A life long dream fulfilled….Panama Canal

 I woke up this morning early due to the excitement of today’s activity…traversing the canal..

Behind is Colon and ahead is the Canal

Along side our ship were tug boats to make sure we stayed centered in the waterway

I was amazed at how clear the shoreline is

 The early morning haze of humidity in the mountains alongside the canal

Approaching the first lock. Gatineau Locks. We are small enough to fit ( just barely) into the original locks built.  The ship in front of us already in the lock is about as big as allowed.  Our resident historian said if we count the containers on a ship and they are ten across that is a pretty good approximation of if it will fit. Any more containers across and the ship needs to use the new locks. 

Approaching the lock

Alongside the “mule”.These replace the real life mules used .  Ropes are attached from our ship and the mules(at least 4 of them) travel along side the ship to make sure we stay firmly in the center. 

Inside the Gatun Lock. In the background you can see the water level in the lock. We will eventually raise our water level by 85 feet to cross Lake Gatun and then eventually drop 85 feet into the level of the Pacific Ocean.

Lake Gatun

Open sailing until we get to the next lock. I will mention that each ship captain is not alone in this journey.  A certified Pilot comes aboard the ship and will sail with our Captain until we a fully through the system.  Much like the Pilots that come aboard each port to help dock the ship, this Pilot has a minimum of 10 years of study before he is given the job. He must know every detail of the shore, the water, the underground reef, every little detail of the entire system. His job is to guide the captain safely through the locks.  After experiencing this, I can understand how important he is.  

A Princess cruise ship where my sewing friend Beverly is aboard with her traveling companion.  We waved to each other as we passed !

Lock number two. Pedro Miguel lock

Each lock seems to have its own personality but always has the “mules” to help maintain the ship’s position in the center of the canal.  There was only a foot or so clearance on each side for us.

After leaving the Pedro Miguel lock we entered the Culebra Cut.  It is an area where the mountains needed to be dug out for the canal.  This was the most difficult part of building the canal and is the most dangerous part to sail.  Underwater is like a canyon with wide top and steep underwater sides that narrow until its a very narrow bottom. Think of the letter V. During passage it is important for the ship to maintain its course clearly in the middle.

As we headed into the final lock, a picture from the lounge ( where we were sipping mimosas to celebrate the event) of the new lock. It is higher than the old locks and has the same three locks but they are much closer together and at the North end of the canal.  Our journey had lock, lake,lock,cut and lock. Today’s much larger ships are sent to the new lock.

Ships need to line up with the white stripes on the mountains to maintain safe turns.

My traveling buddy in his special shirt (thanks Val!)

One of our resident historians giving commentary along the way

Entering the final Lock: Miraflores Locks, a two chamber lock.

We are in the first chamber and will drop 56 feet into the second chamber

The tourist center at the final lock.  It was full of visitors watching us enter the lock. They cheered and wished us a Happy New Year! There were tourists from our Sister ship Viking Star who took pictures of Neptune in the lock. Thanks to Cheryl Eyler Hoisington on Viking Star for her picture

 

Leaving the Miraflores lock and heading underneath the final bridge To the Pacific Ocean!

 The pilot boarded our ship at 5:30 am and we officially began our trip through the Panama Canal.  The journey continued until after 3pm.  Each lock was and still is an incredible feat of engineering. The fact that this lock is over 100 years old and still functioning and doing the job it was intended for 24/7 is amazing.  There are gobs of facts about the building of the canal that I never learned or understood from my education.  I encourage you to look into the history of this canal further. Im not good at stats or numbers so what you get from me is the visual story.  Please find a book to really examine the intricacies of this project and realize that those who attempted this really did have the courage and conviction of their actions.  Thousands died, the French started it and failed, The US bailed the project out and benefited immensely and It continues under Panamanian control to benefit their country now and the world by allowing passage through in a relatively timely manner from one side of the world to another.  It was a great day and Im happy I got to experience this!

Next up : A Sea day of relaxing and watching for ocean life……

Colon, Panama

Woke up to this sight!

Ships all around!

We are near the Panama Canal!  Our port today is the city of Colon,Panama. Although the city was named by Spaniards, itwas founded by Americans.  As with much of our own country, the lure of gold brought prospectors from the East Coast of the US to try their luck at treasure.The city itself seems to be very industrial, however, instead of exploring the city,today we will travel to the Chagres National Park where we will meet one of the few indigenous tribes who continue to live in thatched roof huts, travel by dug out canoe, and practice traditional living.  We board a 21st century bus to travel the hour and a half back to primitive times.

When we arrived and got off the bus these awaited us

Dugouts  carried ten passengers and two Embera` natives. (Young boys) One to carry a large stick in the front and one young man to man the outboard motor in the back. Thank goodness we didn’t have to paddle! 

The ride across the lake was absolutely beautiful. This National Park is certainly a special place.

When we arrived at the village we were greeted by the current chief. He is elected to the position by all members of the group.  There are four groups of indigenous peoples who call this park home.  They are encouraged to continue their way of life and even thought they regularly host cruise ship tourists daily, they do not go outside of their villages for much of anything.  They do trade with the other three tribes on the lake and have one member who goes daily into the town for supplies that cannot be grown. Because it is a national park there have been restrictions put on the amount of agricultural growth that can be done.  The adaptions of the tribal life to modern restrictions was interesting to observe.

