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Cindie's
Panama, Central America, Journal
Panama City, Panama
(April 12 - 17, 2003)
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| April 12 |
Panama City. We went to the internet cafe, it was
cheap at $1.00 per hour. While we were on Tim tried to post again
and whala, it worked. We posted for about three hours and then
were disconnected. We will finish posting later. It is strange
to be using American dollars, here they are called a balboa instead of
dollar. The coins are exactly the same size and weight as our
coins but they have different figure heads on them.
We are in the La Exposicion area of Panama City. The streets
are filled with buses elaborately painted with reggae music blaring out
the windows. Taxis are everywhere, we have not seen one bicycle in
the city, not one. Not a good sign. We walked down to Balboa
street and happened to walk past the American embassy. There was
some graffiti on a pole in front of the embassy so Tim took a picture of
it. Then we crossed the street to walk back to our hotel. In
a matter of seconds we had security guards all over us. I thought
we were going to get hauled into the embassy. They asked us in
Spanish if we had taken pictures of the embassy, Tim said no. They
were not so sure. Finally another man came over and in English
said we could not take pictures of the embassy. Tim said he did
not take pictures of the embassy. They then let us go and we
quickly made our way back to the hotel. Lesson learned, do not
take any pictures near or of an embassy. On the way back to the hotel
an number of men asked Tim for money. |
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| April 13 |
Panama City. Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal.
We were up early to get out to the Panama Canal, our book said that it
opened at 8:00 am, we caught a taxi and the driver told us that it did
not open until 9:00 am so he showed us the French cemetery where some of
Frances best engineers of the time are buried. France attempted to
build the canal in 1880 and over the next 20 years lost 20,000 people to
malaria and yellow fever. We then stopped briefly at Pedro Miguel
Locks, it has been closed since September 11, 2001. We were
dropped off at the gate early so they would not let us in right away.
There use to be a museum about the canal at Miraflores locks, now all
that is left is a topographic map and a ten minute tape about the canal.
We watched a ship coming from the pacific side go through the locks, the
whole process takes about 1 hour. We watched the file about the
canal and then another film that took us through the canal in 9 minutes
rather that the normal 9 hours. There is a web cam set up at
Miraflores lock, we watched a boat approach through the camera, the web
cam can be found at www.pancanal.com
(CHECK THIS). We watched a freighter go through the locks as well,
it was huge. Then we heard that they were having the XX canoe race
today. A fifty year old tradition that was started by the Boy
Scouts of America. When the US pulled out of Panama on December
31, 1999, the race was taken over by another non-profit organization.
The canoes finally arrived at around 1:30. They all lined up in
the lock and descended to the next level together. As they were
preparing to leave another freighter came through in the other lock.
This freighter was almost the size of the lock and it had 4,000
containers on it. Amazing. |
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| April 14 |
Panama City. We went in search of a bike shop
today. We walked for close to two miles through the streets of
Panama. We finally found the bike shop we were looking for.
We were hoping that the price of bike parts would be less then what we
would pay in the United States. No such luck, bike parts were
higher the what we could buy them for in the USA. |
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| April 15 |
Panama City. Dropped our bikes off at the bike
shop, they charged us $5.00 per bike to box. |
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| April 16 |
Panama City. We did a walking tour of the old
city. We walked down to the pedestrian mall and then out on the
peninsula where the old city is located. We passed many retail
stores along the way. Kuna women, dressed in their bight
ornamental outfits were shopping along with everyone else. We did
the walking tour of the old city that took us to the old cathedral,
panama canal museum, the old central hotel, presidents palace, Noriega's
old hang out, and the french embassy. The tour was interesting and
I would recommend it to anyone who has some time to spare in Panama
City. |
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| April 17 |
Panama City - Indiana, USA. Our plan leaves for the USA
at 10:30 am so we decided to get to the airport early so we could relax
and read a book there. We waited in line to get our passports
checked, our bags checked by drug sniffing dogs and finally a manual
inspection of all our luggage. Since we are traveling by bike and
do not even have one piece of normal luggage we put all our belongings
in cardboard boxes. They inspected all our luggage except our bike
boxes which I though was strange. Then we went up to the ticket
counter and the ticket agent said that they had an embargo on large
luggage and that we could not send our boxed bikes on the airplane.
She then sent us to Air Cargo where we could send our bikes to the USA
and if we hurry we could still catch our plane. My heart rate when
way up with the thought of not being able to get our bikes back to the
USA. I paid our exit tax of $20 a piece while Tim flagged down a
taxi. Again my heart rate when up while I watched the taxi driver
try and fit our boxed bikes in his taxi. If we were not so pressed
for time I would have been laughing, instead I wanted to cry. With
the bikes in the car we set out for the other airport 15 miles away in
search of Continental Air Cargo. When we arrived at the entrance
of airport terminal the guard would not let us through. They
said that they do not normally let taxi's in and had to check to see if
they could let us in. Twenty minutes later, we were in. At
this point I am still holding out that we will get on the plane, it
leaves in an hour and 15 minutes. We get to Air Cargo and we
finally find the right person to talk to, we think. They give us
some forms to fill out, I am feeling very uncomfortable about just
handing over my bike to just anyone. We begin to think about
flying out tomorrow. This is very upsetting to me, in the mean
time I need to find a bathroom. Somehow, some way, Vincent the
manager of the entire place showed up. Tim explained to him our situation, I was to
upset to stay calm about it. Vincent explained to us that he could
not take our bikes at Cargo, he said he could not except packages for
shipment from individuals, and that we would have to send our bikes
though a shipping company. This would take at least a day to do
the paperwork. I have resolved to the fact that we are not
leaving today. Another day in hot Panama.
