After we finally arrived to Panamá after the 15 hour trek, we took a taxi to our hostel (only $16 each per night!) and got settled. The roads in Panamá are very well kept and the city is clean. The people are also VERY friendly. Whenever we got lost or needed any kind of help (which was often ;), the people were very patient and helpful. The Panamanian accent was different from what we were used to so we had to pay very careful attention to be able to understand. It has more of a caribbean sound in its rhythm and the s's tend to be dropped. It is a very pretty accent though! | Last week Rachel and I spent 5 days (in route to and) in Panama. It was a 15 hour bus ride to get there and a 15 hour bus ride to get back but it was WELL worth it!!! We had the best time! We left San José at midnight and arrived at the border with Panamá at 5:15 am but the border didn't open until 6:00 so we had to stand in line waiting for 45 minutes. Then after we got our stamp (clearance to leave Costa Rica) we had to walk about 5 minutes to the Panamanian border to go through customs (a room where they opened our bags and took our declaration statements) and got our passports stamped. The whole process at the border took 2 and a half hours! It was also strange because people in cars and taxis were passing without checking in at the border and since there was quite a walk between the two borders it would be easy to dodge border patrol. It was a very interesting experience. |
The next day we explored the metro and went to buy tickets for a tour bus that went around a route all day long to the top tourist sights and you could just ride and get on and off as you wanted. We bought a 48 hour pass and made our way to the Canal! Below are some of the pictures from the Canal.
Ready for the tour! The dam of the Canal. | Last year the Canal celebrated its 100th anniversary. Miraflores is where you go to see the museum and view the Canal from the viewing decks. See how the water level to the right of the locks is much higher than that on the left? When the ship is in the water on the right, the water is drained so that it is even with the water level on the left and then the locks are open and the ship passes through. A ship getting ready to pass through the canal! See those 4 little vehicles, 2 on either side of the ship? Those are there, not to pull the ship through, but to make sure that the sides of the boat don't scrape the sides of the Canal. There is not much room for clearance and that's why Panamá is working on building one with more clearance. |