boat from Colombia. We were hoping to arrive in Panama around mid June.

Due to us not quite realising how big South America actually is (particularly Argentina - it's massive!) we found ourselves in La Paz, Bolivia on June 22nd. For the geographically challenged - that is roughly 1500 miles away from Panama City. Getting there by mid June seemed unlikely. It was time to get a flight.

4 flights to be exact. A direct flight was ridiculously expensive, and way way out of our budget range, so we went with the classic La Paz (Bolivia) - Lima (Peru) - San Salvador (El Salvador) - San Jose (Costa Rica) - Panama City (Panama), route. After much sleeping in airports we eventually arrived at our destination, and booked into a hostel in the middle of Casco Viejo - a very picturesque, slightly run-down part of the city. We were in Central America!

Now, Panama is famous for two things: Panama hats, and some kind of canal thingy. We reasoned that if we managed to experience both of these things in just one day, then we'd be winning as far as cultural experiences go. So, after a day of catching up on sleep, we made our way 10 miles west of the city, to the Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal ...



At Miraflores there is a great viewing deck 5 stories above the locks, giving visitors an unobstructed view of boats passing through. Whilst this is going on, a semi-comprehensible man shouts facts at you through a megaphone. Here are some of his best:

- The canal is 80km long, and over 14,000 ships pass through each year.
- Ships pay according to weight, with the average cost currently at $30,000.
- The amounts paid seem like a lot, but the alternative (2 weeks of dangerous travel circumnavigating Cape Horn) would run much higher in crew and fuel costs.
- The least paid was 36 cents in 1928 by Richard Halliburton. He swam through.
- 3 sets of locks are needed to raise each ship 85ft through the canal, and a further 3 are needed to lower it back to sea level. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans are around the same height, but the canal passes over hills requiring these locks.
- Due to the locks, it takes over 8 hours for a single ship to pass through. - A new $5 billion project has just been launched to widen and deepen the canal, more than doubling the size of ship that can use it. This work is due to be completed in 2015.

OK that's more than enough facts. Seeing the ships go though was great to watch, despite it being a very slow process. We were there for two hours and only saw 3 ships pass by!

However, we failed to see any Panama hats at Miraflores, so we hurried back to Casco Viejo to complete our tasks for the day. We saw disappointingly few people wearing them (and no Panamanians) but fortunately we found some in a shop under the sign "Please Don't Take Pictures With The Hats". The following pictures therefore were taken surreptitiously behind a bookcase:

PS. "Panamanian" is now my favourite word.