Thursday December 13,2012
Colon, Panama
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L&F learned that Panama forms a land bridge that connects North and South America. Panama also controls the Panama Canal which connects the Atlatic ocean via the Carribean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. We’ll be going through it tomorrow starting at about 5:30 AM. it takes about 8 hours to go completely through the locks. more about that on the next post.
Screen Shot 2012-12-13 at 6.51.59 PM Screen Shot 2012-12-13 at 6.53.32 PMColon has total land mass is the size of South Carolina. It is a tropical climate and has 3.4 million people. The currency is called the Balboa, which is the same bill as our dollar, because we built and “owned” (until President Jimmy Carter gave the right back to the Pnamanians) the Panama Canal. They export bananas, sugar, shrimp, coffee and clothing but the main industry is the Canal and tourism. A the center of town, all the land is landfill, which means the town itself is only about 24″ above the water.
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We drove to the Gamboa Rainforest Marina where we greeted our boat captain and crew.
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Here is our guide Manuel. Wow, did he know a LOT about EVERYTHING!  We navigated across Gatun Lake which is situated in the heart of the isthmus of Panama and serves as an important reservoir to the locks.
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We saw amazing sailboats and containment ships and military ships.
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We also saw Mindy, the original ship that helped build the Panama Canal. She churns up the rock and dredges it through pipes to insure the proper water table balance which is essential for the Canal to work. One of the most astonishing things is that ALL of this is man-made. The canal and the lake itself. Over 135 different rivers feed the canal.
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We saw a caiman (like an iguana) and saw and fed the white-faced capuchin monkeys.
INCLUDING ONE WHO CAME INTO OUR BOAT!
We saw a male and a mother with her baby on her back.
-Kelly fed the male a peanut from her hand – twice.
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We saw turkey vultures circlimg and heard the distinctive call of the falcon and explored the flora and fauna of the Gatun Lake region.
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After, we visited their version of a grocery store/ Walmart, called 99 and Under. Very different. HUGE junk food section. No low fat or no fat anything. Lot of powdered milk product. Plus, Tony the Tiger seems a bit angrier on the equator in Panama.:)
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Until the next post: safe travels!
JKLM 🙂
Tomorrow: THE PANAL CANAL!!
Quote: “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.”  – Maya Angelou
Observation: The exterior landscape shifts, challenges, transforms, questions, feeds our interior landscapes in ways we both know and will not for some time. It is a lot to take in – the lush mountainous terrain, the cities split between white high rises and dirty water running through half built tin, wood and cement block huts in alleys. Between the faces of old and young indigenous people and monkeys. And then the civilized white tablecloth dinner on board.
We read today that facing the questions (of your soul) is germane to the emancipation that allows you to cross into the next threshold of your life journey. You can choose not to engage this conversation but it will occur with or without you. You can either become collateral fall out or reap the rewards of the exploration. -Just a little something light to leave you with:)