Life is Good!: Costa Rica - Panama Final Edition!

Going from last day to first days!!! Walking in the lobby of our Panama City Hotel was some beautiful artwork and a couple portraits looked family - pretty sure this is Paul Newman and I wish I had taken a picture of the rest.

26 February 2023 - Panama City was founded in 1519, making it the oldest European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Western Hemisphere. The Old City ruins of this once prosperous crosroads tell the tale of Henry Morgan and the quest for treasure.

And looking back at my notes on the Panama Canal the death total for workers 27,500 over the years of construction. 22,000 mostly from malaria as they had no cure and during American construction in 1916 or so the total who died was 5,609. After WW II, US control of the canal became contentious as relations between Panama and the US became increasingly tense as many Panamians felt the Canal rightfully belonged to Panama. Negotiations began in 1974 and resulted in the Torrijos-Carter Treaties signed by President Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos on 7 September 1977 and granted Panamians free control of the canal so long as Panama signed a treating guaranteeing the neutrality of the canal. Full Panamian control took effect at noon on 31 December 1999. In June 2016, the expansion of the Panama Canal was completed. The Panama Canal is a 50 mile ship canal and a key conduit for international maritime trade. Annual traffic has risen from 1,000 ships in the early 1900s for more than 15,000 vessels in 2022.

We had the best travel directors and local guides as always. Ivan was the main guy for days and he lives in Gamboa, Panama and has a 19 and 9 year old daughter and on a drive to the rain forest we stopped in front of a house and his daughter were there waving and he brought them on the bus to introduce them! Ready to tour Casco Viejo (old city) which replaced the sacked city in 1673.

Another beautiful work of Jesus on the Cross.

In the old city of Casca Viejo we did a walking tour of a 1500s cloisters, monastery, convents and churches and it is amazing to see this much left after hundreds of years. Old Panama City was built in the 1670s at the foot of Ancon Hill to provide safety from attack. A gem of Spanish colonial architecture and UNESCO world heritage sites

This is an artifact of "graffiti" in the 1800s so we could see the names.

This is a real tree and the bottom was carved into art and it is still a living tree - amazing!

Yes - restrooms in the old city park but we had better options but also these would do since I grew up on a farm and as a little girl we had an outhouse and until 5th grade I attended a one room school house with only an outhouse option but it was a "two holer"!

There is artwork all over including on the city buses and it kind of reminded me of the late 60s Beatles days.

A few people on the tour knew I liked ice cream once or twice a day so they pointed this out to me from our bus - yup that could be me for sure!

Driving through Panama City and Ancon Hill with residences that were homes to US Air Forces Base Albrook and US Army base Clayton until 1977 treaty granted Panamanian sovereignty over the "Zone".

We could visit inside the beautiful Metropolitan Archcathedral (Basilica of Santa Maria la Antigua also called Catedral Mtropolitana de Huestra Senora de la Asuncion built between 1688-1796

I had to take a 2nd look at this statue with the local bird popping and living on his head!

And a little lunch stop and being raised in a deer hunting family I did notice the keg had a beautiful 12 point buck on it and of course German beer.

On our last day on the boat (max 184 passengers) I turned on the TV in the room and it was telling us goodbye! What a great trip!

Pretty nice weather every day as it was at home about 20 degrees and having "Winter Storm Piper" as we do name our snow storms in Minnesota.

25 February 2023 - Colon, Panama - It was really fun to flip on the TV and see where exactly where we were and where we came from and were headed. So Panama Canal Crossing is done!

We met some really fun and nice people on our first couple days there and hung out with them every day. How lucky!

And we were on a walking tour to view the new Panama Canal large locks for big boats and I happened to notice the name so I texted our travel buddies Greg and Linda and sure enough it was them and she could see me standing on the sidewalk with my orange visor on. Who could believe this would really happen.This is called the Augua Cara Locks and since it was built a container ship can carry 16,000 containers on one ship and the toll is $1.4 million to cross so it does bring in money. Estimated cost per passenger on a cruise ship to cross is $120-136 per cabin. China is the biggest user of the Canal then USA, Russia, Korea. The Canal is always neutral so Nazis could use it but the US Navy could get on to inspect and the USA has the right to protect the Canal. Aircraft carriers cannot pass through the canal.

We need a Gulf of Mosquitoes in Minnesota for sure.

Colon Panama - and this is the Gamboa rain forest. Rain forest and rivers supply water for the canal as it rains about 200 inches per year. It takes 1 hour 10 minutes to drive all the way across from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Levi Strauss (Jewish) crossed walking trail to get to California. Lt. Ulysses Grant crossed from NYC to California on the Gamboa Trail. 49ers trail cost $5 to walk the tril and $3,000 to take the train from Colon to Panama. Today the train runs two times a day for $25.

