On Tuesday the 9th we spent the day in Panama City. We started on an excursion that went first to the Miraflores locks where there is a museum about the building of the canal.It was interesting to see pictures from the construction and to see mockups of some of the specialized machines that were designed and built especially for the canal. There is an observation deck where the ship on the right was going through the locks. It looks more like a high security prison building than a ship. With sharp corners and no curved surfaces it has a very odd appearance.
After the tour of the museum we boarded our bus and as we were leaving the parking lot we heard a loud noise. I thought we had hit something and was hoping it wasn’t a pedestrian. The driver got out and walked around the bus and thought everything was okay. He stopped again and looked some more. We were then told the bus was damaged and they would bring a spare bus. Since the tour was obviously over, we decided to go into the old part of the city. We didn’t know how long we would have to wait for another bus so we opted for a taxi.
We had spent a couple of days in the old part of the city a few years ago. We were looking for a place to eat lunch and stumbled onto the B&B we stayed in. Caroline noticed the coffee shop on the corner and we both remembered the name after we saw the sign. When we were there, squatters were living in the building on the right. We were told the owner of the building had 2 years to clean up the building or the government would take it over. We don’t know what happened, but the squatters are gone and the renovations are ongoing.
It was fun to walk around and revisit the places we had spent time with our friend Jon (may he rest in peace) and Jeanne.
A word about tenders and lifeboats. The ship had anchored in the bay and we were taken to shore in a tender, aka a life boat. These are not comfortable boats. When they are used as tenders, people are packed in pretty tightly. In an emergency there would be even more people in the boat. I assume these boats are essentially unsinkable. But, they are not pleasure boats by any means.