What an amazing moon! I caught it just as we were coming inside, about 5:30pm our time here! The sun was putting quite a glow on it!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
My Gem!
My favourite shot of today! This will for sure be in my gallery! I shot laying down with the sun behind these flowers! I love the Asian feel of the end result!
There is no editing....just photography!!
There is no editing....just photography!!
Panama around the Playa Bonita
A few more Panama sites
This ball of Jelly caught my eye....there was about 8 of them...Jelly fish??? |
A piece of garbage can look so beautiful in the right light ;-)) |
Two hermit crabs racing...to where??? |
Thursday, January 5, 2012
A night out!
Last night instead of returning to our resort we decided to get dropped off from our tour at the Marina. We walked along the Causeway which is a breakwater control designed to protect the Canal entrance. We stopped off after getting off the bus to have a beer, a restroom (banos) break and then head down the walkway to dinner. We arrived at the Marina, and sat over the water, with a glass bottom, we watched as boats came in and out, we dined on steak and good wine! It was the perfect end to a perfect day! this is our view!
Not sure why these photos are loading so poorly, they were taken with our little red point and shoot!
Not sure why these photos are loading so poorly, they were taken with our little red point and shoot!
Old Town of Panama
Panama's old town is very enchanting full of history...many of the stories we heard would make you cringe to imagine. The town wears its age. Many buildings have been left to rot since the Americans have left. We walked right past the presidential buildings, we heard stories of whole castles being built to house royal families that never came due to fear. We saw views of the cities, learnt how many of their buildings were constructed and where the material came from. We saw many street vendors....however, we were not allowed to take their photos without payment, as it is believed that every photo steals a piece of their soul.
The history is amazing, Ted and I are planning to return tomorrow or the next day on our own, so we can take our time. We have been shown the areas not to go in and will leave all jewellery at home.
Here are a few photos from the our downtown tour.
The history is amazing, Ted and I are planning to return tomorrow or the next day on our own, so we can take our time. We have been shown the areas not to go in and will leave all jewellery at home.
Here are a few photos from the our downtown tour.
The colours are so vibrant, yet peeling and rusting. |
I started taking this photo to show the proximity to the ocean, when this young boy came up from the surf....I loved that he was in it! |
This deteriorating fence surrounds a monument for a man that came to Panama before the canal to 'rid' Panama of all the Indians....(why he has a monument is confusing to many - with good reason) |
This is a real zebra rug hanging over a balcony, the nostrils and eye holes are right in the rug! |
That is Panama's city centre in the background. |
This rock used to be 9' higher, it has been shaved out in blocks to create their buildings....the last photo features this construction. |
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
The Panama Canal
Today Ted and I stepped off the beach and into the city! We went to the Panama Canal first, to learn about and see the process...it was amazing! For those of you who don’t know much about this amazing feat you can check it out at www.pancanal.com Or if you just want to learn a little....here it goes ;-)
The Canal was proposed by the Spaniards and then started by the French. The French fell ill to many diseases and then ran out of money. After the USA signed a treaty with Panama, they would build the Canal and manage for almost 100 years and then would sign over to Panama.
The Canal is 80km long connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It takes about 10 hours for a large ship to pass through the Canal or 3.5 weeks to go around. They also have a loading port, so many ships unload cargo containers, which are then transported via train to the other port, headed to HONG KONG, CANADA and other destinations.
The Canal is like a 2 lane highway with elevators to get you where you need to go! These elevators - Locks as they are called - raise from the Caribbean Sea up 26 meters to Sea Level (where there are 19 lakes contributing to) then they sail across Gatun Lake, and then get released back down to the Pacific Ocean.
The US took over a large part of Panama with Navy and Army bases, Panama holds the 2nd largest runway in Central America (from what we have been told).
When you speak to people here their views of US involvement is very mixed.
The history is amazing, their city is huge....way bigger then I would have imagined. Panama’s population is 3.5 million in its country, and 1.5ish in it’s city.
During the construction of the Canal 200 million cubic meters of material were removed, this would circle the globe four times!
It is an incredible feat and an amazing process!
Here are a few of the pics I got, we couldn’t stay long as we were on a tour, but the whole process of going through this set of locks take 25-40minutes. The ships are lowered in 16M sections!!! In the pictures you can see how much the Sunbelt Spirit went down by the amount of blue passing behind the terminal.
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