Day 2 and 3 — Panama City and Beyond…

Como estas? Habla Engles? No? No comprendo…

Everyone here speaks Spanish. There’s very little English and Brian and I are having a hard time communicating. We only took Spanish in High School and College and still can’t figure out what people are saying.

We rented a car from the airport last night and stayed at the Sheraton Hotel overnight in Panama City. I was surprised when I woke up, looked out the picturesque window to see a multitude of high rise buildings. I always thought that Panama City would have low buildings and bad roads, similar to Costa Rica. I was pleasantly surprised. It really is a metropolitan city — very modern!

We drove out of the hotel and toward the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. Before going to the rain forest, we decided to make a detour to the Miraflores Lock one of the largest locks on the Panama Canal. I never really thought about the Panama Canal before. I knew it was important for the U.S. economy particularly our trade with other countries but that was my extent of knowledge about the canal. So, when we finally arrived at the Miraflores Lock, I was amazed. I couldn’t believe that in the early 1900’s the canal was built by men from the Caribbean, China, the U.S. and throughout the world. Apparently, it was a French guy who first came up with the idea. After going through tons of money and frustration, he gave up. That’s when the US government took over. Nearly eight years ago, the U.S. government gave control back to the Panama government. We were told by the tour guide that boats and ships can pay up to $300,000 to get through the locks in the canal. (Could you imagine the value of what is on board for these folks to pay this much money???)

In any event, it was interesting to see the boats go up and down through the canal. After that, we drove to the Gamboa Rainforest. When we got here, and here is amazing btw, we checked in and decided to take the monkey boat tour through the canal.

We’re right in the center of the Panama Canal. Only 25 kilometers to the south is the Pacific Ocean and 25 kilometers to the north is the Atlantic Ocean. The other thing I didn’t know about the Panama Canal is that it cuts right through the rain forest.

Since we got here, we’ve seen lots of gators, turtles (shanekwa would be proud) and interesting looking birds. “There are 925 varieties of birds,” said the tour guide as we traveled up the aerial tram to the observation deck of the rainforest. “hundreds of different types of trees and 36 different species of turtles.” (How do they remember all this and why?)

Since we are on the equator, there are twelve hour days. (They don’t buy into the day light savings time here so it’s always on Eastern Standard Time.) The sun rises at 6 am and sets at 6 pm. And, it’s hot. The humidity is 90% in 90 degree temperature. Nine months out of the year it rains. All other times, like now, it’s dry.

Zoey and I were just on the hammock reading our books, while Brian and Derek went on a Kayak down the Chagreas River. When they get back, we’re going on a safari tour through the rainforest to see the wild animals when it’s dark….. (If I don’t write again, you could figure out what happened…..)