A place where everyone loves Ron.

[drron]

After lunch the afternoon was free so we went into town.Backpacker's heaven.So very little for us.Basically one long street with the occasional nice building,some falling down,colourful hostels and bars aplenty.

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[drron]

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I tried to convince mrsdrron that here was an ideal business opportunity-a backpacker's hostel in Panama!

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We always like walking around a local supermarket.here at least the meat is refrigerated.But some unusual supermarket items-

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[drron]

And about time for some more food pics-

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That night was the preview of the cruise video.There were a couple of good comedy spots.Mrsdrron thought it very unfortunate that I was the star of those spots.Well someone has to do it.
The next morning we arrived to a very wet Colon.

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Fortunately it cleared before the 8 of us continuing on for the next cruise went on our tour of Panama city and the locks.

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[drron]

By the time we left for our tour the rain settled.We arrived at the Miraflores locks just as the Oosterdam was entering the top lock-

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The passengers got dressed up for the occasion.Boy am I glad we will be going through on the Explorer.

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[drron]

A specialised ship carrying wind turbines is coming into the second channel-

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The Panama Canal is definitely one of those places that is more impressive close up.Just think that this was completed over 100 years ago when ships such as the Oosterdam could not be imagined.Time to see those 100 year old gates close and the lock fill-

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Off she goes-

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[drron]

You need to be observant.I spotted this little fellow watching from the other side of the lock-

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The railway also transports freight across the isthmus-

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Now off to Panama city.

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We walked the Old City but first looking out at the new Panama city-

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[drron]

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The tide was out-

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A couple of the local Indian population.

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The promenade was a popular local photo shoot.This young lady having had her first confirmation-

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[drron]

This is the Biomuseo designed by Frank Gehry.

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That one though was more a photoshoot-

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More of the crafts at the stalls on the Promenade-

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[drron]

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The view to the Panama city CBD from the Promenade and the ships waiting for the Canal-

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[drron]

Cushions,legs and a ballerina-

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Now the drive around the old town-

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[drron]

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Next we drive to where they are developing a new entertainment area and possibly a cruise port-

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The hill(one of 3) is some of the material dug out to make the canal.After 100 years it looks natural-

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[drron]

Now back to the ship-

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The domestic airport in town and a canal lighthouse-

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The French cemetery,each cross represents 100 people-

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The French lost over 20000 workers when they attempted to build the canal.Fortunately when the Americans took over it was realised that malaria and yellow fever were spread by mosquitoes so workers camps were completely rebuilt and the number of deaths dropped dramatically.Next part of Gatun Lake-

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Back to the ship and boarding was in full swing.The heavens then opened so we used our choice not to attend lifeboat drill.The rain was even heavier for sailaway so the first chance to meet the new passengers was dinner.The cruise dynamics were now back to the usual standards.We ended up having dinner with 4 other Aussies but all independent travellers new to Silverseas.It was a good night.
We sailed out of port and anchored off the entrance to the canal overnight.It was early when we cruised into the entrance of the Chagres river-

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[drron]

We were a couple of hours late before we approached the first lock-

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Preparing to get the line using only the most modern of ways-

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[drron]

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Whilst up above-

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Some ships obviously get very close to the sides of the locks.We had no such problem-

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[drron]

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Lock gates open and on our way to the second level-

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[drron]

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Now in the top lock.

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[drron]

Non stop traffic-

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So how many Panamanians does it take to change a light globe?

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Some of the ships are large but when the duplicate canal is open it can handle container ships with 3 times the current number of containers.

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Finally into Lake Gatun to wait our turn to move off.Unfortunately we had to wait some hours before that occurred.

 

[drron]

Tugs going back and forth and ships of all sizes-

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And finally we are off-

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It was quite scenic cruising Gatun lake-

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The small blue cargo ship was our partner.Went through each lock together-

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[drron]

We now are where they are widening and deepening the channel through the lake-

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This crane is Titan the surviving one of four built by **** Germany.One was given to each of the major powers after the war-the French one sank on the way to France,the Russians eventually scapped theirs and the British one was sent to Australia.it was then being taken to Singapore when it sank.So this is the American one.

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[drron]

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Local jail which has Noriega's summer house-

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