Panama Paradise - Day 2

Our* first full day in Panama was busy with touring, relaxing, and getting to see the people and sites of Panama City. We signed up for two tours while we were planning our trip and were surprised to find that we were not with a tour group but instead had our own private guide. That was nice because it gave us the opportunity to get to know our guide and ask many questions. The "tour bus" was actually a Toyota Prius and our guide's name was Kevin Thompson. We were not expecting such an American sounding name, but Kevin explained that his grandfather had come to Panama as  part of the US Military, married a Panamanian woman, and stayed to raise his family. The first part of our tour took us to Colonial Panama City.

This picture shows a typical street in this part of the city. 

These are the guards stationed at the entrance to the Presidential Headquarters.

The Presidential Palace was beautiful with a great deal of colonial styled detailing.

The Palace Guard refused to let us in, would not smile, but did consent to let us take his picture. The guard is the one on the right!!!

The city of Panama was very nice with lots of banks and commerce. It reminded us of Miami. There were several old US Military Bases which are used for various purposes including Panama's National Airport. Panama does not have their own military, but is protected by US Troops.

The second part of our tour took us to the Panama Canal to view the locks.

We visited the Miraflores Locks which were built in 1913. 

This is one of the engines that guides the boats through the lock.

The Panama Canal Locks lift the ship from the level of the ocean to the elevation of the Panama Canal as the ship moves through them. Many people consider them to be the greatest engineering work to be undertaken up to that time. The total length of the locks, there are six of them, is nearly two miles, and the canal takes the ships from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. It costs about $400,000 for a ship to sail through the Panama Canal. That seems very expensive until you find out that going through the Panama Canal instead of around Cape Horn at the bottom of South America saves about $1,000,000 in travel costs.The following pictures show a ship moving into and going through the Miraflores Locks and the lock opening.

 These are pictures of us at the locks. 

We also got to see the Causeway which is a bridge that connects some of the islands in the Panama Bay. It is made out of the rocks that were taken out of the ground when the Panama Canal was built. I did not get any pictures of it, but it was very interesting.

 

Tuesday afternoon we found a very upscale shopping mall in Panama City. 

It was modern and had a variety of expensive, designer shops. 

We ate lunch at the mall in a restaurant called El Corral which had 1/2 pound Panamanian Hamburgers! They were delicious!!! We found another American Favorite, Haagen Das! The people were very friendly and many of them spoke excellent English. It is a melting pot with French, Spanish, and Italians from Europe, African Americans from the Caribbean, and a variety of people from Central and South America. 

We also had time to take in a movie at a "luxury" VIP  theatre. Look at those comfortable seats! Not only were we seated in a roomy, padded chair, almost like a recliner, but we ordered your popcorn and soda from our seat and one of the theatre workers delivered it to us! Amazingly the cost was only $6 per seat. You would never find such service for so little money in the US!!! The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles.

We ate dinner at Tinajas, which means "a large earthen jar" when translated from Spanish. The food was good and there was an excellent show with Panamanian dancers. They wore colorful, handmade costumes and danced to traditional music.

We were tired when we returned to our hotel after a very full day of sight seeing! These pictures show the hotel sign, the lobby, and the view from our room. Tomorrow we plan to relax and spend time by the pool, possibly take a tour of the causeway in the Panama Bay.

Adios Amigos!!! 


* Allyn and Dad as told to Debby