We began at Balboa Union Church where we met friends - though there was an unusually small turn-out for the service. But he got to meet Grace and Gerry Lindner as well as Martha May which was terrific. I had a great conversation with a new friend who works at Deloitte and who is interested in possibly doing some work with UTP (!) and David had a chance to play the piano at BUC a bit before we had to leave.
Rogelio picked us up at 11:30 am sharp. He's really quite amazing - especially since he broke his ankle and foot about a month ago, yet he can drive even so - despite a cast on his right leg! He uses his toes to depress the gas pedal and his left foot on the brake.
We started by heading up Cerro Ancon - literally "Ancon Hill" - that overlooks both the Canal and the Pacific side of Panama City. It's quite something - a large hill (over 600') that is like an "island" that is almost completely jungle. The views were awesome.
Then, off to the Amador Causeway. This was built with earth excavated from the Canal, and it is a delightful road past yachts at anchor, with gorgeous views of downtown Panama City in the distance. David and I turned to each other and grinned since we had once planned to transit the Canal and would almost certainly have dropped anchor here before taking off to more remote places on the coast.
We then took the newly open portion of the Cinta Costera - the wide boulevard that was built on reclaimed land and includes walking and jogging paths, a skateboard park, and playgrounds for kids. The newest part just recently opened. It stretches from the newly built Football (Soccer) Stadium along the ocean front, sweeping around Casco Viejo and then connecting to the previous part of the Cinta Costera. It's lovely.
We sped along it - all the way down to the Mercado de Mariscos - the Fish Market.
Here, we stopped for a yummy lunch. Cerviche (mine was mixed, David's and Rogelio's were covina or sea bass), then a main - shrimp for David, covina for Rogelio and me. And great people watching. It was a feast!
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| Panama Cerveza for David |
After lunch, David and I strolled through the actual market where there were still stalls with fish. It was near to closing time though, so the activity was less than it was earlier in the day when the entire market was full of vendors replete with fish in every stall.
Full and happy, we went off to drive around Casco Viejo with Rogelio describing the different buildings and the history. As much fun as it was to walk around it with Elba and Nicolas shortly after I arrived, it was nice to ride this time, given the heat and my sore ankle (it's been bothering me pretty must straight on since it started to rain) We stopped for shave ice cups as a special treat before leaving.
Finally, we sped to the Panama Canal. As before, I was excited to watch ships transit. David knew quite a lot about the Canal from his reading of National Geographic and books when he was younger - so we gave the museum a miss and went straight up to the viewing platform where a ship was just entering the locks. It was a "Panamax" - a ship with the maximum width that can go through the current canal. The expansion project will increase that size - but it has been delayed by a strike by the construction workers for almost a month. Still, it was great to watch first a large container vessel and then a tanker transit through the locks.
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| Entering the lock |
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| The "mule" alongside as the ship is lowered in the second lock |
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| Moving ahead |
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| Almost all the way down in the second lock, awaiting exit |
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| Captain David |
By now, it was getting late, and the visitor center was closing soon. Happy and tired, we went down to where Rogelio met us to bring us back to Green Park.
We watched a couple of short movies, but we lasted only until 7 pm or so. This "tropical paradise" stuff is tiring!
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