Panama Canal, information and pictures

Interesting Facts about the Canal:

- Target pratice by the US military left an estimated 105,000 unexploded bombs scattered trhoughout 7,800 acres of rainforest; the US claims that it cannot remove them without destroying the forest.

- In 1903 a civil war in Colombia created fresh discontent in Panama when Colombia drafted Panamanian men and siezed property for their own war efforts.

When the Colombian goverment refused to allow the transfer of a Canal treaty document to the US, the process thwarted US and French intersts, as well as Panama's own. Bunau-Varilla, who had a lot to gain financially if the sale went through, asked the US government to back Panama if it declared independance from Colombia.

A revolutionary junta declared Panam independant on November 3, 1903, with the support of the USA, which immediately recognized the new government. Colombia sent troops by sea to try and regain control of the province, but US battleships prevented them from reaching land.

An official Panamanian delegation was sent to Washington, DC, to negotiate a canal treaty, but Bunau-Varilla, already in the US as ambassador, preempted them with his own treaty.

On November 18, 1903, before the delegation arrived, he signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with the US Secretary of State John Hay. It gave the USA far more than had been offered in the original treaty that had been rejected by the Colombian government. The treaty's 26 articles awarded the USA 'sovereign rights in perpetuity over the Canal Zone', an area extending 8km on either side of the Canal, and a broad right of intervention in Panamanian affairs. The treaty was ratified over the protests of the Panamanian delegation.

The treaty led to friction between the USA and Panama for decades, partly becasue it was overly favorable to the USA at the expense of Panama and partly due to lingering questions about the legality. Colombia did not recognize Panama as a seperate nation until 1921, when the USA paid Colombia $25 million in compensation.

- Allowing ships laden with nuclear fuel to pass through the Canal is an ongoing controversy.

- The cargo ship Ancon was the first vessel to transit the Canal on August 15, 1914.

- Nearly 14,000 ships pass through the Canal each year.

- Ships worldwide are built with the dimensions of the Panama Canal's lochs in mind: 305m long by 33.5m wide.

- A boat traveling from New York to San Francisco saves 7,872 miles by using the Panama Canal instead of going around Cape Horn.

- The highest toll paid for a transit through the Panama Canal until 1995 paid by the Crown Princess on May 2, 1993; it was US$141,349.97.

- The lowest toll paid was US$ 0.36 and was paid by Richard Halliburton who crossed the Canal swimming in 1928.

- The San Juan Prospector was the longest ship to transit the Canal; it was 751 ft. (229 m.) in length with a 107 ft. (32.6 m.) beam.

- The Hydrofoil Pegasus of the United States Navy did the fastest transit of the Canal by completing it in 2 hours and 41 minutes.

- Each door of the locks weights 750 tons.

- Thousands upon Thousands of people died while building the Canal.

- The cure for Yellow Fever was discovered while building the Canal.

- The Panama Canal is 50 miles (80 km) long from deep water in the Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific and runs from northwest to southeast, with the Atlantic side entrance around 33 miles (54 km) North and 27 miles (43 km) west of the pacific mouth. The straight-line distance between those two point would only be 43 miles (69 km).

- A ship takes approximately 8 to 10 hours to pass through Canal while being lifted step by step to a height of 85 feet (26 m.) in three sets of locks - Gatun, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores. Each lock chamber is 110 ft. (33.53 m.) wide and 1,000 ft. (304.8 m.) long.

- The operation of the locks consumes a prodigious amount of fresh water. Each time a ship passes through the waterway, about 52 million gallons of water, mostly from Gatun Lake, must flow into the locks and out to sea. In all Panama Canal locks, chambers are filled and emptied by gravity, water flowing through a series of 18-feet diameter tunnels allowing the filling and emptying of a chamber in 10 minutes.

