We rolled into town just after noon yesterday and checked in at the Costa Inn. Its major draw is that it had rooms available. It also has secure parking and breakfast is included. Internet access is frustratingly sporadic and the TV selection is pitiful. But we call it home.
After lunch we flirted with death (if you believe Lonely Planet)and walked to Casco Viejo. After Morgan the Pirate sacked Panama in 1671 the city moved to Casco Viejo where it remained until the canal was built. Very little of the area has been restored but you can get an idea of what it will be like when the gentrification is complete. It’s a little bit like New Orleans, pre-Katrina.
Today we drove to Soberania National Park and hiked along the Pipeline Road, the famed birding area. The park boasts more than 500 species of birds and 100 kinds of mammals but we were disappointed. Although it reminded us a little of Uganda’s Royal Mile the birding was nowhere near as good. We managed to find about a dozen new species. The park is managed by STRI, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and we ran into one of its researchers out netting butterflies.
We visited the Summit Biological Garden and Zoo to look at the harpy eagle and Baird’s tapir. It was worth the one dollar admission price and besides, we were starving. On the way back we stopped at Miraflores Locks to watch the ships in the canal. We knew the history of the canal from David McCullough’s book, The Path Between the Seas but we wanted to see it in action. The canal is so important to shipping that its width sets the standards for ocean-going ships. Instead of the weeks or months it would take to sail around the tip of South America, transiting the canal takes about 24 hours including waiting time. Actual time in the canal is between eight and ten hours. The average cost for cargo ships is $30,000 and it must be paid in advance. Some cruise ships have to pay as much as $150,000. At thirty ships each day, that’s a lot of Balboas.
