Concluding on the experience

Trip Start Jun 21, 2009

Trip End Jul 17, 2009

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Flag of Panama Colon, Panama
Friday, June 26, 2009

When the Lonely Planet makes a recommendation it is wise to take note. I spent Wednesday morning looking round the museum at Miraflores Locks thinking I could catch a glimpse of a boat passing through the locks anytime, but then had to wait the best part of an hour as I had missed them all (rush hour is between 9 and 11am)! Just like buses though they all arrived at once and I was treated to a flock of tourists on the viewing platform, posing to have their picture taken in front of a "big boat" followed by a "German big boat" followed by a boat with nothing on (it) called Famosa Seven (I thought it was the Famous Five - nevermind?)!

The museum is quite interesting with 4 floors, one dedicated to¨"water" (?) and another with a simulator boat you can navigate through the locks (just made me feel sick!), so more than appealing to children and annoying tourists!

There is so much info on the canal scattered across the internet so I won´t pretend to have gathered any new facts. In a nutshell what you need to know is:

- The canal is in the process of being expanded so that it can handle larger ships but isn{t expected to be completed until 2014 at a cost of more the $5 billion.
- The canal only became the property of Panama in 1999 when passed over from the US having been opened in 1914.
- It´s quite impressive and just watching a boat complete its journey through the locks is extremely educational, even if you have to wait a while if it´s outside of rush hour!

I made sure to tick off the real touristy bits as quickly as possibly so visited Mi Pueblito (My Village) to pass away some time on my last day. It has life size replicas of rural villages and folk dancing (not when I was there fortunately) - very touristy indeed but good for gifts if you want to meet a real Kuna (indigenous person).

Most tour companies only take bookings for a minimum of 2 people therefore billy no mates couldn´t get on a boat along the canal (so no I didn´t go to Colon, just changed the map pin to make myself feel like I did!). It seems a little old school if you ask me - have they not realised the size of the independent traveller market?

So to sum up Panama City: its extremely diverse in terms of things to do and see. Even if you avoid the commercial part it is so far westernised, it would suit anyone who didn´t fancy fully roughing it. Most people seem to speak the odd few words of English except in the museums where they immediately try to outdo your Spanish in their bad American accents.

One tip is that if you go to the rainforest, cover up and coat yourself in deet...

01 Famosa Seven

cos the mossies are monsters and the bites are unbearable even a couple of days later. However doing all of the above probably won´t help as I still got mutilated :(.

I bet you´re glad I´ve finally found a keyboard with an apostrophy... I am at least....? So, until the other side of the border.... ps. thanks for all the messages... see ya x