My Naivete

While you read the below writing, please keep in mind that Central America is still a developing country. And, that these thoughts are about the developing world. Central America is definitely not a 1st world country and accommodations are not of the 'Ritz Carlton' standard. As I've written in the past, buses can be overly crowded and the occasional cockroach or Gecko visiting you while sleeping, isn't uncommon. Additionally, the average daily income for a Guatemalan, EL Salvadoran Panamanian, and Honduran is as follows:

Guatemala (44 hour work week):
- Workers in Agriculture receive $5.06 per day
- Workers in non-agricultural jobs receive 5.19 per day

Honduras (8 hours per weekday and 4 hours on Saturday, for a total of 44 hours):
- Workers receive $4.23 per day. An increase of $0.45 as of April 2004

El Salvador (44 hour work week):
- Workers in the commerce and services sector receive a minimum daily wage of US$5.28
- Workers in industry receive US$5.16 per day
- Workers in the maquila or textile sectors receive US$5.04 per day
- Farm workers receive US$2.47 per day
There have been no mandated wage increases since 2003, but it is expected that the government will revise the minimum wage in 2006 (it is customary to review it every three years).

Panama (48 hour work week):
In Panama, prices vary by region, but the highest minimum wages are...
- Workers in the Construction sector at 13.25 per day
- Workers in the Telecommunications sector at 13.20 per day
I wasn't able to collect data for agriculture, but I'm sure it is much lower. I did learn, however, that coffee pickers -efficient pickers- can receive about $20 a day by picking coffee- keep in mind that this is seasonal work.

The backpacker tourist is one of the most important travelers to Central America. As a backpacker, the money you spend is 95 times more likely to go directly into the pockets of people who need it most. Where as, when a 4 star tourist visits a developing world, and travels in 4 star style, there is a much greater likelihood that the money will get funneled out of the local economy.

Prior to traveling through Central America, I had many preconceptions about the area- I believed that whole countries would be in dire shape (this change of thought is still open for debate), I pictured the infrastructure to be in poor condition, I pictured there to be little amounts of natural habitats, and I didn't expect the people to be 'overly' friendly. As it turned out, my picture of Central America was an inaccurate one; and traveling by bus really opened my eyes to the many diversities and sheer pleasures of Central America.

Obviously, I have met travelers who've experienced situations they would have preferred never to have experienced. And I myself, have been placed in situations that, if given a choice, I would have chosen against experiencing. But, all in all, Central America has been an incredible adventure. The transportation system is just amazing, the amount of development taking place is impressive, accommodations -for the price- is surprisingly good... well, most of them..., the natural beauty throughout Central America is just amazing, and the people are wonderful.

At one point during my journey, I was forced to sit in the back of a bus, crammed between two people, with my knees flush up against a forward seat. The passengers on either side of me felt bad about my discomfort and tried as much as possible to make room.

Another time, I had just returned from Tortugero, and was about to catch a bus to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. While at the bus terminal, someone who I had asked directions from the day before, stopped me and asked how Tortugero was. He then went on to ask where I was heading. I told him I was going to Puerto Viejo but had to make a connection through Puerto Limon. He wished me good and safe travels but also warned that I should stay alert while in Puerto Limon, "it isn't uncommon for someone's bags to be stolen from the bus".

There was also the time when commercial buses stopped running from the borders of Guatemala and Honduras to Corinto, Honduras. The areas around the borders had recently experienced extremly heavy rainfalls, effectively halting all commercial transportation on a particular stretch of road. While preparing for what would have been a 22 mile walk, a local Honduran offered several of us a ride. At the end of the 60 minute truck ride, we attempted to give the man money, but he refused any compensation saying that it was "his pleasure!

Throughout my Central American journeys, I started to learn that preconceptions about a place or, a person, are healthy. But, what we must be careful of, is allowing these preconceptions to cloud our experiences and limit what we do and see in life. After visiting Central America, my whole outlook on people and places has altered dramatically. I've come to the belief that when forming judgment, the best thing one can do is take the time to better understand that judgment- be it a place, a person, or or just a simple bias. If more people were to surrender to this philosophy, I think the world would be a much more understanding place.

Curious...

Before I post my next blog, I have a quiz for everyone. Out of curiosity, I'd like to know what peoples impressions are of Panama City. Do you think of Panama City as:

- A dire place that lacks any type of infrastructure?
- Is a place filled with vagrants, wandering the streets in a hopeless attempt at finding a meaning to something?
- Is a paradise filled with beautiful people?
- Is an incredibly developed country?
- Is a country in need of major outside aid?

I'm just curious, what do people think of Panama City? Please either send me an e-mail or add a comment to the comments section. Within a few days I'll post my view, with pictures, of the city.

