The Gill Family: Panama Day 4

I knew there was a Panama Canal. I knew it has locks. But the reality of it is something that I could only have understood in person. I fell down the internet rabbit hole more than once trying to figure out why there was such a sea level difference between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, so much so that it warranted the construction of SIX different locks along the voyage. The reality is that the smarty engineers that completed the canal (started by France, finished by the USA) realized that it was faster and cheaper (both in money and in human lives) to build a lake at the top of the mountain range separating the two coastlines, instead of blasting the whole darn mountain down to sea level. So, the first set of three locks are going up, up, up, 87 feet to get from the Pacific Ocean to Lake Gatun. And then the second set of three locks are going down, down, down, to get back into open water in the Atlantic/Carribean. While the bodies of water often vary in sea level height, it is never as drastic as I was imagining from one side to the other. With that in mind, meet the Miraflores locks.

We got up close and personal with Miraflores, our tour having the benefit of getting as close as dignitaries to the ships coming through. The locks are both incredible and primitive, much of the equipment is original, specifically these gigantic doors that dam the water. Those doors are 114 years old!

The ships that enter are guided by metal railroad cars on each side, they pull the enormous ships through the canal and keep them from "bumping" into the doors on each side. It's a very tight squeeze, with little room for error.

So, shipping has increased a bit since 1908. What was once thought to have a maximum capacity of 80 million tons of shipping per year has now ballooned beyond 340 million tons of shipping! So much so that a set of expansion locks were built, creating a completely separate lane for larger ships with even more containers. This was completed in 2016, and while we didn't see the expansion locks up close, if you look way in the distance, you can see a rainbow of containers on a very large ship in the distance traveling through the larger locks.

We took a rainy stroll around the Panama Canal Administrative Building. This is where the Canal decisions are made, a government agency within the country of Panama. These low clouds show the impending rainstorm that followed us each afternoon.

My favorite part was this fountain out front that is representative of the six locks, three on each entrance of the canal. The name Goethals for George Washington Goethals, who is the US Army General and civil engineer that saw the canal to it's opening in 1914.

Our afternoon activity was a cultural exchange for the girls, and by default also for the moms. The girls were split into teams and each given a few dollars. They were tasked with walking around the Mercado San Felipe and finding a fruit or vegetable that they had never tried before. The needed to buy the item, learn the name and how to eat it and then present to the rest of the group. And do this in Spanish. It was a blast!

So many colors!!

We learned about passionfruit, guava and lots and lots of rambutan. As a reward for their transactions, we had a fruit smoothie tasting party at one of the booths. We tried all kinds of delicious (and confusing) fruit and vegetable combinations, at at the end we each got to choose our favorite to sip on during the rest of the day.

Gimme that mango passionfruit!

Gretchen was a smoothie explorer!

The rest of the afternoon we walked around the city, finding street murals and dodging protesters. It gave us a glimpse of the less polished side of the city, though we never felt unsafe or pressured to buy anything.

The cutest little patio of a restaurant I'll return to someday.

We had an organized dinner at El Trapiche, it was nice, but we wanted another taste of the city! We asked the bus driver to take us to Casco Viejo, a region of the city known for its shoreline, delicious restaurants and nightlife.

Unsurprisingly, we landed at an ice cream parlor. A tiny little spot with fun lights, energetic employees and delicious ice cream. Ay Mi Negra, with the only complete wall in the place shouting "Kiss Now! Tomorrow, Who Knows?". It was the perfect motivator to request things in Spanish, and it was so much fun that we returned the next night for a dance party at the same place.

The girls had ice cream, so the moms wanted a dessert of their own. Right next door is Chingada Madre, for those that don't know the translation, I won't write it here. It was like Dia de los Muertos opened a restaurant. This vibrant spot had loud, fun music and a pool table upstairs to occupy our kids. And it was virtually empty, all but for another table singing along with the music and having a great time.