Panama Adventure
Day 9: Colón, Panama
Upon arriving at the port in Colón, the first thing that I noticed was all of the ships waiting at sea for their time to transit the canal. It is more ships that I have seen in one place before in all of my time cruising. It is amazing to think of how many ships and how much cargo transit the canal every year.
We took a short ride to the Panama Canal Railway passenger terminal in Colón to begin our journey to Panama City where we would then take a bus tour on the way back to Colón.
Choo Choo
I have no idea why I didn't take a better photo of our train once I stepped off of the bus. This is the rear locomotive on our train, our actual engine was Ciudad de Diavolo. The train ride was about an hour and a half long.
As we left the station, we got our first view of the Atlantic Bridge that spans the opening to the canal on the Atlantic side. We would not see the other two bridges that span the canal until we reached the Pacific side of the canal.
Gatun Lake
After passing the first set of locks (we will come back to those) we got our first look at Gatun Lake which is the artificial freshwater lake that connects the Atlantic and Pacific locks of the canal at 85 feet above sea level.
Panama City, Panama
We arrived in Panama City and got our first glimpse of the new city. We were told that nearly half of the population now lives in that part of the city which is why most of the high-rises that make up the skyline are housing.
American History in Panama
We toured around quite a bit and were reminded of how much our history is intertwined with the of the Panamanian people's. There are many reminders of that history such as the Corozal American Cemetery and Memorial. At the cemetery there is a memorial that consists of 4-metre rectangular granite obelisk flanked by two flagpoles on which fly the United States and Panamanian flags. The obelisk has engravings in Spanish and English that read:
THIS MEMORIAL HAS BEEN ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN HUMBLE TRIBUTE TO ALL INTERRED HERE WHO SERVED IN ITS ARMED FORCES OR CONTRIBUTED TO THE CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE PANAMA CANAL.
Bridge of the Americas
Our bus stopped at a pull off so that we could get a better view of the Panama City skyline as well as the Bridge of the Americas.
Agua Clara Locks
We then made our final stop at the Agua Clara Locks where we were able to see the "new" locks in action. Unlike that Locks that we will be going trough tomorrow, these locks don't utilize the electric "Mules" that are utilized on the older Gatun lock but instead utilize two tug boats to guide vessels though each of the chambers.
