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Showing posts with label Panama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Panama. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
Books to read - Panama Fever: The Epic Story of the Building of the Panama Canal
Having always had an interest in history and especially in scientific & engineering marvels I wanted to know more about the canal and its builders. So before reaching the canal I read the book by Matthew Parker telling the tale of this feat.
Panama Fever starts with the hopeless and desperate venture of the french Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1881. Having built the Suez Canal he tried to repeat this again at the Isthmus of Panama. Although the plan of a canal at sea level was not feasible Ferdinand clung to it until the near end when the company went bankrupt.
Later on the United States bought the remains of the company and with it the rights of building a canal through (then) Colombia. With support from the U.S. Panama declared independence and the construction could continue.
More then 33 years after turning the first sod the canal opened, using three set of locks and some artificial lakes to make the passage from Atlantic to Pacific possible.
The book follows the lives of the different people which worked, lived and not seldom died for this huge project to succeed. The Isthmus back then was one of the deadliest parts of the world: hot and humid with tropical diseases as yellow fever or malaria, land slides and the mighty Chagres river took then thousands of lives before the sicknesses where cured, swamps drained and the river dammed.
Panama Fever starts with the hopeless and desperate venture of the french Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1881. Having built the Suez Canal he tried to repeat this again at the Isthmus of Panama. Although the plan of a canal at sea level was not feasible Ferdinand clung to it until the near end when the company went bankrupt.
Later on the United States bought the remains of the company and with it the rights of building a canal through (then) Colombia. With support from the U.S. Panama declared independence and the construction could continue.
More then 33 years after turning the first sod the canal opened, using three set of locks and some artificial lakes to make the passage from Atlantic to Pacific possible.
The book follows the lives of the different people which worked, lived and not seldom died for this huge project to succeed. The Isthmus back then was one of the deadliest parts of the world: hot and humid with tropical diseases as yellow fever or malaria, land slides and the mighty Chagres river took then thousands of lives before the sicknesses where cured, swamps drained and the river dammed.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Friday, February 14, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
Lunas Castle, Panama City
lunascastlehostel.com
Lunas Castle is a quite busy hostel at the entrance of the old part right next to the coast and 10 minutes from the fish market. They have five private rooms (30USD a night) but only two with daylight, the rest are dorm beds. A kitchen to use with free pancakes and coffee for breakfast. The wifi is quite slow most of the time, if it is working. In the basement is a bar wich is very popular at the weekends, so don’t expect to sleep well until four o’clock in the morning.
If you look for a good location and contact to other travellers, this is a good choice but if you like to relax I would recommend to go to another place.
Lunas Castle is a quite busy hostel at the entrance of the old part right next to the coast and 10 minutes from the fish market. They have five private rooms (30USD a night) but only two with daylight, the rest are dorm beds. A kitchen to use with free pancakes and coffee for breakfast. The wifi is quite slow most of the time, if it is working. In the basement is a bar wich is very popular at the weekends, so don’t expect to sleep well until four o’clock in the morning.
If you look for a good location and contact to other travellers, this is a good choice but if you like to relax I would recommend to go to another place.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Casa Nuratti & Gato Blanco, Panama City
casanuratti.com
In the beautiful old part of the City is Casa Nuratti, a hotel / restaurant / bar. The two Italien guys who own this place have excellent taste in interior design. If you like to spent a little more (around 100$ a night) this is a well located and beautiful choice.
On the rooftop you will finde the lovely Gato Blanco bar. They have a good selection of wine, skyline view including a nice breeze. At some evenings a jazz band performs. All in all a really relaxed and peaceful place to enjoy a drink in good company!
In the beautiful old part of the City is Casa Nuratti, a hotel / restaurant / bar. The two Italien guys who own this place have excellent taste in interior design. If you like to spent a little more (around 100$ a night) this is a well located and beautiful choice.
On the rooftop you will finde the lovely Gato Blanco bar. They have a good selection of wine, skyline view including a nice breeze. At some evenings a jazz band performs. All in all a really relaxed and peaceful place to enjoy a drink in good company!
Fish Market, Panama City
Panama Citys Fish Market is worth a short trip. All week long except on monday they trade fresh fish. In and around the market you can finde heaps of little restaurants wich sell different ceviches and other tasty fish dishes. If you walk along the Ciclovia Cinta Costera (the promenade along the coast) and follow the fishy smell you won’t miss it.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Cafe Casa Sucre, Panama City
casasucrecoffeehouse.com
Cafe Casa Sucre is a relaxed place in a beautiful renovated colonial building. They serve delicious coffee and breakfast. If you stay at a place with bad wifi you will find good wifi at this place in a comfortable, nice environment.
Cafe Casa Sucre is a relaxed place in a beautiful renovated colonial building. They serve delicious coffee and breakfast. If you stay at a place with bad wifi you will find good wifi at this place in a comfortable, nice environment.
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Hostal Refugio del Rio, Boquete
refugiodelrio.com
The lovely town of Boquete, wich lays one hour bus ride from David, is on 1200 meter above sea. A green authentic village from where on you can do many different hiking tours. One of the best places to stay is Hostal Refugio del Rio. Like the name says there is a small river right next to the house and an idillic garden with a hot jacuzzi - perfect to relax.
They offer dorm beds, privat rooms in the main house and bungalows in the garden. On there website are all prices listet including pictures from every room & bungalow. In town are two good sorted supermarkets and the kitchen in the hostal is pretty well equipped. If you plan to stay there, make a reservation in advanced as it is often fully booked.
