Bienvenidos a Panamá!

         I left for Panama from Tampa on Saturday May 26, 2012 at 9:05 in the morning. Once we arrived we had to go through customs, which was quick enough, but the employees were not very friendly. Upon leaving the baggage area we were greeted by women in colorful dresses handing out pamphlets about the city. We drove to the villas that we would be staying for a few nights, which used to be a US Army base called Fort Clayton, but has been turned into temporary housing and renamed El Ciudad de Saber. 

  

         On May 27^th we left the villas to spend the day seeing some tourist attractions. We met up with a tour guide named Bianca who began by giving us a bus tour of the Old City. We stopped at a church called St. Josephs and went inside to take pictures. Behind the altar the wall was decorated with ornate golden figures and the sides of the church contained statues of various religious icons adorned with flowers and gold. Inside there were two young boys that were trying to sell post cards for one dollar to anyone that would pay attention to them. That was a little irritating, but overall in Panama City there was not a lot of heckling by beggars or individuals trying to sell things in the streets (there were street venders, but they did not harass tourists). After the church we began the walking portion of our tour, where we were informed of the history of some of the buildings. There were many wooden buildings throughout the city, which were decorated in bright colors. Bianca informed us that these types of buildings were extremely old and inspired by the Caribbean culture. While walking down the main street everyone’s attention was quickly caught by the vision of the Pacific Ocean down a side alley. We immediately began walking down the alley toward the breathtaking view. We were able to stop and take pictures and enjoy the ocean for a little while. The tourist police must have seen us wander and quickly followed us to make sure we were safe, and I’m sure to make sure we were not getting into trouble.

           After the detour we returned to the main road and more excitement ensued. A man with a curious cart containing a large block of ice and containers of colorful syrups approached our direction. He was a snow cone vender and used a contraption to hand carve the ice right into the paper cone. We were able to pick as many flavored syrups for the snow cone as we wanted for only 50 cents. I was hesitant about eating the ice because it obviously was made from the Panamanian water, which I was trying not to drink. I took a risk and bought a pineapple and passion fruit snow cone and did not suffer any consequences. From there we ventured to some more monuments, including the French embassy and a building that was originally built as goods storage, but at one point held prisoners (apparently this was a bad place to be because the building was not well ventilated and breathing was difficult). We walked across a pedestrian bridge which was lined with venders selling some standard tourist shot glasses (probably made in China), and some Molas, which are traditional squares with various patterns quilted on them. I did not purchase anything because we were going to a bigger craft market after this short shopping trip. We were told that the market that used to be located in the old YMCA had moved to the causeway, so we ventured over there, only to find that the craft market was actually still located at the YMCA. This detour left us with merely 20 minutes to navigate this market and purchase any goodies, so I was only able to buy two Molas and a bracelet.

          Later in the day we went to the Panama Canal near the Mira Flores Locks, which is near the Pacific side of the Panama Canal. We were able to watch three large ships go through the locks during the time we were there. Finding a good spot was difficult, but I weaseled my way to the front and let some people from my group see at the spot that I reserved. I was able to watch the full process and even took a short (15 minute) video of the filling and draining of the locks. I was amazed at how quickly the 23 million gallons of water filled and drained in order to assist the giant barges in passing. The ships are huge and are guided through the canal by motorized cars on tracks. The cars guide the ship with cables; amazingly enough the ships are only about 3 feet from the sides of the canal. After watching the ships pass through we viewed the educational video and toured the mini-museum within the Canal center. Soon after that we rode back to our villas, which were apparently directly across the street from the locks and we had no idea!