Category: 2023_09 Panama

Panama

Friday – Sunday

My suite – Friday night

This first video is of the resort from my balcony on Saturday morning. To watch the videos either right click and open in a new tab or just click on it and hit the back arrow to come back to the blog. https://youtu.be/Qa3IzV9LQ40

Pretty lagoon running through the resort.

On Saturday night they had a Panamanian Culture show. There was no explanation of what these dances were about but here’s one of them. https://youtu.be/OIty0hn81oo

At the terminal where we got the bus to head to the beginning of the Panama Canal transit. We came back here at the end of the day.
The Pacific Queen – This is the boat we took through the Panama Canal

This is a video of the 1st lock; it was very cool. https://youtu.be/_1aFG7dL980

The station at the first lock.
The 2nd lock was in two parts for a total of 54 feet. We dropped 27 feet to the first “pen” and another 27 feet into the Pacific.

This was the grain ship that was our “partner” in the locks. We had to go through the locks together, so we had to wait for her to catch up….about 45 minutes for the first lock. She was tied to 4 small silver cars (can just see on one the right) that pulled her into position in the lock. It was pretty cool.

Bridge of the Americas crosses the canal on the Pacific side. It was built in 1962 and was the first permanent auto bridge across the canal. The Panamanian government has approved a project to dig a tunnel under the canal, but it will take 6-7 years to complete. This is part of the Pan-American Highway that stretches from Alaska to Chile except for a 66-mile section known as the Darien Gap between southeast Panama and northwest Columbia. How cool would that road trip be…all 19,000 miles of it.

Monday

Found this guy by the pool. He was pretty big.

Tuesday

Boat we took from the parking lot to the village. The only way to reach the village is by boat.
Women hanging around waiting for their time to dance.
One of the three dances they did for us.
The band.
A delicious lunch served in a palm frond.
The girls made flower head dresses for us. They were very pretty.
Fresh fruit. The red “spiky” fruit is dragon fruit; very sweet. The pineapple was delicious.
This is one of the houses. See the notched piece of wood leaning against the house? That’s the ladder. If no one is home it’s turned backwards. I’m afraid I’d never make it into the house if I had to climb that. I have a hard enough time with “real” ladders.

Thursday

The museum started with a history of Panama. This dish is from pre-historic Panamanians.

These are the different medals Panama Canal workers got when the canal was completed.
This chart is a breakdown of the nationalities of the people who worked on the canal. I found it interesting that so few Panamanians (only 357) worked on the project.
The Cathedral Basilica Santa Maria la Antigua.
Main altar in the Cathedral. Compared to cathedrals in Europe, this was very simple but still beautiful.
Some of the colorful homes in the old town.
I took this picture for Peter. He loved his “dead dude on a horse” pictures. It was in the park across the street from where I had lunch.
Speaking of lunch, I had a delicious margherita pizza, also for Peter.
But he wasn’t there to eat my crusts. 🙁
San Jose Church most famous for its Altar of Gold.
Legend has it that the pirate Henry Morgan sacked the city to steal the altar but it’s only a story. The altar wasn’t even made until the early 19th century, well after Morgan’s time.
Closeup of one of the statues on the altar…it was stunning.

I spent a fortune for my two souvenirs…$20 each and both are hand made. These are the kind of souvenirs we like to have from our trips.

Hand woven small bowl I got at the Embera village. The image inside is a turtle. I thought the colors were beautiful. These are woven so tightly that they will hold liquids.
I got this today at the old town. At first I thought these were beads but it’s a wooden mask painted in the Pointillism style. Van Gogh is famous for this style of painting dots.