Panama
August
4, 2012 - The ultimate tourist trap in Panama is the Panama
Canal. It's really not all that wide and at any given point
there are far larger ships hanging around the harbor in
Vancouver. We were expecting towering ships of unimaginable
size.
We saw one "panamax" vessel, boats built specifically for the canal to shuttle containers back and forth to be loaded onto ships too large for the canal. I suppose if you don't live near a harbor it's worth a visit.
We were expecting the canal to be busy, with ships lined up on both ends trying to get through, but when we arrived, we were told we needed to wait about four hours prior to the next arrival. We bailed on the canal and went to Albrook Mall. One of the things I wanted to do was buy a wifi USB stick as my laptop range was limited.
Upon our return, the place was packed and two ships were arriving.
It had started raining and we bailed failure soon afterwards, beating the crowds to the waiting taxis.
South America beckons.