PANAMA CANAL RAILWAY
At 6 a.m. Betty and I were outside on the street waiting for our prescheduled Uber. It NEVER showed!! My phone kept saying it was there waiting! The program seems to pick up some nearby business - in this case a dance academy - instead of where my phone is. I texted 4 times our address bur it said the driver waited 15 minutes and then left. As he had suggested, Betty woke Greg and he drove us over to the station. It seems like everyone else knew to get tickets online but us and one other guy! We were supposed to be there at 6:30 for a 7:15 departure, to pay an extra $10 to sit in the domed rail car to get the best view. No, we were told it was first come, first served!
Luckily, we ended up anyhow in the one domed car. We settled in and waited for Betty to get her coffee which they came around and served gratis! We noticed that other guy sitting across from us by himself. We had arranged for Jose to drive north and pick us up in Colon at the end of the train line. He then was going to drive us around for 2-3 hours to Portobello where there was an old fort and cusstoms house; then he would drive us home for $90. At Betty's suggestion, I went across the aisle and met Billy, from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He said he had been told to sit on the left side for the best view so we moved over to his booth!
He had no plans at the other end and was going to take a bus back to Panama City so agreed to share Jose's ride with us - $30 each! (of course, later Jose informed me that because we had the extra person, it would now be $40 each!!!! Didn't cost him any more gas-wise or time-wise, but we agreed. Bill said he had planned to give him $40 with the tip, but now would not give a tip!
The ride across the Isthmus was amazing! We were surprised not to see that many ships going through. Someone along on the trip knew that those big container ships would pay $500,000 - $800,000 per passage through!! (I later found out from Wikipedia that figure was exaggerated. Average is around $53,000 depending on weight. It takes 11+ hours to pass through. It's probably around 15,000 ships a year that go through; since the beginning around 815,000 have passed.)Jose had already told us that Panama was such a prosperous country economically because of these fees, since the Americans had turned over the canal to Panama in 1999. This came about because the US had put up fences, guarding the canal and resisting Panama's demands that it belonged to them. After WWII the US forced France and UK to let Egypt have control of Suez. So Panamanians put pressure around that time for the US to turn over the Canal. They agreed in a treaty that turned it over in 1999.
The French had spent years trying to build (DeLessups - the guy who built the Suez Canal) tried first but gave up due to illness and death of so many workers in the tropical jungle. First the railway was built and then the canal followed the same route. Jackson asked me, when I mentioned the locks (there are 3 the ships go through), which ocean was higher, Atlantic or Pacific. Neither! The locks are needed because of the mountains the canal cuts through. At the highest point, they built an artificial lake (at one point our train had water on both sides). The US under Teddy Roosevelt took over the construction in 1904 and it was opened in 1914. Panama had been part of Gran Columbia (including Panama, Columbia, Venezuela and Eucador, then Panama was part of Columbia when the US got permission to do this.
We arrived at Colon, the northern point on Atlantic side and there was Jose in his yellow taxi (he's 59, has two children and some grandchildren). He headed off toward the east to the port of Portobello, stopping at ruins of one of the forts guarding the lovely harbor. In Portobello, a small sleeping fishing village we visited the church where the Black Christ held a place of honor. Only myths about where it came from exist but every year on Oct. 21st there is a parade through town and a huge party all night! Up to 50,000 worshippers and partiers invade the town for that day.
Nearby was the Customs house where the trade route across the Isthmus would begin, first through a jungle trail, then later a train, before the canal. Both the forts and the custom house were constructed of coral.
We did a pit stop at McDonald's (I ALWAYS stopped there in Asia because I could count on a Western toilet!) and had some coffee, etc. before heading back. Jose dropped all of us at the Alwood Mall near Greg's house where Billy caught the subway back to his place and we shopped a bit, had some dinner and started to walk home. Hot, tired, Betty grabbed a taxi who drove us the rest of the way for $2! A bargain!!
I forgot Billy's great "Titanic" story when we stopped for coffee. Turns out his father, grandfather, etc. were all in the ship-building trade. His dad was a riveter, quite prestigious and well paid in that world! Until WWII when they needed ships built much faster and Americans came up with welding plates together to make not as sturdy ships but much fast. His dad pretty much lost his career. BUT his grandfather had done riveting on the Titanic! when the ship was almost completed they held a lottery and his grandfather WON the ticket for passage to America!! But he had a wife and little kid. So one of the young guys asked and the grandfather GAVE the winning ticket, not even sold it! to the guy! The rest is history and, as sBilly said, he would not be there talking to us!! Great story!!
Back to our cool air conditioned rooms, with a little BBC news watching with Greg before sleep!
Friday we have to try Uber again to get to the mall to get on the Hop On-Hop Off bus around for the day! Fingers crossed!
