Panama City

Tuesday, 29 January 2019, through Friday, 1 February 2019

Last week we were in Panama for a Road Scholar trip to learn about the Panama Canal. In addition to a full-day transit of the Canal, we also got to see the areas around the Canal, most notably Panama City.

We spent our first morning visiting the second-oldest section of Panama City, known as San Felipe. This area is the oldest still inhabited neighborhood and was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997. (The oldest city, founded in 1519, was burned to the ground and abandoned in 1671. It is now an archaeological site.) The photo above shows the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Plaza Major. The area is picturesque, but its close quarters make photography difficult. Panama City was also crowded with youthful tourists who had come for a Roman Catholic world youth event, including a visit from Pope Francis ("Papa Francisco") the preceding week. The event attracted about 500,000 "peregrinos" (pilgrims).

The remains of the Iglesia de Santo Domingo is part of the lore of the Panama Canal. The fact that these arches had held for hundreds of years convinced builders that the area was less prone to damaging earthquakes than other parts of the Central American isthmus.

The Plaza de Francia has a lovely shopping arcade covered with bougainvillea.

We visited the Panama Canal Museum (Museo del Canal Interoceanico de Panama), which was focused on the history of the Canal. This is the Fresnel lens (designed by Fresnel himself) from one of the many lighthouses that lined the Canal. Most of the lighthouses have been decommissioned, and the remaining ones use electrical lights.

The "new city" is an area of gleaming skyscrapers built post-Norriega.

This twisting tower is one of Panama City's new landmarks. (When we got closer to it, we found out that it sits on an ugly large concrete base.)

The Biomuseo on the Amador Causeway is hard to miss! The plans for the museum were designed by architect Frank Gehry (his wife was Panamanian) and donated to Panama. Only an architect could envision that this building represents the native Panamanian rain forest. The multimedia exhibits inside celebrate the biodiversity of Panama.

One of the more interesting rooms held full-size replicas of extinct megafauna. Impressive. I'm glad we no longer have to deal with saber-tooth tigers, dire wolves, and giant ground sloths!

The Amador Causeway/Peninsula was built with fill from building the Canal. It extends about 3 miles from the mainland and connects to three small islets. This panorama shows the southern (Pacific) entrance to the Canal with the Bridge of the Americas at the right.

The Bridge of the Americas was completed in 1962 and was the first bridge to connect the two sides of the Canal. It is part of the Pan American Highway that runs between Deadhorse, Alaska and Terra del Fuego at the tip of South America.

There was no explanation given for this small replica of a famous Korean Buddhist temple, "Dabotap", that is on the Amador peninsula. The only possible connection I could see was that this area was a former US military base until the Canal was turned over to Panama in 2000.

On Wednesday we visited the Canal administrative area in Balboa, another former US area. The monument is to George W Goethals, chief engineer of the Canal. The building in back is the main administration building.

The west entrance to the administration building is representative of the three levels of locks needed to go from sea level to Gatun Lake, elevation 85 ft.

On the other side of the Goethals Monument is a boulevard whose median is the exact size of the original lock chambers.

Our exceptional tour guides, Beny and Yo Yo (pronounced in Spanish: "Jo Jo").

Before the railroad and the canal, the isthmus was crossed by a combination of travel on the Chagres River and foot paths. This is the Camino de Cruces that connects the Chagres to the Pacific. From this point it's about a 10 mile hike through the Soberania and Camino de Cruces National Parks to Panama City.

The continuation of the Camino de Cruces on the other side of the road. This section ends at the Chagres River.

Our final dinner featured traditional Panamanian dancers and musicians.

Our hotel for the first three nights (Radisson Panama Canal) had lovely sunsets while overlooking the Canal and the Bridge of the Americas.