As we flew into Panama City from Cartagena I could see ships scattered across the ocean like dandelions in a field. Welcome to container ship heaven! (If you read my first post of the trip, you’ll know I have an odd fascination with container ships.)

As we later learned while visiting the Canal Museum, many types of ships go through the Canal, including those transporting liquid natural gas, grain and of course cruise ships. We saw a grain ship, a Regent cruise ship and a private yacht pass through the Canal when we visited the Miraflores Locks. 

The small vessels have to get in at the tail end of a larger ship since the Canal Authority won’t expend 52 million gallons of water on a pleasure boat. All of that water is moved by gravity: there are no pumps in use.

Ships pay to pass through the Canal based on the size of the ship and the value of their cargo. (I wonder how much people on a cruise are worth?) A small yacht might pay $1,000 for the passage, while a huge Panamax vessel could pay $1,500,000. The commercial operators all pay in advance, while the canal authority will accept a credit card for payment from a pleasure boat captain.

After seeing the narrow pathway for the ships to pass through and learning about the intricate process required for each passing, I have sympathy for the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal a few years ago. I’m just surprised it doesn’t happen more often! In recent years Panama has added newer locks to account for the world’s increasingly large vessels.

After viewing the locks, we visited the remains of the first settlement in Panama, which was attacked by the pirate Captain Henry Morgan (better known as a brand of rum) in 1671. The Spanish living there actually burned down the city, rather than let Morgan take it. 

Standing in the ruins of the old city, Panama Viejo, you can see the ships waiting their turn to pass through the Canal as well as the skyscrapers of the new city. This juxtaposition of old and new is one of the things that attracted me to Panama, as well as its position as a crossroads of the world. (At a rooftop bar later that evening we’d see the ships again, illuminated against the night sea and sky.)

For this part of the trip, we’re staying in Casco Viejo, which is also an old town, but old being from colonial days. It’s a charming area reminiscent of New Orleans and, we’re told, Havana. It’s similar to the old town of Cartagena, but smaller.

As with Cartagena, gentrification has brought high-priced hotels and increased the price of real estate, but within a short walk of Casco Viejo is a poor neighborhood called Chorrillo.

Our guide expressed the common local frustration that with all its wealth coming from the Canal, the government isn’t doing much to help improve the lives of these residents. At the same time, anti-gentrification graffiti expressed the universal fear of people being priced out of their simple homes as areas go upscale. It’s a tough problem.

Graffiti in Chorillo addressed another very local issue. The headquarters of the former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was in the neighborhood, so it was bombed by the U.S. when we invaded in 1989 to capture him for his involvement in the cocaine trade. (He was at the same time for years a CIA asset.) The military missed Noriega but killed hundreds of citizens and destroyed buildings. He ultimately surrendered and spent 17 years in a U.S. prison.

Our guide ended the tour on a more cheerful note in a plaza in Casco Viejo overlooking the ocean. After a short rest we were out again to watch the Eagles game in a local bar. It was a fun time with six other travelers and expats from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I don’t know if we’ll have any luck finding the game next Sunday. But Go Eagles!