I Almost Died

Well, that’s probably a bit of an overstatement, but I could have. Panama City is a lovely place. The people are friendly, the Canal is interesting – did you know that they discovered the cure for Yellow Fever while building the canal… The disease was killing so many of the workers that they had to do something about the endemic.- , and they have a wealth of hisory. Panama City also has an interesting island some 20 miles from the city. The island is called Taboga and is a common place for people to relax for the day and absorb some sun. Several of us from the Hostel decided to take a day and explore.

The morning ride to the island proved exceptionally slow. Apparently, this was caused by work they were doing on one of their engines (I was yelled at, and almost had my camera confiscated because of taking this photo).

On our ride back from the island, we were told that the second engine had been fixed, that our ride should be cut in half, and that they were sorry for the inconvenience of this mornings ride…

20 minutes later, the engines of the boat turn off

5 minutes later, the engines turn back on

2 minutes later it begins to rain, and a big thunder storm approaches

15 minutes later, the engines once again shut-off

The three of us are now hot from being inside the boat and decide to step outside- the rain has subsided but the lightening hasn’t

5 minutes later, we see people running around placing life-vests over their heads

For the next 2 minutes Bjorn and I begin laughing about the situation. Iris does not find this funny and suggests that we go investigate the situation.

1 minute later, she runs out with a life vest instructing me that “THIS IS NOT A JOKE, THE BOAT IS TAKING ON WATER!”

3 seconds later, I run in and grab a life-vest.

For the next 5 – 10 minutes we await our unwritten destiny, wondering, at what point it will be necessary for us to jump overboard. After sometime, we see flares fire from the boat and smoke signals being thrown off the ship. Shit this boat is really sinking, I can’t believe it.

15 minutes later, two boats begin approaching, one boat successfully comes to one of the sides of our boat, the other, experiences some problems. As people began rushing towards the successfully docked boat, the boat begins to tip more violently… We started shouting at the passengers to slow down; and that their actions were going to kill us all! After much maneuvering, the other rescue boat finally positioned themselves so that we could begin boarding. I jumped onto the other boat, began assisting with the boarding of other people, but within several minutes, the boats disconnected from one another.

SNAP! A large and disastrous sound emitted from the sinking boat and it began tipping more forcefully. At this point I ran over to one of the connected ropes, grabbed hold and began pulling as tightly as possible. One by one, then two by two, then three by three, people started jumping off of the sinking ship.

Finally, after 10 exhausting minutes of holding the rope –at this point others had come over to help me- everyone had offloaded from the ship. And, within another couple minutes, the sinking ship was no more. Lightening added a perfect backdrop to the exciting journey.

What an exciting experience!... I kept my life-vest as a momento.

The following is an article about the sunken boat- This was in the Russian paper Pravda...

In Panama, 179 passengers rescued before boat sinks off coast

02:22 2005-09-20A public passenger boat sunk on its way from a small island off the Pacific coast of Panama to the mainland, but authorities said Monday they were able to rescue all 157 people aboard. No injuries were reported. Officials from the National Maritime Authority were investigating the cause, but believed that the boat sprung a leak. They originally said 179 passengers and six crew members were onboard, but later corrected those tallies to 150 passengers and seven crew. The boat was headed to the capital, Panama City, from Taboga, an island about 25 kilometers (15 miles) south that is popular with both Panamanian and foreign tourists. News media reported that the boat suffered from engine trouble, stalled, then begin to fill with water. A maritime authority spokesman said the vessel was overcrowded and should not have been carrying more than 127 passengers and three crew members. The crew immediately sent out distress signals, prompting the arrival of a safety boat from the Panama Canal and two boats from the maritime authority. Passengers were dropped off at a pier in Panama City where the boat was supposed to have arrived. At a news conference, maritime authority director Ruben Arosemena said that on Sept. 2 officials had ordered the boat not to sail because of its "deteriorating structural conditions." Despite those restrictions, the vessel left for Taboga on Sunday and sprung a leak on the way back to Panama that night, Arosemena said. He said the boat operators would be severely sanctioned and that "the case has to set precedents.", AP reported.

