Will it ever slow down? Perhaps never…
I took off at 6:30 AM today because the hotel I stayed at last night was close to the main street. Which meant I woke up today to the sound of trucks using their motor breaks, rather than waking up to rooster cries.
I immeediately left for Panama City. Which wasn’t hard to find at all. The bridge leading to Panama City provided a great view of the entrance to the canal. I had no idea that I would see the very same cargo ship that I saw under that bridge 3 hours later in Miraflores.
I went in, thinking I’d like to see all the high rises of Panama City. I did see the high rises, but my interest died as soon as it had started. They were all mostly condominiums, nothing really special. Well designed, they pierced the Central American sky like the beacon of two oceans should. Underneath the shadows at ground level, however, despair and confusion ran amok. Smog clouded the streets, and rude drivers seemed to be the norm here. Here, more so than any other city I’ve been in America.
I’m not sure how good of a thing civilization is. After having gone through Panama City, which has financially benefited from the prosperity of the Panama Canal, it’s not clear to me whether I would prefer a world of indigenous people of Chichicastenango making do with litte, or that of Panama City, whose identity has been ripped up, torn apart, and pieced back together with haste.
So I am very disappointed at Panama. There isn’t much of a view or scenary, all the streets save the main one leading to Panama are crap, and even the very icon that Panama is known for, its Canal, wasn’t locally conceived.
I didn’t spend a lot of time at Panama City. I started heading towards the Miraflores docks, where I heard there’s a nice view of Panama Canal. On the way, though, I stop by 3 or 4 different shops that may have a camera that I’m looking for. The fourth one isn’t open when I get there at 9. So I head out to the general location of Miraflores. I haven’t got the slightest idea how to get there. There are no signs, and my GPS doesn’t have it in its system. I head towards the canal, hoping ther’ll be a road that runs parallel to it.
Panama Canal is astounding. I am convinced that it is THE engineering marvel of the 20th Century. I saw a huge cargo ship rise and fall today. It was literally mere 30 meters in front of my eyes, larger than life. And just like that, it just rose up. I wish I had a camera then. Because that was the biggest one I saw that day, with hundreds upon hundreds of 40 footer cargo conexes lined up on top of each other. It was what they called a “Panamax,” a ship which carries the maximum capacity allowed for entry into Panama Canal.
I got a Sony T100 after researching at their computer with internet connection. It sold for 370 on Amazon and 440 in Panama. Others had a much greater disparity. The Sony N2, for example, was selling for 300 in the states while Panama was charging 500. I would have got the Canon SD700IS again, but the display model was the last one they had available. That would have been $440, something I could have got for $320.
When I returned to Miraflores, the next ship was a couple hours away and wasn’t nearly the size of the cargo ship I had seen earlier in the day. It was getting late, around 1PM then, so I headed towards Colon, hoping to drive around a couple hours to see if I can’t locate some agencies for car shipments to Cartagena.
That was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I first went to a Panama Yacht Club, who didn’t know anything about any agencies. They sent me to another address to look for a guy, but I couldn’t find it. I instead tried to get to the Panama CANAL Yacht club, but instead I ran into the gates of a port. The policeman spoke fairly good English, and sent me down the street to talk to guys in Pier 3. He said it’s about 5 blocks and just keep going. At least that’s what I thought he said with his broken English. I appreciated the gesture, but I don’t see anything. I stop by a place near the port that had 4 or 5 guys working outside, and I thought they looked like they just came back from working at the port, so I get out and ask. One of the guys that happened to be there, Omar, was in his car and spoke great English. I tell him about my situation, and he knows that I need to find an agency. He tries to tell me how to get there, but I am obviously confused, and he says, follow me.
Omar shows me 4 different shipping agencies, all within mere block or two of each other. I’m so thankful that I got to find the place that I get out of the car to shake his hands. Even better is that one of them is still open, even at 5PM. The guy inside tells me that their company doesn’t do Cartagena, but there’s one coming in on Wendesday that will get to Guayanquil, Ecuador by Monday the 10th. Even better, is that it only takes about a day to fill out all the paperwork. But now, I’m more determined than ever to get to Catagena. Not only is it closer, it may even be cheaper. And, that city is supposedly much easier with the customs than Ecuador is. And, it’s supposedly the most beautiful city that Alvaro’s ever seen.
The guy talking in decent English to me is named Enrique, and he had a poster calendar of pretty girls in clad clothing. Meaning very little clothing. I enjoyed the sight, not because I think it’s the right thing to do, but because in contrast of everything here, freedom of speech or in this case expression, was still in tact.
The shipping phase of the car to Colombia is the second milestone I have for myself. It requires a lot of money, and even more patience. First milestone was entering Mexico and totally committing to the journey, and the final milestone, obviously, is achieving the goal by getting to Tierra del Fuego in their winter time.
A little bit about the Canal befor I forget. It was the third total attempt by the Americans that finished the canal in about 10 years. The average time in the canal per ship is 6-8 hours, and they spend about a total of 24 hours getting through the system. It only takes about 8 minutes to go up each level. It takes much longer time to get the ship ready to cross. The people of Panama recently voted, I think about 75% yes, to expand the canal. It will run parallel to the one already in place, except it’s just one really big one, not two. It has sliding gates, not revolving ones, and will utilize water reservoirs to flush in and out, saving about 60% of the water. It should be complete by no later than 2014. It’s wider, deeper, and longer than the ones in place, which will be in full capacity by year 2012. Apparently, these summer months are the slowest months, so they take this time to repair and keep the canal in good condition.