Walter's Corner

Well, I'm back from my latest cruise with stops in Panama: Fort Lauderdale to the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica as a guest lecturer. What a deal! I saw more of Panama than I expected since I was asked to do a partial return cruise to give another talk. I was unloaded at Gatun Yacht Club, taken through Panama immigration at Cristobal, then driven across to fly out of Tocumen a few hours later. The Trans-Isthmian Highway is amazingly built up since the last time I drove it. Anyway, here are my current observations about the situation down there plus a few possibly interesting photos.

Panama is still coping with a recession brought on by the loss of American wages, especially at the old military facilities. They are still struggling along and there appears to be a lack of pro-active leadership. Things seem to drift, though one can still see signs of efforts being made. I read an article that suggested that Panama was a good place for expatriate living. I assume that this means something up in the mountains rather than Panama City or (ugh) Colon. At the same time, the canal seems to be running reasonably well. Some of the old housing at Gatun is being demolished to make way for a proposed new set of larger locks. The widening of Gaillard Cut appeared to be nearly finished. The port of Balboa is notable for new facilities for expanding the port and upgrading the rail road. However, some places look like old times. I could see signs of the Kansas Southern Rail Road's progression in the total replacement of the old tracks. They are supposed to be up and running this fall, possibly including some passenger service. I hope to spend a week or so in country in the 2002 Dry Season and will be interested in what changes have come to pass by then.

Entering through Gatun Locks, I saw that there is a lot of old concrete work being done to restore the original structure. I was told that the canal realizes about $800 Million a year. This is split about equally among wages, maintenance, capital improvements and the Panamanian treasury. Tolls cannot be raised too much, since this would make it cheaper to go around Cape Horn.

New Concrete at Gatun Locks

The ship docked at the Yacht Club on Gatun Lake near the locks. There is a visitors center with gift shop and folk type musical and dance shows. There are various shore tours including a helicopter ride over the Atlantic Side.

Chiva at Gatun Yacht Club.

I chose to take a tour through the old forts west of Limon Bay, which are generally being kept as a rain forest preserve. Rumor had it that Microsoft was interested in some of the old area for a tech park, though details were sparse.

Ultimately I ended up at Fort San Lorenzo, a place I haven't been to since at least 1968. It was much as I remembered it.

Guard House at Fort San Lorenzo

View of the mouth of the Chagres River from a window of the fort.

Cove down below the fort.

The area of the fort still has no utilities. So a local family has been given permission to set up a small farm. There are four porta-potties for visitors. The family keeps them clean and collects 25 cents apiece from users.

Having grown up on the slopes of Ancon Hill, it has always been one of my favorite bits of local scenery. I'm still trying to get the perfect picture of it. This one is from the area of the Yacht Club at Fort Amador. The structure on the lower right is the construction site of a resort hotel. It didn't look like there had been much progress in completing since the last time I was in the area.

The construction of the container port at Balboa led to the demolition of old Pier 18, which was where cruise ships could dock in the old days. A marina and dock for cruise ships is being built out at Flamenco Island. I understand that there will be shops out there for the cruise ship passengers.