Panama

Very, very early in the morning (1:30) we headed off to the airport, went in to the “Star Alliance” lounge and took off, the flight was about 7 and a half hours long and I was very tired when we got there. 

At the airport we met our tour guide and she explained our tour, from there we took about a half hour drive to the city, there was a lot of traffic. First it was off to the most famous attraction, the Panama Canal. On our way to the Canal she (the guide) explained how all of the houses around the Canal were originally made and owned by US military personal that watched over, guarded and operated the Canal. Originally the Canal and its lock system was made by the Americans to operate for themselves and their own navy to connect to the opposite ocean instead of having to go all the way around the land. Nowadays it is operated by the Panamanians for commercial reasons who charge a minimum of USD$ 180,000 (up to $800,000) to cross it to ships like big oil tankers and container ships. When we got there we got our tickets and went onto an observation deck type thing just in time to see two big ships use the locks to make their way up from the pacific ocean to the lake level, then on to the Atlantic ocean. 

From there we moved inside to watch a short movie on why and how the Canal came to be, looked in the souvenir shop and headed off to our next stop, the butterfly park.  Inside the butterfly park there were swarms of butterflies all over the place, the outside of the wings were brown for camouflage but the inside of them were pretty colours to impress the other guy and girl butterflies. 

After the butterflies we went round the bays to a restaurant specializing in seafood called Mi Ranchito, it had good food and a great view of the hustling and bustling metropolis across the harbor. Next it was on to some of the new man-made islands for some photo opportunities with the Panama sign and the city in the background.  

From there we went and started our short walking tour of the old town which is now being restored. 

 Through the tour we visited different cathedrals with some of the original bricks and posts exposed. We had to stop for drinks and stuff to keep hydrated and at the end of the tour we went to an old ice cream parlor which was a nice way to finish the day.

 Finally it was another long drive to the airport for our flight to Havana, Cuba!  Next time will be a mixture of our first and second day/s in Cuba mainly because not a lot happened. Until then, goodbye.

Joseph Hewson


P.S

The reason this update is so late is because of the wifi in Cuba. The government seemed to control everything as we had to buy a "wifi pass" for our stay and even then, on the poor connections, the wifi would often be off for the day. Sorry for the delay, daily updates should flow freely now, enjoy.