Panama Canal

Today, Mateo and I had a chance to explore Panama City so the first thing we did was go to the famous Canal.  SUPER cool.  I won’t bore you with all of the facts (please ask for details and videos if in fact you are interested), but we got to watch a few HUGE barges pass through one of the locks.  Then we watched a 3D movie about the canal and toured the museum.  Totally worth the $8 admission.  Here are some quick facts:

It costs between $300 – 400k to pass through.

If you go around Africa instead, it adds 13 days to transit and probably millions of dollars.

There are 3 sets of locks to raise boats 26 meters into the man-made lake and back down.

While passing through the locks, there is only TWO FEET of free space on each side.

The canal will celebrate its 100^th anniversary in October.

Big boat now level with the lake heading towards the Atlantic

Boat just off the Pacific

After the canal, Mateo and I walked through “Old Town” and saw some of the sights

White house of Panama

Tomorrow we're exploring and little more of the city and then prepping to RETURN HOME FOR GOOD!