A man. A plan. A canal.
Sunday November 12, 2023
Panama surprised me. It’s the thirtieth country I’ve visited! Our Uber driver, José (Phoebe pronounced it Josie), picked us up from Tocumen International Airport and we drove straight to Miraflores Locks, the Panama Canal Visitor’s Center. I thought there were no ships scheduled to pass through the canal today but we saw three; two on the old canal and one in the distance, on the expanded canal. The ships take around ten hours to complete the 50 mile journey from one end to the other, so things move very slowly but extremely precisely. On the old locks, eight locomotives drag the boat through each section as it provides more control than a tugboat. Once inside, the locks are filled with water to raise the ship to the next level, or drained to lower the ship, depending on the direction of travel. The process is fascinating to watch, and it truly is a marvel of modern engineering. After watching a couple of ships pass by, we saw a film about the construction of the canal, narrated by Morgan Freeman.
We rushed for dinner in one of the trendy neighbourhoods by the waterfront. The food was interesting, it was unlike any flavour profile I’ve experienced, and it was very rich. We had a bit of time to walk around before taking an Uber back to the airport. One of the places we passed through was a seafood market, very much like an open air hawker stall you’d find in Malaysia, but full of salespeople desperate to fill a seat. The market was suspiciously empty for a Saturday night, but since we’d eaten already, we didn’t need to bother with them. I thought the drive to the airport would take longer and security would be a while as well, but we were very early and now we’re just chilling before our flight to Buenos Aires.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:32am on Sunday November 12, 2023 :: 0 comments :: 