Panama in a nutshell!
After the 18-hour long travel day from Manuel Antonio to Almirante (the port from which you take a water taxi to Bocas del Toro) we were somewhat exhausted! But see, having had an exceptionally high tempo through out the trip so far we decided to not spend more than one night at Bocas. We got two full days which we both felt was enough. The main attraction was the bottom of a glass of rum! Ok well not entirely true but the beaches and the nature certainly came a distinct second after partying. At the end of the second day we took a taxi back to Almirante to then connect to a night bus to Panama City.
Arriving 4 in the morning with good spirit we went to a hostel that could arrange a trip to the San Blas Islands. We took a quick 2 hour nap in order to keep our eyes open when visiting the famous engineering feat, the Panama Canal.
Being a future engineer the canal blew my mind and was definitely worth the visit on close to no sleep. It was a very touristy visit, thusly very well organized and informative. We got to a massive ship get transported through one of the 3 locks of the canal. Quite impressive!
For those of you (like me) who are interested in the engineering behind it, I thought I might explain it briefly.
Although several attempts had been made to excavate a canal to allow ships to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacifica sea, it wasn't until the beginning of the 19 hundreds that it actually got done. In 1904 the Americans signed a contract which to put it simply, mean that they would sponsor it in return for a lot of the profit (This led to big protests 40-50 years later). The excavation began and billions of tons or material were removed. However due to budget restraints a sea-level canal (no locks) was not possible. It turned out that building locks at three different places that artificially raised the sea level was cheaper and quicker than excavating the rest of the material. You wonder why they don't do it (building a sea-level canal) now after the canal has made huge amounts of profit? They would have to halt the canal's availability for about 7 years to be able to excavate a sea leavel canal. Apparently that just isn't worth it!
The San Blas islands consist of 365 islands, white sand, palm trees, kuna (indigenous people) and turquoise water! Five days here (I am here as I am writing) was almost one day to much. Not to sound spoiled with wonderfulness ;) but you get bored living on a tiny island with little to do no. Me and Maria have spent our time playing cards, reading book(s) (believe it or not!), working on our tan or just regaining our strength from what has been a fairly demanding month of traveling.
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Tomorrow (which probably will be today) we are heading back to PC just for one night after which we will fly out to Cartagena, Colombia!
See you there ;)
Arriving 4 in the morning with good spirit we went to a hostel that could arrange a trip to the San Blas Islands. We took a quick 2 hour nap in order to keep our eyes open when visiting the famous engineering feat, the Panama Canal.
Being a future engineer the canal blew my mind and was definitely worth the visit on close to no sleep. It was a very touristy visit, thusly very well organized and informative. We got to a massive ship get transported through one of the 3 locks of the canal. Quite impressive!
For those of you (like me) who are interested in the engineering behind it, I thought I might explain it briefly.
Although several attempts had been made to excavate a canal to allow ships to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacifica sea, it wasn't until the beginning of the 19 hundreds that it actually got done. In 1904 the Americans signed a contract which to put it simply, mean that they would sponsor it in return for a lot of the profit (This led to big protests 40-50 years later). The excavation began and billions of tons or material were removed. However due to budget restraints a sea-level canal (no locks) was not possible. It turned out that building locks at three different places that artificially raised the sea level was cheaper and quicker than excavating the rest of the material. You wonder why they don't do it (building a sea-level canal) now after the canal has made huge amounts of profit? They would have to halt the canal's availability for about 7 years to be able to excavate a sea leavel canal. Apparently that just isn't worth it!
It blew my mind! The miraflores locks is where we went to see it.
Anyways the Panama Canal was very interesting and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is passing by. After Panama City we headed of to the relaxing islands of San Blas.The San Blas islands consist of 365 islands, white sand, palm trees, kuna (indigenous people) and turquoise water! Five days here (I am here as I am writing) was almost one day to much. Not to sound spoiled with wonderfulness ;) but you get bored living on a tiny island with little to do no. Me and Maria have spent our time playing cards, reading book(s) (believe it or not!), working on our tan or just regaining our strength from what has been a fairly demanding month of traveling.
......See you there ;)
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