Panama

The first day was spent at the Panama Canal. We went through the first 3 locks and learned a TON! 

The canal uses a lock system that lifts ships up 85 feet to the elevation of the canal. To go through in its entirety would take 8-10 hours. 

The Panama Canal is considered one of the greatest feats in engineering history. So impressive!! The canal allows ships to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific through a 48 mile shipping route which saves over 15,000 km around South America.  

There is so much to be said about the canal... It was absolutely fascinating. 

Fun fact: the smallest toll ever paid to go through the canal was 0.36 cents! This was back in 1928 by Richard Halliburton who swam the canal. It took him 50 hours! 

Definitely recommend seeing the Panama Canal in person and learning about it and it’s history. So cool!!

The following day we did a tour of Colon/Panama City/Casco Viejo. We spent most of the day on a bus and the cities themselves weren’t that exciting. Casco Viejo had some cool architecture, but other than that this was my least favorite excursion of the cruise. The only thing that made up for it was our guide. Since we had a lot of time on the bus he gave a COMPLETE history lesson of Panama, the canal, the relationship with the U.S. ... and oh my goodness! I enjoyed every minute of it!

 

Panama City skyline

Casco Viejo

 

The history lesson made the tour! Our guide was Joe from Aventuras 2000. He was an awesome storyteller and knew everything about everything!

My favorite types of travel are ADVENTURE travel and HISTORY travel and we've definitely gotten a mix of both on this trip!