Route Canal

Panama is so last week - but I promised to tell you about it, so I will. Over the next couple of days I'll flip back and forth between Panama and Japan. There's going to be a lot of posts, so if you have any friends who don't already read this blog, now would be the time to forward it to them. http://www.ameri-pan.blogspot.com/.

Okay, sales pitch done. On to the story.

The first thing you notice about the Panama Canal is that it is narrow, much narrower than you envisioned. Like the Mona Lisa, you think something so legendary should be larger. But tell that to the men who died of malaria while trying to dig the thing.

The Miraflores locks, in Panama City, are open to the public, and that is where we went on our first day in Panama. No points for originality, I know, but we had to see it.

As soon as we stepped out of the air conditioned car the sun smacked us. It was hot, about 85 degrees Fahrenheit and 80 percent humidity. The barometer would hardly move during our trip.

Approaching the building that housed the lock observation deck, we were faced with what seemed like hundreds of stairs. Mercifully, there was also a narrow escalator to assist the infirm and the lazy – like us.

When we first arrived the locks were idle. No boats were moving. We decided to watch the informational movie and tour the museum first. The movie was a classic Panamanian cheap-as-dirt production. No Emmy nominations here, but at least it was in English.

The museum featured the history, science and the flora and fauna of the Panama Canal. Somewhere amidst the models of digging equipment and period dressed mannequins it hit me. The shear audacity of the Panama Canal was staggering. Men dared to reroute rivers, slice through continents, join oceans - they paid a massive price to do it, but they dared. Suddenly the canal didn't seem so small.

After the museum, we braved the heat to watch a yacht drift through the locks.

The vessel started out level with the top of the hill.

Then water was pumped out of the lock to lower the boat to the next level.

After a few minutes, the water level in the first lock was even with that of the second.

Then my favorite part - hydraulics pushed the doors open, allowing the boat to pass out of one lock and into the other.

Little boats sail through on their own.

Big boats - like the one above - are guided by little trains that run along on either side of the canal. No matter what size the boat is a licensed Canal Pilot is at the helm. The pilots can earn up to $5000 per ship.

I can imagine this makes some captains uncomfortable. I wouldn't want to relinquish control of my boat. But the alternative isn't much better. An extra month to sail through the difficult waters around the tip of South America is more than most people have. Of course big ships, like the G.W. have no choice; the Panama Canal is narrow.

I leave you today with a quote from William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United States, "My impression about the Panama Canal is that the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between the east and the west coast of the United States. "