Our Panama Trip

The time came for us to renew our passport visas to give us another 90 days in Honduras.  This time our trip took us to Panama!  We decided to fly this time, which was less adventurous than driving to Belize, but was still quite a process!  (5 planes, plus airports in 4 different countries when all was said and done!)  

We only had two days there, and only saw Panama City, so please don't consider this post as anything definitive about Panama!  Our first day we took a taxi ride up a big hill in the city, where we had great views of the city, the canal, and some wildlife.  I'd been hoping to see monkeys, but they were hiding.  We did see a "mountain rabbit," a beautifully colored gigantic caterpillar, and some gorgeous butterflies.  The views of the city were pretty cool too.

Next we went to Albrook Mall, the largest mall in Central America and 13th largest in the world.  It was extremely crowded, even on a Monday afternoon.  Too much noise and commotion for my tastes, but we did kill a few hours there.  We went bowling, rode the carousel, and then went to dinner.  

The next day was the big event!  We got to ride a boat half-way through the canal.  (The full trip would have been too many hours on a boat for our kids and too much money for our budget, so I had to let go of my perfectionism and settle for half-way through.)  We rode from the Pacific entrance to the center, going through three locks that raised the boat up a total of 85 feet--from sea level to the level of the man-made Gatun Lake.  This was all built just over 100 years ago, and it's really amazing to see how it works!  

New locks are also being built that will be able to handle the modern "Post-Panamax" gigantic ships, which are currently too big to fit.  These new locks are supposed to open in April, and we saw them laying the dynamite charges in preparation for blowing up the temporary dyke that holds back the water.  

I tried to add a video, but it was too big.  If you'd like to see the locks in operation (gates closing, filling with water), click HERE.

The next day we flew from Panama to Costa Rica to El Salvador to Honduras, and ended the trip with  the 2+ hour drive back to our house.  A lot of travel for a short visit, but definitely a cool experience!