Back on the road

Finally, after a very productive stint of doing little of nothing, I pulled myself together, and headed to areas unknown- atleast, to me. During my lastnight at Pension Manilos, I met a fellow traveler who had been debating the possibility of going to Panama City. When she learned that I was planning on going, she decided to join me. This turned out to be a delightful surprise, as not only was it nice to have a companion for the 8 hour journey, I also had a new nurse in case I relapsed.

Recap-
Wednesday:
Knowing very little of anything about Boquete, I felt I had to at least take one tour before I left. The tour was about coffee, and covered everything from the seeds and how their grown - to how they reoast and porcess the coffee. The tour was marvelous, and well worth the $14.

After the tour, Stefanie and I met at the Pension, grabbed our bags and headed to the David bus station.

The sights and mellowness of Boquete is perfect for one who needs rest. As you drive through the countryside, inspiration of calmness can easily consume the senses. I feel very fortunate that I expereinced my ilness in the mountain town of Boquete - where the air is cool and refreshing- instead of in Bocas, where though the evnviornment is serene, the weather is exceptionally humid.

Throughout my Central American traveles, I´ve learned that it´s wise to avoid evening arrivals. Not only can the night bring confusion, it can aslo be unsafe. Unfortunately, we were unable to avoid this when we headed to Divisa.

Neither Stefanie nor I were interested in taking an 8 hour bus straight to Panama city, so we decided to break-up the trip. The first day found us in Chitre (pronounced shit-tree). We departed David around 2:00, arrived in Divisa close to 6:00 and then awaited for a bus to bring us to Chitre. While we waited, a well worn man who´s history of beer drinking emoted from the lower depths of his chest cavity, began asking many questions, all of which, were in Spanish. Tired, uninterested in attempting to translate, and just plain uninterested, we tried to just ignore him. After sometime of nodding our heads the bus finally arrived!

As Son and Tu can attest, the Hondurans do a good job packing massive amounts of stuff and people into limited amounts of spaces... The Pamanians, on the other hand, do not. As the VW van pulled up, I slid the door open, and was greeted by a packed bus with no room to place my bags. Acting in the style of a Honduran, I got my bag and began laying it across the legs of several passengers. This didn´t quite go over as well as I had hoped. An older man started yelling at me, saying how I was out of luck. At this point it started raining, it was getting really dark, and behind us was the portly Panamanian, who would not shut up. So, I I responded complaining to the bus driver and the passanger. After about 5 minutes of total confusion, the person who intially complained, got fed up with the situation, left his seat and ran for the nearest building; never to bee seen again. I quickly took this as my que to take the free seat. And, within another minute or two we were on our way to Chitre.

The arrival into Chitre was very pleasant. And, we were given the VIP treatment by our bus driver who, diverted from his normal route and took us directly to our hotel.

Thursday:
We arrived safely into Panama City. I can´t get over how developed this city is. If one were to close their ears to the language that´s spoken, you´d think you were somewhere in the states.

We really didn´t do a huge amount today. Primarly walked around the parimater of the hotstel, getting a feel for the area.

Friday:
We met several other travlers and toured the old portion of Panama. While on our walk, we saw two guys on military style motorcycles with a machine gun raised in one hand and their finger resting on the trigger. They seemed to be in quite the hurry... Not sure where they were off to.

We watched ¨Must Love Dogs¨ lastnight. Cute movie. We paid a whopping $2 a person for the movie.

Saturday:
So far, today has been rather mellow. We´ll be going to the Canal in a couple hours. I´m looking forward to the experience.

I´m beginning to feel like myself, which myself is very pleased about.

Myself, a parody-
This morning, myself said to me, in a very impatient tone "you've rested now for 5 days. It is time for you to be well! I'm becoming impatient, and am ready to explore this place." In my response, I spoke in a milder tone, reminding myself that "patience is a virtue afforded to everyone, but few seem to exercise it's beauty." I then went on to request that myself "look around, and remember where we are." Myself took pause, began to observe our surroundings, and after sometime returned with a mellower demeanour "I had forgotten where we were; that these people are much slower to start; and that they run on a much different time then We do." With this, myself allowed me another couple days rest without bother.

FYI

For those who weren´t aware, by clicking on an image, it will open in a larger screen.

Several shots of Boquete

The last shot in this series is of the Pension where I currently stay (right-hand side of the picture).

