nonamedufus

In the harbour of Flamenco Island, Panama sits this 99 year old vessel built by J.P. Morgan and throughout the years owned by Al Capone and Steve McQueen, among others.

In the last installment of our 15 day stay in Panama no themes or one-off excursions but some random and odd pics from throughout our trip. This little fella was part way down the 66 steps to the beach. It's Hammer time! Up at dawn, with the birds... Speaking of birds! These guys roamed the resort each day. The males, of course, are far more exotic than the female peacocks. Every day these artisans would walk the length of the beach selling their jewelry. A McD's on the side of the Pan Americana highway. A restaurant doorway in the older section of Panama City. A past-its-prime locamotive which was once used to guide ships through the Milaflores Locks of the Panama Canal. Shopping in Panermo we found the Latinos Store...but it's only cash or credit card. The Police Station at the Royal Decameron Resort. They don't need squad cars! An artisans' store on the side of the Pan Americana This boat has seen better days... Kids play at the Embaras Indigenous settlement. Ex-...

In the second week of our trip to Panama we visited what Panama is best known for: the Panama Canal. Indeed, in terms of economc importance to Panama the canal ranks number 1, followed by banking, co-operatives, imports/exports and tourism respectively. It's a modern engineering marvel - most impressive. It was France who first had the idea of a canal through Panama in the late 1800s. It was Spain who undertook its construction. But after years of effort and thousands of lives lost it was the United States who took over the canal and completed the waterway. And they owned it until finally turning it over to Panama in 1999. We transited a part of the canal beginning about mid-point at Gamboa and ending at the Port of Balboa on Flamenco Island. In between there was plenty to see... The good ship Pacific Queen was our mode of transport. It has a capacity of 300 passengers. (Shades of Gilligan!) We sighted our first super tanker before we even left the dock. Our tour guide told us to ...

On the sixth day of our stay we took a break from the beach (sigh) and joined a bus excursion to the Casco Viejo, or the colonial city, section of Panama City. Casco Viejo has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and is in the midst of a massive make-over with ancient renovated buildings cheek-by-jowel with run-down edifices yet to be transformed. An eclectic mix of old and new to be sure. Lots of pics today, so let's get to it. We took the Pan Americana Highway from the resort to Panama City. Our tour guide told us if we turned the other direction the Pan American would lead us to Canada...in about two weeks! Each village along the route has bus stops like these... As we neared Panama we travelled over the canal via the Las Americas Bridge The narrow streets of Casco Viejo were something of an obstacle course for our busses to navigate. We disembarked and commenced our walking tour. We came across slum-like buildings, buidlings being renovated, edifices with outer wa...