One adaptation that was very visible was the attire worn by all members… we had been warned that they do not normally wear clothing that covers private areas of the body, however, when we arrived they all were covered.  So much for the influence of the White European society.

This tribe is quite short as  you can see compared to our interpreter.  As with most early civilizations such as Maya, Inca and Aztec the Embera` are also small in stature.

Lunch was served in banana leaves

Lunch was fried tilapia and fried plantains. It was delicious and eaten with our fingers. Afterwards we washed our hands in water with lemon leaves in it. 

Example of basketry. 

Another basket.  Surprising at how similar many of the patterns were to those found in the basketry art of the American indigenous tribes of the southwest.  Many of our tribes have roots in Mexico and Central America. Makes me think of the interconnected human existence and the fact that civilizations far removed from the one I’m part of have existed for centuries. Food for Thought !

Of course as with all tours, there was ample time to shop.  The tribe had each family with a table where they could sell their crafts. This family found a unique way to let their son nap while mom and dad sold their crafts. All proceeds go into the joint tribe money pot and everything is used for the tribe as a whole.  I did find some nice basket work to purchase along with a nicely made key chain from coconut hull as a souvenir. 

The final event of the day was to watch the traditional dances of the Embera` tribe. As with our Southwestern tribes, dances are named for the animal or event that they celebrate. We watched as they preformed the Eagle where the flute and voice echo the sound of the eagle flying during a hunt.  It was haunting and very realistic.  They preformed other dances and then sought volunteers to join in a dance of togetherness and joy.  After some prodding, Al joined in.

What a great way to end our day! Maybe we should get dancing and singing back into our daily lives. I can’t  imagine going to bed at night sad after having ten minutes of a good dance!

Next it was time to load into the dugouts and head back.  The view was just as enlightening as before although this time I was a little less anxious about the journey.  

  

Such calm and wonderful views of wildlife

We arrived back from our tour hot and tired but wouldn’t have it any other way. The beauty of this trip is Viking never wants you to be hungry.  We arrived aboard ship just in time to have afternoon tea. One of the fun things about sea days usually is the availability of afternoon Tea.. Today is was just the thing to revive us and give us strength to make it till dinner! (Tea is at 4pm and dinners start at 6) we are so spoiled!!!

Tomorrow we tackle the Panama Canal!

Cartagena, Columbia

 

       After two days at sea, this is the view out my balcony this morning!

Our stop today is Cartagena,Columbia.  After a leisure breakfast we could head out for our two hour included tour of the city.  As with many cities, there is an old and new. Our goal was to see both.  I don’t know what I was expecting…..Romancing the Stone has always shaped my view of Cartagena.  So off we went on the bus tour.  

Our first stop was outside of the Castle San Felipe de Barajas. It was built is 1536. Mighty impressive!

Because this was an overview tour there wasn’t time to walk up the steep walkway to get inside.  We’ll certainly do that on a return trip. It always amazes me when I see such man made structures and realize someone built them before our country was even formed.  Those Spanish explorers and conquerors were quite industrious!

The only downside to the visit was the immense amount of sales pitches we were bombarded with continually. Magnets,hats,sunglasses and pictures with a donkey were just a few!

This lady was not happy when I said buzz off… She wanted me to get a picture with her and Al…for a fee of course..

Next up: OLD CITY

But of course we needed to head to the previous jail constructed in 15something.. conveniently  a shopping area now! Instead we walked the streets of the city and found a way to take in the views from the top of the wall. All old cities frequently built walls around them to protect the citizens. And as is the case, many early cities see no need to continue upkeep on such things and down they come. Fortunately the City ran out of money before too much came down and now the value for tourism and UNESCO status has encouraged the city to keep the remaining walls.  Instead of spending our cash on stuff, we decided to get the views instead.

Everywhere there are beautiful flowers and it is warm…85 degrees and humid.

Our bus continued to take us around the Old City and while we didn’t make a stop, I was able to snap a few pictures.  Both Al and I think the colonial architecture reminded us of New Orleans a lot.  It will be a good idea for us to come back here and spend more time.

After our time in the old city we headed over to the brand new high rise part of the city. Everywhere there are fabulous Condos and buildings. As with every city,the views are what you pay for. The beginning picture says it all.

As with many areas, the dock has several unions who provide services.  Our bus drivers do not belong to the union allowed to drive inside the docks..they can pick us up at our ship but CanNot drop us off at the ship….go figure!! Anyway, the port provides a delightful small shaded area a filled with a small shopping area, a cafe and many exotic birds and animals for you to view as you walk to your ship. Peacocks, parrots, ant eaters and monkeys plus the always delightful flamingos greeted us and  provided shade and entertainment as we walked a short distance to our ship. 

And that’s the end of Cartagena!  We managed to sail away exactly on time and are heading for Colon, Panama tomorrow. We will be visiting the Embera` Indian tribe. This will include getting in a dug out canoe to get to the village….It will also include masks continually as they are a tribe that has little exposure to the world. Looking very forward to the event.

For those wondering, I have struggled daily with motion sickness. This morning while docked it was quite a relief to finally feel normal again…..lets hope I get my sea legs soon!