Panama City 10
August 2010
After
our free breakfast of coffee, juice and toast we left Casa de Carmen
late morning and caught a local bus to the Allbrook Terminal and
Mall-American style huge and new with dozens of shops, movie theatres
($US4 a movie!) and foodcourts- also airconditioned-a bonus when it
is a humid 27 deg every day. We bought 4G memory cards for our
cameras ($US15) and had Subway for lunch ($US2) before trying to find
a bus to take us to the Mireflores Locks-easier said than done! There
are dozens of old jazzed up US school buses which make up the local
bus system -diablos rojos or 'red devils'. Some are real works of
art with amazing painted scenes along the sides -basically any flat
surface. Pictures of all sorts-mountain scenes, castles, pirates!!
any gaps are filled with cartoon characters, slogans, colourful
designs....The bonnets are decorated with hood ornaments-not just one
but at least four or more-horses, birds etc. The windscreens have a
huge colourful transfer across the whole width-they seem to be a name
and there are destination signs as well. We saw plastic red domes
on the roof of one-yellow fins on another. Some have massive chrome
exhaust pipes at the back running up from the bottom of the bus to
roof height. The figures painted on the back emergency door range
from wrestlers to Jesus to children.-anything goes! -although they
are becoming fewer as regulations require a plain white door-how
boring! Even the mud flaps are decorated-I saw a pair with Forever
Lover Boy! And on the bumper bar of the same bus-Jehovah is my Pastor
! And that is just the outside! Inside there can be feather boas
draped around the windows, silver aluminum trims on the dash,
dangling bits in the window-crucifixes, dice!!.....flashing neon
lights-no holds barred!! There is a driver of course (often a little
skinny young man) who thrashes the gears as he changes up and
down-drives like a rally driver-toots the horn frequently, loudly and
more than one toot at a time -takes the money as passengers get off
(25-35c per ride)-and operates the front door with a manual bar
contraption-whew! And manages to swerve around in the lanes to drop
off and pick up passengers without hitting any other traffic!. Most
also have a co pilot-his job is to rustle up passengers-by whistling,
yelling and cajoling people to get on THIS bus! He lives a dangerous
life-he spends his day hanging out of the door-jumping on and off the
bus-often running along side trying to get back on as the driver
accelerates away! He shoves people in the door and along the narrow
aisle if the bus is full-as they frequently are-packed in like
sardines!! Total bedlam but IT WORKS!!!! Well it does when you know
which one to catch and where from!! No signs here -especially in
English! But helpful people. We were told (in Spanish of course) and
with lots of pointing and sign language at least four different
places! Upstairs and downstairs and over there-eventually we found
the right bus in a back area you wouldn't find unless looking
specifically.
The
Mireflores lock,one of the three double lane locks of the Canal, was
only about a ten minute ride away-30c. We got off at the sign on the
highway and walked along the drive way up to the visitors centre-a
four storey building with a museum, restaurant and viewing
platforms-it cost $US8 for a full package which includes the museum.
We went straight up to the 4th
floor platform as there was a ship approaching from the Caribbean
side-it had been through the Gatun locks at Colon, up into Lake
Gatun, 26m above sea level and fed by the Chagres River, through the
Culebra or Gaillard Cut-a 14km cut through the rock and shale of the
isthmian mountains and the narrowest stretch crossing the Continental
Divide-through the Pedro Miguel locks and lowered into Miraflores
Lake before passing through the Miraflores Lock into the Pacific
Ocean. In fact we were lucky enough to see two container ships
approaching in the two lanes-one about ten minutes behind the other.
The first lock chamber was filled with water-26m above sea level- and
the ship came in pulled along by little loco engines. Then the water
level goes down and when the gates open the ship passes into the next
chamber where the water level is the same. The gates shut and again
the water level goes down – this time to sea level -the next set of
gates open and the ship passes through-heading out towards the
Pacific-so easy and saving shipping companies about $4.5 million and
a long journey around Cape Horn. Water comes from Gatun Lake-the
artificial lake formed by the Gatun Dam across the River
Chagres-approx 52 MILLION gallons per passage of ship which is
flushed into the ocean. The whole journey through the 80 kms of the
Panama Canal -from Colon on the Atlantic to Panama on the
Pacific-takes about 8-10 hours depending on the size of the vessel..
