Panama Canal Transit
It has certainly been a day full of great surprises! Today were presented with an opportunity to visit the natural and historical sides of Panama City, before our afternoon transit through the Panama Canal. Most of us opted for a visit to the cultural sites: the ruins of Old Panama, which happened to be the first European settlement ever established on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, and Casco Viejo – a quaint and picturesque neighborhood that still keeps the colonial flavor of centuries past.
Some of us however, headed straight to the wild right in the middle of the Panamanian capital at Metropolitan Park, and we were rewarded with sightings of Blue-crowned Motmots, Keel-billed Toucans, Three-toed Sloths, and Red napped Tamarins (the smallest primates in Panama)! Back aboard the Sea Voyager, we departed Balboa and began our journey through the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal, while dining on a delicious Panamanian dinner put out on the lounge by Erasmo (our Hotel Manager) and his team.
It may seem like ages now, but it was only yesterday that we fell enchanted by the charm and romanticism of Darien Coast, and the hospitality of the Embera Indians. Tomorrow we will find ourselves among the Kuna natives of the San Blas Islands, in a different culture, and a different ocean; exploring the Caribbean side of the Panamanian landscape. None of this would have been possible of course, had the Panama Canal not been where it is; considered by many “the Eighth Wonder of the World” the Canal is unquestionably the greatest exploit of modern engineering, for a number of reasons: not only has it reduced the distance between the world’s two largest oceans, but it still operates like it did almost a hundred years ago when it first opened its gates to world commerce.
It has certainly been a day full of great surprises! Today were presented with an opportunity to visit the natural and historical sides of Panama City, before our afternoon transit through the Panama Canal. Most of us opted for a visit to the cultural sites: the ruins of Old Panama, which happened to be the first European settlement ever established on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, and Casco Viejo – a quaint and picturesque neighborhood that still keeps the colonial flavor of centuries past.
Some of us however, headed straight to the wild right in the middle of the Panamanian capital at Metropolitan Park, and we were rewarded with sightings of Blue-crowned Motmots, Keel-billed Toucans, Three-toed Sloths, and Red napped Tamarins (the smallest primates in Panama)! Back aboard the Sea Voyager, we departed Balboa and began our journey through the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal, while dining on a delicious Panamanian dinner put out on the lounge by Erasmo (our Hotel Manager) and his team.
It may seem like ages now, but it was only yesterday that we fell enchanted by the charm and romanticism of Darien Coast, and the hospitality of the Embera Indians. Tomorrow we will find ourselves among the Kuna natives of the San Blas Islands, in a different culture, and a different ocean; exploring the Caribbean side of the Panamanian landscape. None of this would have been possible of course, had the Panama Canal not been where it is; considered by many “the Eighth Wonder of the World” the Canal is unquestionably the greatest exploit of modern engineering, for a number of reasons: not only has it reduced the distance between the world’s two largest oceans, but it still operates like it did almost a hundred years ago when it first opened its gates to world commerce.
