Panama Some Random Pictures and Thoughs

The city from old town Hemmed in by the Pacific and the Canal, Panama City grows up.

Panama is a odd little country. For those of you that don't know ... the untied States was instrumental in the creation of Panama. BECAUSE.... we wanted to build the Panama Canal, but Colombia - which controlled the area, would agree. So when the French couldn't build the canal, we asked Colombia for the rights in 1903. Colombia said no, so the US helped declare Panama a sovereign nation with our military backing. And we got access to build the canal.

After Reagan's fight Noriega, we "helped" them draft a new constitutional updates including the removal of a military - so as not to rise up like Noriega. (This makes Panama and their neighbor, Costa Rica, tow nations without a military).

That's my Eddie

Now lots and lots of US retirees live in Panama, given the country a bizarre Latin / Middle America vibe with Long John Silvers, Burger King and Pinkberry next to the local markets and foods.

We saw lots of 2 and 3 toed sloths a lot on our tour.

We also crossed over the old locks (the ferries weren't running. Those lock gates were built before 1914!

 

One thing we did that most people don't ever get to.. we walked on the little siding to the right of the photo.

The photo above doesn't look to thrilling, but we walked along the roadway below the 100 year old lock. We had to not take pictures and pretend to be cool (this picture is from the second time we passed inside a van). It was a blast. It only happened that we drove over both gates because the ferry wasn't working and hte new bridge isn't open yet.

We also visited an old Spanish fort that was used to protect the gold from Peru. It was captured and rebuilt about 6 times before the Spanish finally stopped using Panama to ship gold from.

Us all at the fort...