And yes this is the famous aerial tram

This was what Ross picked up in the buffet at our lunch stop so at our table we played a guessing game and snail came out on top but nobody knew for sure and nobody wanted to eat it.

We did visit the Biomuseo aka the Panama City biodiversity museum designed by famous architect Frank Gehry and the only one of his in Latin America. We learned how the rising of the small Isthmus of Panama changed the world!

This was our seat with our buddies and the blue window is actually an open window with a nice breeze to help us cool off.

24 February 2023 - Friday

Visited Hollandes Caye - Panama in the San Blas archipelago and an islet aka island. It is populated by the Indian community of Kanas who still live from hunting and fishing and their villages with bamboo dewllings are grouped near the beaches.

View of our "little ship" from Hollandes Caye where we arrived on another "wet landing" on the Zodiac boat.

I think it's a great idea to have a little canoe with ice in it for whatever is served in the "bar".

I had to have this $20 handmade mola and it is amazing. The waves were a little more on the boat last night.

This is the outdoor pool on our boat the Le Bellot and that is the crew standing there for us to meet them.

23 February 2023 - Thursday - day of crossing the Panama Canal. Construction began in 1880 under direction of Ferdinand de Lesseps and then was abandoned and taken over by the United States and was completed and inaugarated in 1914. The canal is surrounded by jungle and mountains and crosses the Isthmus of Panama and connects the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Three levels of locks and raising ships to the level of Lake Gatun almost like the water is an elevator to get you to the next floor. It also avoids having to round Cape Horn. First - passed under Bridge of the Americas, next Miraflores locks, Pedro Miguel locks, Gatun Locks and we did it and I stood for hours on our balcony overlooking the "trip" - amazing and what an experience.

We needed a new local crew for a safe crossing through the Panama Canal and they arrive by small boat and jump on ours holding on to a rope.

Every time we passed a group they were standing there and so happy to have someone notice and wave at them.

This is a big cruise ship in the big lock to the left of ours. The little gray machine at the bottom is called a "mule" and it took at least 4 of them to pull us across by boat.

I cannot imagine how long and difficult this would be to dig this deep to make the canal.

Another of our mules.

22 February 2023 - Wednesday - Playa Muerto - Panama. Province of Darien is an unspoiled land with a rich variety of flora and fauna and a UNESCO world heritage site and the home of the Embera Amerindian community.

Indigenous Embera Amerindian greeters as we did another "wet landing" on a beach.

Embara kids love to have their photos taken and see them on your phone. They also always wanted to hold our hands to walk with us and noone asked for money at any time. Pretty sure our tour directors pays them and that's a good thing. They are known for their woodworking and I did purchas a wooden bread tray of the "Cocobolo" wood and it is beautiful.

And we did get to watch lots of dancers and yes they do not have many clothes on but we were well prepared and did not stare - or tried not to!

Mom and baby grinding something.

When I showed them the picture the littlest one smiled and pointed to his face and looked his brother in the eye.

And we did the "Coconut Walk" where the coconut trees grow and they told us to stay on the path and people sometimes have coconuts fall on their heads - not a good thing!

So again the national news on the TV in our ship cabin - Winter Storm Piper is in Minneapolis and it's in the 80s and sunny where we are.

Ross got to visit "The Bridge" which along with captain and crew navigate the ship no matter what.

And a day on the boat but one of the activities was Casino Night and I did win but I think I got a free glass of wine which was always free any time of the day or night.

So passed through the canal and we did a rainforest hike near Quepos after a scenic drive and off the boat day.

This is our "tender" to get us to the land and not a zodiac boat so not a wet landing but lands on a pier.

So they talked often about Chiquita bananas so of course that song ad was stuck in my head for days: "Chiquita bananas and I've come to say they have to ripen in a certain way....."😊

And you have to have a little coffee beans right and I LOVE coffee and I'm a picky coffee picker!

19 February 2023 - ship arrives in Herradura, Playa Manta, Costa Rica. It gets its name in Spanish from the horseshoe form of its bay. The small town is surrounded by national parks. Today our tour excursion choice was hanging bridges hike and Pura Vida Gardens.

I'm ready for the wet landing and I always got the smallest life vest made for kids!

Tropical Forest Sky Walk near the boundary of Carara Biological Reserve hiking across suspended cable bridges skimming the top of the rain forest up to 126 feet above the ground and each bridge about 300 feet long and a little "swingy" and Ross does not like heights but he never misses a thing! Bravo!