Prelude to the Panama Canal

Feliz Navidad, Panamanian style

Having arrived in the port of Colón yesterday (Colón is Spanish for Columbus), today I spent nearly six hours on a bus tour down to Panama City, about 90 minutes south. We learned a bit about the Canal on the ride down, walked around the UNESCO Casco Viejo (Old Town) and the French Quarter, and drove to the former American military base outside town. I think that last was just to find us restrooms large enough for several busloads, though we were all dehydrated due to the heat. People got cranky — ‘I want to go back to the bus!’ — before the guide could finish his planned tour. I subscribe to a magazine called International Living, and they go on and on about how wonderful Panama is as a retirement spot. Hmmmm... I think the magazine may be getting paid off by the Panamanian gov’t.

Brick building dates from around 1600.

My cruise bible tells me Panama City ‘has been likened to Singapore for its booming city skyline and Dubai for its aspirations of becoming an economic powerhouse.’ The Canal generates billions: a supercargo container ship can be charged over $1 million to traverse the Canal — one way!

So... what about that leg? Old-fashioned advertising for a ‘lady of the evening.’

We were told this is the art museum. Then we were told it was designed by Frank Gehry. Google tells me it is in fact the Biodiversity Museum and Gehry’s first Latin American project; conceived in 1999, opened in 2014.