The other side of Panama
I always seem to have forgotten how much preparations there is for a longer sail. At least our passports with new Visas stamped within are picked up, only that took almost a whole day. Traffic is not the very best in this country, probably the worst I've seen ever when I think about it. Panama you need new roads! A 62 miles (100 km) journey, from Sherman/Shelter Bay to the outskirts of Panama City, we had to take two buses and one taxi, a journey that took us approximately four hours in total. Of course, crossing the never resting canal, we needed to wait for the lock to close, this time approx. 20 minutes, but still, four hours in traffic is a lot of time lost of ones life. And that was only one way. I wonder how some people manage to do that kind of sacrifice each working day of the week. I understand that some people have no choice, but the ones that have?
One of the famous locks, photo taken from the Miraflores restaurant upstairs. The Panama Canal is a very impressive construction which I am probably not the only one in the world to think. This 48-mile (77.1 km) ship canal which connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific Ocean has been running day and night, transiting close to a million ships and smaller vessels, in its 99 years of existence.
There are locks at each end of the canal to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, 85 feet (26 m) above sea-level, and then back down to sea level on the other side. Gatun Lake was created to reduce the amount of work required for the canal. The current locks are 110 feet (33.5 m) wide. A third, wider lane of locks is being built as we speak. Should be finalized by 2016. And just today I read that the Panama Canal will finally get competition, as Nicaragua has given a Chinese firm approval to build a new canal, only a few hundred miles up from here, read more here (yes, the Chinese are indeed taking over the world, let's move to Beijing next?!)
There are locks at each end of the canal to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, 85 feet (26 m) above sea-level, and then back down to sea level on the other side. Gatun Lake was created to reduce the amount of work required for the canal. The current locks are 110 feet (33.5 m) wide. A third, wider lane of locks is being built as we speak. Should be finalized by 2016. And just today I read that the Panama Canal will finally get competition, as Nicaragua has given a Chinese firm approval to build a new canal, only a few hundred miles up from here, read more here (yes, the Chinese are indeed taking over the world, let's move to Beijing next?!)
France began work on the canal in 1881, but had to stop because of engineering problems as well as very high mortality due to disease. The United States took later over the project and it took them a decade and many workers killed by disease to complete the canal in 1914.
The canal enables ships to avoid the lengthy and stormy Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America or to navigate the Strait of Magellan. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut made it possible for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in half the time previously required.
Ownership of the territory that is now the Panama Canal was first Colombian, then French, and then American, as the United States completed the construction. After a long term agreement, the Panamanian government took over ownership in 1999. Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships when the canal opened in 1914, to 14,702 vessels per year in 2008.
If we move a little further to the East, right next to the canal on the Caribbean side, we find Colon. The old Panamian harbour city, the second city of Panama as it is called. Colon was founded by Americans in 1850 as the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railroad, to meet the gold rush demand for a fast route to California.
In 1880, the French arrived to Panama, and while they started to build the canal, they also took over construction of the city of Colon. Which is the reason to why you still today can find the beautiful French style buildings on these streets. Unfortunately in not so good condition today, and one can not cease to wonder: If the Panama Canal brings a profit of roughly $1 Billion US dollars to the country each year, why neglecting this, previously so important, and very historical city?
It is frustrating observing these houses falling apart, people on the streets with very little money and no real help from the government and plenty of crime that is a natural reaction of a city left abandoned. All the while the capital city of Panama only 50 miles away, is blooming and booming in every sense of the word.
At least the new president has improved security and there are more policemen than ever, says the local Colon-people we've spoken to, as they remember only three-four years ago when they barely dared to walk these streets even during daylight. Police of Panama carry machine guns and full bullet proof protection on any regular day. They are often seen like this, two and two on rapid cross motorbikes.
Imagine if they could invest a little to restore this sad old, historically important city as well. But I guess a new hyper modern metro (with a price tag of approx. $1,5 billion) in the glittering capital is far more important?