I found an English speaking doctor

I just returned from Centro Medico San Juan Bautista, where I saw a doctor by the name of Leonido Pretelt. Very nice man, who, most importantly, spoke english. It probably wasn´t necessary for me to be looked at by another doctor, but since I´ve been self treating myself for the last 4 days, I didn´t think it could hurt. He spent about 10 - 20 minutes asking me questions, and in the end basically told me to continue taking it easy and get plenty of rest; he´d like me to come by Wednesday for a follow-up visit. Cost of consultation and check-up $10.


Side note; cute:
While the nurse was conducting here standard tests, she encountered a little bit of difficulty collecting my height. First, she wasn´t able to reach my head, and then, when she found an object to stand on so that she could continue moving the bar to my head, she pulled the bar from it´s base... the nurses began cracking up, as they didn´t have a device long enough to measure me.

Recovering

After a month + of travelling around developing countries, one would think your immune system would become impervious to parasites, not so. I´m not sure what I had or did in Bocas, maybe it was eating at local $1.00 cafeterias or brushing my teeth with the non-potable water, but whatever it was, I got sick…

Thursday, 8th of August
I would liken Thursday night similar to getting stuck in a sauna, for a whole evening, with no effective means of truly cooling yourself. What ever laid its hands on me proved merciless and, would not give way. A thermometer would have done me well, if only to appease my temperature curiosity.

Friday, 9th of August
Obviously, I am now travelling alone and being sick isn’t the greatest thing to have happen to a solo traveller. Fortunately, the world is filled with other wonderful people, many, happen to be other travellers.

My next door neighbours, a young German couple who I met on the bus from David to Bocas, became saviours. Seeing not the slightest glimpse of me throughout the day, they knocked on my door to check on how I was feeling. With a nurses concern, and care, they headed to the grocery, returned with some juice (I had just run out of liquids), gave me some Panadol –for fevers-, and lent me their thermometer.

Thinking my fever had lifted, I considered the Pandol excessive. But, after converting the thermometers Celsius reading, I downed a pill- 38.4C = about 100F (this number worried me a bit as the previous nights temp was definitely higher).

Saturday, 10th of August
With my nurses departed, all drinkable fluids depleted, food at empty, and the new necessity of drinking plenty of water because I started using Cipro, I left the hotel. In a walk similar to one who is inebriated, I headed to the grocery. On my way, I passed the Clinic. With a confused and dazed look, I stood, contemplating on whether I should check myself in… ¨Should I go in?¨, ¨Should I wait another day?¨… with my legs uninterested in bearing my weight much longer, I decided to check myself in.

The Clinic-
Me to nurse: ¨Hola, Habla Ingles?¨
Nurse: ¨No¨
Me to myself: ¨shit...¨
Me to nurse: “yo soy enfermo, me siento mal, yo tengo fiebre¨

After many hand gestures and bad Spanish, she took my pulse, wrote down some personal information and escorted me to the doctor.

The doctor proved a bit more difficult to speak with. I’ve learned in my years of life that if someone doesn’t understand you, the best thing you can do is either rephrase the statement, or repeat, but speak more slowly. This never really seemed to trigger with my doctor. When displaying a confused look or, when I would tell him in Spanish that I didn’t understand, he would repeat what he had just said but faster… Finally, after 20 minutes of me trying my hardest to understand the doctor -while at the same time trying not to pass out- he handed over the piece of paper that I so sought, the prescription.

Ironically, after visiting him, I headed to the grocery, got some food, water, and then went back to the hotel; Never filling the prescriptions.

Today:
I had my first solid meal. It was pancakes, from a lovely café about a block away from my hotel. I am feeling better, and expect in another couple days to have made almost a full recovery… Nasty parasites!

Back on the road

I'm off to Boquete, Panama tomorrow. The place is known for their coffee production, and apparently gets so cold, that's it isn't uncommon for there to be frosts. Trip duration is around 7 hours and consists of taking a boat back to Changuinola (This city is the headquarters for Chaquita Banana), then taking a taxi to the bus station, then taking a bus from Changuinola to David, and then a bus from David to Boquete.

Obviously, reading the sarcastic tone of my last "woo is me" blog, it's obvious I've enjoyed my stay in Boca's. It's a really charming area.

Pictures from my walk

I just returned from a nice stroll on one of the many islands of Boca's. To get there, I paid a $1 for the water taxi.






