Panama City is a pretty unusual city, it is split in two via the Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and saves ships the dangerous voyage of travelling under Argentina. This area is called the Canal Zone and was once under America rule and off limits to the locals. It has now been handed back to Panama but the reminists still remains of all the military buildings in the area. Driving through Panama City a lot of the fast food restaurants and stores from America are dotted through the city, there is now a bit expat community here.
My first port of call in arriving at my hotel in the old town was to take a shower my first in six days. It was late in the afternoon I ventured up to the nearest supermarket bought some food and crashed in the air con for the rest of the day. I was pretty dehydrated and a little sun burnt after six days on the sea.
My main reason to visit Panama was to see the canal. Years ago I had visited the Suez Canal so was interested to see the difference in the two. The Suez canal is one continuous lane through the desert. The Panama canal is cut through rainforest and hills and so a serious of locks were built to step the ships through the passage in the middle a lake was dammed and flooded to be deep enough to allow ships to wait to access the locks on either side. What I also learnt is that each ship which passes through the canal is steered by a pilot which comes on board the ship and takes over from the Captain to allow for a smooth sailing due to their many years of experience
My first time seeing the canal was an early morning uber to visit Miraflores Locks the first set of locks on the Pacific Side. There hasn’t been much rain in Panama as of late and the waters in the canal are low because of this the schedule of ships through the canal is less. Even though I was there at 8.30am the ships scheduled for the morning had finished. There was an IMAX film about the canal to watch so all wasn’t lost.
I would feel disappointed to come all this way to Panama to see the canal and not seeing any ship’s so I decided to book a full day tour which included a walk in the rainforest near the canal, a boat trip through part of the canal and also a boat trip through the reserve. This day was my highlight of Panama.
Our first stop was Pedro Miguel Locks the next step up from Miraflores locks and there was a ship waiting, right on sunrise which was nice to see.
We saw so many animals in the rainforest on our morning walk especially monkeys in groups climbing down from the tops of the trees to escape the heat of the rising sun.
Running off the canal is a series of reserves which house a lot more animal life from turtles, crocodiles, bird life, sloths and even more monkeys.
Our boat trip along the canal were so many ships moving through from car carriers, container ships, cruise liner and even a navy ship. On the way back to Panama City the heavens opened for a 10 minute downpour which has been the daily usual the air is so humid.
On my last day in Panama I ventured back to the canal zone again to Panama Bay to a series of Islands connected to the main land via a big walkway. These islands now house marina’s filled with expensive boats and restaurants out of my budget. I walked the length of it about 6km in the scorching sun taking photos of the scenic Panama City and also the Bridge of Americas built over the Canal at the starting point to the Pacific side. I didn’t know this there is only two bridges over the Canal and the peak hour traffic to/from the city is crazy.
I enjoyed my time in Panama City and wished I had a little more time to see more of the country but I guess that leaves a reason to visit again some day.
Travelled to Panama: 13 to 19 October 2023
grubby backpacker 