Snorkling lovers will find it hard to leave the crystaline waters of Bocas del Toro; nature lovers will savor the tropical diversity of the mountainous Boquete area; culture junkies will get their kicks from the surprisingly large indigenous population still living in traditional ways.
But the Panama Canal can be reason enough to go. Really. Hands down, it is simply one of the wonders of the modern world.
Date(s): August 2001. Album by David Kohl. Photos by David Kohl & Ross Rosenberg. 1 - 32 of 32 Total. 3949 Visits.
Panama City Skyline One of the most modern of Central American cities, Panama City appeared to have the greatest number of dented cars that we have ever seen in any city in the world. Where did they learn to drive???
Casco Viejo street scene Casco Viejo - meaning "Old Compound" - is the most colorful section of Panama City. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, this area - when we visited - was in the adolescent throes of restoration. It can be beautiful, it can be dangerous. It was a neighborhood in transition.
View of "new" Panama City A view of the skyline of Panama City from a promenade in Casco Viejo.
Panamanian public bus Panamanian public buses - cleverly disguised U.S. school buses - are each individually and colorfully tatooed by their drivers.
Casco Viejo walkway
Panamanian kids on a break from school
Mola shopping Mola - or "blouse" in the Kuna language - is made of brightly colored pieces of fabric laid atop one another. Cuts are made through the layers, forming basic designs. The layers are then sewn together. The Kuna women make molas in pairs - for the front and rear panels of their blouses. The pairs are similar thematically but never identical. Ross is seen shopping in Flory Satlzman's store in the El Panama Hotel.
Puente de Las Americas This cantilever bridge essentially joins North/Central America with South America. This bridge spans the western entrance to the Panama Canal.
Panama Canal The Panama Canal is one of the wonders of the modern world. Opened in 1914, the canal joined the Atlantic to the Pacific through one awesome 50-mile journey.
Panama Canal The Panama Canal contains a series of three locks - the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel on the Pacific side and the Gatun locks on the Atlantic side. The locks serve to raise and lower ships to the appropriate sea level.
Panama Canal For 11 months of the year, the water levels of the two oceans differ because of tides and climatic conditions. Only in February are they nearly the same.
Panama Canal Each lock chamber on the canal is 1000 feet in length and 110 feet in width. Often boats of varying sizes will share one lock.
The Gaillard Cut The Gaillard Cut is where the canal engineers had to carve through the Continental Divide to complete the canal.
Abandoned ship The average transit through the canal takes 8 to 10 hours. The fastest time was made by a U.S. hydrofoil in 2 hours and 41 minutes.
Mulas Mulas (mules) (not to be confused with molas) are the tow trains that guide large ships through the locks.
Mula at work Each the 80 mulas in use weighs about 47 tons! Their job is to stabilize the ships on their way through the canal.
Canal tug boat A ship traveling from New York to San Francisco saves about 8,000 miles by using the canal instead of going around the tip of South America.
Gatun Locks The Gatun Locks are a series of three locks on the Caribbean side of the canal.
Gatun locks No pumps are used to raise or lower the ships in the locks. It's all done by gravity.
Ship in view Ships can be raised or lowered about 85 feet as they pass through the Gatun Locks.
Main street in Boquete Located about 3,000 feet about sea level, Boquete is a quiet mountain town in the heart of the coffee growing region of Panama.
Coffee tree
Drying the coffee beans
Main street in Bocas del Toro Bocas del Toro is an archipelago off the Caribbean side of Panama. When we visited, this sleepy beach town had one main street and no large hotels. When not in use, its airport runway area doubled as a soccer field!
Bocas street scene The Bocas del Toro area of Panama is different from the rest of Panama. The region is dominated by the banana industry and is populated by English-speaking blacks originally from other Caribbean islands.
Cocomo on the Sea This four room bed-and-breakfast was owned and run by two American expatriots was our home during our stay in Bocas. For more information: http://www.panamainfo.com/cocomo/
Sea view Cocomo on the Sea had ocean views - but no beachfront. Breakfasts were served every morning on the veranda.
View of Bocas del Toro town from the bay
Red Frog close-up If you look carefully along the beaches of Isla Bastimentos, you may catch a glimpse the venomous red frog (dendrobates pumilio). Its brilliantly colored skin - which secretes a toxic substance -serves as a warning to would-be predators.
Snorkling guide holding a lobster No trip to the Bocas region would be complete without a snorkling excursion. Here, our guide is showing off his catch-of-the-day.
Ross holding the lobster
Crawl (Coral) Cay On a shallow channel between Isla Bastimentos and Isla Popa lies this marvelous stretch of clear, light-green water. These thatched huts, perched over the luminous water, are the local lunch spots.
