Hot Hot Hot in Panama

SUNRISE IN THE BAHIA DE PANAMA

Our ship never did dock last night, instead we spent the night out in the Bay of Panama. At around 11:00 p.m., I went out on our balcony and the sight was spectacular. Way off in the distance were the lights of Panama City. Right beside the boat was a spectacular display of phosphorescence, with dozens of white birds (I don’t think they were gulls) performing an aerial ballet, dipping down into the water and then straight up. It was quite beautiful.

Today we did a shore excursion, visiting the Visitor’s Centre at the Miraflores Lock on the Canal, then travelling through the ultra-modern Panama City. The city is high-rise crazy, with dozens of highrise condo, apartment and office buildings built in the last 15 to 20 years. When asked what fueled this incredible building, an ‘expert’ winked and said that if we guessed Coca-Cola we’d be ‘half right.’ Hmmm.

We also visited the colonial part of the city, which had fallen into a huge state of disrepair. It is slowly being rehabilitated, however, it is up to individual owners to bear the entire cost of renovations. To add to the stress, the government will confiscate the property if it isn’t completed within their stated time period. Sounds like win-win for the government.

We were told that Panama is one of the fastest-growing retirement centres in the Americas. I am hard pressed to determine why that is so. It is stinking hot....they are very close to the equator....and it gets tons and tons of rain. Mosquitos remain a very real health threat. To be fair, we never saw a retirement community, but from what we did see, it doesn’t really appeal to me. (Mind you....I did find a tequila bar, which is a definite plus).

We leave in a couple of hours to continue our voyage south. Next port of call on Monday is Manta in Ecuador. Bring it on.

A PANAMA CITY HIGHLIGHT