These type of homes are quite common on the islands. And yes, people live in each and everyone of these homes.





















Waiting for wood to dry...

The beauty of a pristine beach.
I thought the tree above was really interesting. The picture below is what was at the end of my 30 or so minute, deserted, walk.

Weird Fruit

The dock where I received my, potentially, contaminated cuts

These are the kids I was skipping rocks with, prior to my accidental slip into the contaminated water. Our taxi driver flipped when he saw what happened and insisted that I clean my leg with Ajax. I then utilized the first aid kit Jeff and Anita gave me, and rubbed on a glob of antiseptic. My leg is pretty scratched, but healing nicely.

Turtle Tracks

Paths left by turtles. The first is a track left by a mamma turtle heading back to sea. The next is a bunch of baby turtle tracks (the very tiny ones).

Random Photos

Nicaragua

These are just a few shots I took while we road the bus through Nicaragua- I never imagined the country to be so beautiful. Notice the top photo, this is the border crossing into the country... rope as their mechanisms to stop people from passing through...

Difficult times call for difficult measures

The absurdity of a bus strike, the lack of consideration for the traveler, the utter ridiculousness of being stuck in Bocas del Toro... Ok, so I'm way over exaggerating. Some might imagine getting stuck in a foreign environment, without knowing anyone, might be pretty traumatic. I prefer following the life of the classic adage "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade".

So here I am, stuck in Boca's del Toro, in a foreign environment, but, having an extraordinary time. The place I'm staying, Bongo Mongo (or something), is fabulous. As I wrote before, the people here feel like family. It really feels like a group of people I've known for a while. And, when new arrivals show up, they immediately become assimilated into the family.

For the past two days, I've basically done what any sane individual would do in my circumstance... Have fun, enjoy, meet people, and enjoy the beaches.

People:
I've so far met two individuals who, when I arrive in Panama City, have told me to give them a ring. One of the individuals was born in Panama but for the last 10 or so years has been studying in the states; she even lived a year in Cambridge, getting a degree from Harvard.

Beaches:
What marvelous beaches they have in Boca's . Both today, and yesterday, I hiked 20 minutes trough the forests of one of the islands -climbing high into the hills, ascending down muddy paths, and crossing over marshland- to spend the day lounging, reading and sleeping on one of the most gorgeous beaches of Boca's. What greets you, after the adventurous hike, is a deserted beach with beautiful white sand, complimented by the surrounding rainforest. Pictures are unable to do this beach justice.

I really can't explain the frustration I currently go through... And, I hope all of you have sympathy for me. I would, if it were you...

I have money!!!

Throughout my travels in Honduras and Costa Rica, I continued to experience problems with ATM machines. Unless the ATM explicitly said it accepted all forms of cards, I wasn't able to withdraw money. Now, as I mentioned in my previous blog, I'll basically be stuck on this island for the next couple days. In the town, there is an ATM, but it only says it accepts visa cards... Fortunately, this machine accepted my card- you can imagine, I was a little concerned.

Bus Strike

I learned today that the bus system will be going on strike Monday. They are protesting the fact gas prices are so high. Apparently it will last for at least two days; I hope this doesn't prolong much later. I am fortunate that I am currently in a very friendly environment. The place I'm staying is run by two Costa Rican woman. In many ways, I feel like I'm in a large apartment complex with a bunch of fun roommates.

It's truly amazing the effects petrol prices have on countries like this. During my travels, the thing I continued to hear from taxi and bus drivers was how much the price of gas is affecting their businesses. Think for a moment. I've been taking taxis way across town, or from one city to another and only paying several dollars for the trips. How much money are these people really making when the price of gas is $3 - $4 a gallon. I used to complain about the prices in the states, but at least my livelihood and net income wasn't adversely affected to the extent these peoples lives are.

Pictures!

The computer I write this from has been giving me more then a fair share of problems. So, you unfotuantely are only seeing several pictures- these and the ones associated with the below two blogs. The first of these images doesn't need explaining. The second is the trek across the Costa Rican Border to Panama- it was about a 10 minute walk over a bridge. The third is Lake Arenal- we crossed this on our way to Monteverde. And, the last is a photo taken in Tagucigalpa, Honduras.