Vincent said that he had to check something and asked that Tim go
with him. Meanwhile, I remained with the bikes while Tim and Vincent
went inside to work things out. Tim came out of the building with a big
grin and said, " just go along with what I do". Naturally I said
OK. Some how Vincent and Tim had worked things out so we could get
on the plane with our bikes. We now had to rush back to the
airport and jump on our plan. Vincent that the women who gave us
the wrong information would walk us through customs and on to the plane.
The race was on, our taxi driver took us back to the airport and helped
us carry our bikes back into the airport. We gave him a $20 for
his trouble and he was on his way. Meanwhile we were escorted
through customs and up to our gate. The topic of the cost of
sending our bikes on the plane came up and at first our attendant said
it would cost $200, we had very little time left to get on the plane and
then our attendant said that she would waive the charge for all the
trouble we went through. We were now on the plane and I was
extremely relieved to be heading home. Good bye central America,
it has been a fine visit. |
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Panama City
The old city.
Large ship with overseas shipping containers enters the lock
Canal worker walking across the Miraflores lock gate.
Kuna women.
Panama City bus, you can usually hear reggae music blasting out the windows.
Book, Video, and Software
Store
Bicycling !
- World Bicycle Travel Books and Videos
- Famous Bike Movies
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- Cycling History and Bike Culture
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Around the
World Budget Travel
-Backpacking
-Dangerous Places
-Work Your Way Around the World
Arizona
- General Information for Arizona
- Apache Indians
- Ghost Towns in Arizona
- The Lost Dutchman Mine
- Hiking, Backpacking, and Trekking in Arizona
- Biking in Arizona
- Prescott Arizona
Mexico
- General Information About Mexico
- Mexico City Information
- Mexican Archaeological Sites and Ruins
- Maps of Mexico and Mexican States
- Movies
- Chiapas
- Copper Canyon and the Tarahumara Indians
- Learning Spanish
- Miscellaneous
Central
America
- Guatemala
- El Salvador
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Costa Rica
- Panama
South America
- General Information
- Inca Archeological Sites, Ruins, and Culture
- Ecuador
- Peru
- Bolivia
- Chile
- Argentina
Southeast Asia / China
- General Information
- Thailand
- Cambodia and Angkor Wat
- Vietnam
- China
- Hong Kong
- Silk Road
- Malaysia
- Singapore
- Indonesia
Languages
- Learning Spanish
- Learning English
Equipment
- Computer and Software
- Shortwave Radio
- Mp3
- Miscellaneous
Finances
- How to Save Money
- How to Invest
- Newspapers and Magazines
Miscellaneous
- Birding
- Books We Read For Pleasure
- DVDs that We Carry
- How to Make Movies
- Herbs, Massage and the Natural Healing Arts
- RV Repair and Service
Amazon USA
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INDEX #1:
North and Central America
3-30-02 to 4-17-03
(July 18 - Aug 22, 2002)
The State of
Michoacan, Mexico
Guanajuato to Toluca, Mexico
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Other essays by Tim
Into the Mist State
of Michoacan, Mexico
Best Place to see Pictures
Thumbnail Page of Michoacan,
Mexico Pictures
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Full size Picture
Pages
- Guanajuato to
Penjamillo, Mexico
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Penjamillo to Patzcuaro, Mexico
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Patzcuaro, Mexico
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Patzcuaro to Cuidad Hidalgo, Michoacan,
Mexico
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Morelia, Mexico
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Into the Mist Mexican highway 15
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Cuidad Hidalgo, Michoacan, to Toluca, Mexico
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Toluca, Mexico
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The Velodrome in Toluca, Mexico |
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(Oct. 12 - Nov. 8, 2002)
The States of Tabasco and Chiapas,
Mexico
Villahermosa, Tabasco to Cuauhtemoc Chiapas, Mexico
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Best Place to see Pictures
Thumbnail Page of Tabasco and
Chiapas, Mexico Pictures
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Full size Picture
Pages
- Museum La Venta and the
Olmec Heads Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
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Villahermosa, Tabasco to Ocosingo,
Chiapas, Mexico
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Palenque #1 Photo Picture Page
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Palenque #2 Photo Picture Page
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Misol-Ha Waterfall Chiapas, Mexico
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Agua Azul Chiapas, Mexico
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Tonina Mayan Ruins Ocosingo, Chiapas, Mexico
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Mexico's Day of the Dead Ocosingo, Chiapas,
Mexico
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Ocosingo to Cuauhtemoc Chiapas, Mexico |
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(March 15 - April 10, 2003)
Costa Rica #2
Manual Antonio to Monteverde
Cloud Forest, Costa Rica
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Tim's Emailed Newsletters
(Join List)
Costa Rica #2 (incomplete)
Best Place to see Pictures
Thumbnail Page of Costa Rica #2 Pictures
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Full size Picture
Pages
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Parque National Manuel Antonio, #2
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City of Santa Elena
and Monteverde
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Butterfly Garden,
Santa Elena, Monteverde
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Finca Ecological,
Monteverde
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Frog Pond (Ranario), Santa
Elena
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Santa Elena, Cloud
Forest, National Park
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Sky Walk, Suspension
Bridge, Canopy Tour
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Sky Trek Zip Line,
Canopy Tour
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Monteverde Cloud
Forest Reserve |
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