At 6 a.m. Betty and I were outside on the street waiting for our prescheduled Uber. It NEVER showed!! My phone kept saying it was there waiting! The program seems to pick up some nearby business - in this case a dance academy - instead of where my phone is. I texted 4 times our address bur it said the driver waited 15 minutes and then left. As he had suggested, Betty woke Greg and he drove us over to the station. It seems like everyone else knew to get tickets online but us and one other guy! We were supposed to be there at 6:30 for a 7:15 departure, to pay an extra $10 to sit in the domed rail car to get the best view. No, we were told it was first come, first served!
Luckily, we ended up anyhow in the one domed car. We settled in and waited for Betty to get her coffee which they came around and served gratis! We noticed that other guy sitting across from us by himself. We had arranged for Jose to drive north and pick us up in Colon at the end of the train line. He then was going to drive us around for 2-3 hours to Portobello where there was an old fort and cusstoms house; then he would drive us home for $90. At Betty's suggestion, I went across the aisle and met Billy, from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He said he had been told to sit on the left side for the best view so we moved over to his booth!
He had no plans at the other end and was going to take a bus back to Panama City so agreed to share Jose's ride with us - $30 each! (of course, later Jose informed me that because we had the extra person, it would now be $40 each!!!! Didn't cost him any more gas-wise or time-wise, but we agreed. Bill said he had planned to give him $40 with the tip, but now would not give a tip!
The ride across the Isthmus was amazing! We were surprised not to see that many ships going through. Someone along on the trip knew that those big container ships would pay $500,000 - $800,000 per passage through!! (I later found out from Wikipedia that figure was exaggerated. Average is around $53,000 depending on weight. It takes 11+ hours to pass through. It's probably around 15,000 ships a year that go through; since the beginning around 815,000 have passed.)Jose had already told us that Panama was such a prosperous country economically because of these fees, since the Americans had turned over the canal to Panama in 1999. This came about because the US had put up fences, guarding the canal and resisting Panama's demands that it belonged to them. After WWII the US forced France and UK to let Egypt have control of Suez. So Panamanians put pressure around that time for the US to turn over the Canal. They agreed in a treaty that turned it over in 1999.
The French had spent years trying to build (DeLessups - the guy who built the Suez Canal) tried first but gave up due to illness and death of so many workers in the tropical jungle. First the railway was built and then the canal followed the same route. Jackson asked me, when I mentioned the locks (there are 3 the ships go through), which ocean was higher, Atlantic or Pacific. Neither! The locks are needed because of the mountains the canal cuts through. At the highest point, they built an artificial lake (at one point our train had water on both sides). The US under Teddy Roosevelt took over the construction in 1904 and it was opened in 1914. Panama had been part of Gran Columbia (including Panama, Columbia, Venezuela and Eucador, then Panama was part of Columbia when the US got permission to do this.
We arrived at Colon, the northern point on Atlantic side and there was Jose in his yellow taxi (he's 59, has two children and some grandchildren). He headed off toward the east to the port of Portobello, stopping at ruins of one of the forts guarding the lovely harbor. In Portobello, a small sleeping fishing village we visited the church where the Black Christ held a place of honor. Only myths about where it came from exist but every year on Oct. 21st there is a parade through town and a huge party all night! Up to 50,000 worshippers and partiers invade the town for that day.
Nearby was the Customs house where the trade route across the Isthmus would begin, first through a jungle trail, then later a train, before the canal. Both the forts and the custom house were constructed of coral.
We did a pit stop at McDonald's (I ALWAYS stopped there in Asia because I could count on a Western toilet!) and had some coffee, etc. before heading back. Jose dropped all of us at the Alwood Mall near Greg's house where Billy caught the subway back to his place and we shopped a bit, had some dinner and started to walk home. Hot, tired, Betty grabbed a taxi who drove us the rest of the way for $2! A bargain!!
I forgot Billy's great "Titanic" story when we stopped for coffee. Turns out his father, grandfather, etc. were all in the ship-building trade. His dad was a riveter, quite prestigious and well paid in that world! Until WWII when they needed ships built much faster and Americans came up with welding plates together to make not as sturdy ships but much fast. His dad pretty much lost his career. BUT his grandfather had done riveting on the Titanic! when the ship was almost completed they held a lottery and his grandfather WON the ticket for passage to America!! But he had a wife and little kid. So one of the young guys asked and the grandfather GAVE the winning ticket, not even sold it! to the guy! The rest is history and, as sBilly said, he would not be there talking to us!! Great story!!
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| Forgot to mention this longest concrete suspension bridge 4 KM long, 3rd over canal. Not open yet. |
Back to our cool air conditioned rooms, with a little BBC news watching with Greg before sleep!
Friday we have to try Uber again to get to the mall to get on the Hop On-Hop Off bus around for the day! Fingers crossed!
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