Cost is dependent on weight, number of tug boats and locos used
averaging about $US30,000-the highest so far was $US200,000 in 2001
paid by 90,000 ton French cruise ship Infinity and the lowest 36c
paid in 1928by swimmer Richard Halliburton. Fees are payable in
advance electronically so no threat of pirates which are still a
real risk for ships near Somalia. Nearly 14,000 vessels pass through
each year and ships worldwide are built with the Panama locks
dimensions in mind-305m long and 33.5m wide. Expansion will deepen
and widen the existing channels and construction of another set of
locks will provide a third lane of traffic thus allowing the transit
of longer, wider ships carrying up to 10,000 containers-presently the
canal can only handle ships carrying 4,000. Work was begun on
September3, 2007 after a referendum in October 2006 in Panama showed
overwhelming support for expansion of the Canal which will cost $US5
billion. The new locks will be 427m long and 55m wide-the size of
four football fields. Since the opening of the Canal on August 15,
1914 more than 970,000 vessels have passed through-it is estimated
that figure will reach 1 million by October, 2010. It operates 24/7.
Continental
divide=the line of mountaind sthat divides the flow of water between
one side of a continent and the other.
The
management of the Canal was handed over from the USA to Panama on
December 31, 1999. Panama sees its future being dependant on the
increased efficiency and larger capability of the canal so it is all
steam ahead for expansion.
The
museum has a good display and there is a simulator where you can
steer a ship through the Canal-they are used for training purposes as
the locks are so narrow. There is also a 10 minute movie about the
history and construction of the canal which was really informative
and interesting-a very educational visit!
We
caught a bus back to Allbrook and from there we got another bus to
get back to the hostel-well that was the plan! The bus went a
different route through unfamiliar parts of the city- huge slum like
apartment blocks and rundown market areas and streets -but we didn't
worry too much about it. But as it got darker and we didn't recognise
any landmarks we started to wonder.....! What should have been a ten
minute trip got longer and longer! We were trying to look out for
street signs but as they are few and far between and we don't have
good night vision anyway that was pretty hopeless. We knew we weren't
in the right area though. But best to stay on and hope the bus
returns to All brook where we can start all over again! People got
off and we thought we were close to the end of the line but no-more
people got on and we took off again-to a less than desirable part of
town by the look of all the bars and grilles on the doors and
windows. Even the local shops were serving customers through a slot
in the safety grille across the doors! We were driving up little
narrow streets through dodgy neighbourhoods in the dark with no idea
where we were! We finally came to a depot where there were buses
parked up in a rough fenced area-OH NO! But a few meters more and we
drove into a huge modern well lit shopping center with people
around-we had driven in through the back entrance. But this was the
end of the line-everyone got out so we had no choice but to follow.
Luckily the bus driver spoke a bit of English- he was surprised to
see us still on the bus-I think he may have misheard us when we asked
him for Via Espana way back at Allbrook! He pointed us in the
direction of a bus back to town-go to the right then take a left
across the bridge over the highway and you'll see people waiting-yeah
right! Take a right where-this one? And the left-which one is that?
We did figure it out after a circuit of the shopping centre -down the
out ramp onto the busy highway-across the busy highway and line up
with all the people standing on the side of the busy highway! Now it
was just a case of waiting for a bus heading to Allbrook-this means
looking for a sign on the windscreen or asking the driver or his
cohort. Two attempts later we found our bus-the bus with the LOUD rap
music pumping away and the neon hearts flashing away on the inside
above the windscreen-DISCO BUS!!! The driver was a skinny little
black dude who obviously took great delight in driving along with
loud music in heavy traffic at night!. The gear stick was shoulder
height when he was seated and it graunched away as he changed
gear-frequently! He even managed to talk on his mobile while all this
was going on! His other main job seemed to be tooting the horn as
loudly, frequently and musically as possible! Meanwhile his partner
in crime was rustling up trade-calling and whistling people to get on
THIS bus. He spent most of his trip hanging out of the front door
-jumping on and off the bus and at one point running frantically
alongside the bus trying to get on as the driver accelerated away!
They seemed to be having great fun these two-laughing and chatting
and not really too stressed by their job! There was even a chance to
chat with another bus driver-driving alongside our bus! Not to
mention the drag race with another bus along a stretch of road-we
won! We did make it back to Allbrook eventually-2 ½ hours later!
Should we try again? No! -we got a cab and $US3 and ten minutes later
we were at the hostel-totally exhausted but we had had great
entertainment and seen parts of Panama tourists probably never get to
see-we still have no idea where we had been! The price for all this
adventure- a whole 50c each!