The lovely town of Boquete, wich lays one hour bus ride from David, is on 1200 meter above sea. A green authentic village from where on you can do many different hiking tours. One of the best places to stay is Hostal Refugio del Rio. Like the name says there is a small river right next to the house and an idillic garden with a hot jacuzzi - perfect to relax.
They offer dorm beds, privat rooms in the main house and bungalows in the garden. On there website are all prices listet including pictures from every room & bungalow. In town are two good sorted supermarkets and the kitchen in the hostal is pretty well equipped. If you plan to stay there, make a reservation in advanced as it is often fully booked.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Puerto Lindo, San Blas and sailing to Colombia (28.11.2013 - 05.12.2013)
To get from Panama to Colombia we decided to take one of the many sailing boats which run this route. After some confusion where our boat would depart we headed to Puerto Lindo on the caribbean side. So we took the Panama Canal Railway which runs mostly along the canal all the way to Colon. Colon itself is another rundown, ugly, criminal caribbean city, nothing to see or do here. After a bumpy bus ride we arrived in Puerto Lindo, not so lindo at all. The next day we headed to Isla Grande, just down the road. A nice little beach, some sunken rusty boats and cheap beer. Nice!
The following day we spent with the rest of the passenger waiting to board our catamaran. Our captain was Fabian from Sailing Koala and the boat was called Nacar II. We were in total 16 people on the boat. Captain, cook, three couples from Australia, a couple from London, the Marsh brothers from Canada, a New Yorker, a Sweede and the two of us. The boat was quite cramped, with three people sleeping in the saloon and another on deck under the tarpaulin with the captain. The girl which acted as cook and helping hand was friendly and nice. Sadly she overcooked all the pasta and most of the dishes were quite bland. We guessed she didn't taste the meat dishes as she's a vegetarian...
The crossing from Puerto Lindo to the archipelago of San Blas was quite rough. With most of the passenger getting seasick, but not Melanie. Once arrived between the little islands the sea calmed down and we could go for a swim and visit the tiny coconut islands. The islands are inhabited by the Kuna Indians, where the woman still wear their traditional dresses but the men have taken to western clothing: board shorts, singlets and "golden Rolex" watches. A strange combination. Sadly many of these islands are littered with garbage, some from the indians itself but most of it marine debris washed ashore.
After two and a half day in the archipelago we entered open sea to cross over to Colombia. The sea wasn't as wavy as on the first day, still some passengers were quite occupied with themselves. The rest of us passed the time reading, playing board and card games or just watching the horizon. Around 40 hours and some visiting dolphins later we sighted the skyline of Cartagena and not much later we had firm ground under our feet again!
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| Huh? |
Panama City (15.11.2013 - 27.11.2013)
We took a chicken bus from Boquete to David and from there a direct bus all the way to Panama City. Luna's Castle didn't have any rooms free so we stayed at Panamericana for the first night. The next day we moved to Los Mostros for one night and then to Hostal Urraca for two nights. The rooms were all either cramped, dorms or expensive. So we finally ended up at Luna's Castle with a dark and loud room until we could move to another which had a window and was just loud ;)
Panama City was the first and only city in central america which had a proper skyline. But we preferred the old part, Casco Viejo. Although it started to be really developed and most of the bars and restaurants where quite pricy. The old town was nice with its crumbling colonial buildings and the bust of the french developer/madmen Ferdinand de Lesseps who started the Canal adventure.
Melanie's main attraction were of course the malls, I had to endure all of them ^^ They where huge, one was where an airport is on my old Lonley Planet ;) We stumbled past these temples of consumerism! Of course we had to visit the cinema, no crying babies this time though.
In my opinion the canal was the best part in Panama City. I just finished my book about how first the french and then the americans endured the hardship of this endeavour. Next year the canal will celebrate this 100th year anniversary. But you have to keep in mind that the french started digging already in 1881 with a lot of spirit but crude technics and a plan for a canal at sea level which was never feasible and bound to fail from the beginning.
So we visited the Miraflores locks to see how tanker and container ships where lowered to the pacific. To steady the ships they are connected to four to eight "electric mules". The maximum size for a ship to pass the locks is 13 containers width, with not much space left and right.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Restaurante Bocart, Bocas del Toro
bocartrestaurant.com
If you ever go to Bocas del Toro, plan a visit at restaurant Bocart!
This nice relatively new little restaurant is close to the center of Bocas at the main drinking and food mile. The team at Bocart is very friendly, attentive and it is obviously that they love good and creative food.
A main course costs around 11-15$ and is worth every penny! They always offer different daily specials which is for sure a good choice.
This nice relatively new little restaurant is close to the center of Bocas at the main drinking and food mile. The team at Bocart is very friendly, attentive and it is obviously that they love good and creative food.
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| "Amuse-bouche" |
Raw Sushi, Bocas del Toro
If you like sushi you are in very good hands at Raw Sushi right in the center of Bocas. Its a beautiful restaurant / bar with tables right at the sea an really good music. The food doesn't only look good, it's also really delicious and the team seems to have fun at work.
From 4pm to 6pm they have happy hour: 1 sushi roll 4$ and a beer 1$ (try the Soberana beer - fits well even with sushi).
From 4pm to 6pm they have happy hour: 1 sushi roll 4$ and a beer 1$ (try the Soberana beer - fits well even with sushi).
Hostel Heike, Bocas del Toro
A realy good location right next to the park in Bocas del Toro is Hostel Heike. It is one of the older places in town (Marcial stayed here six years ago). The rooms are clean and really simple, but don't expect daylight. They have a kitchen you can use and every morning free coffee, tee and pancakes. There is also a beautiful comfortable rooftop terrace with plants, lounge chairs and hammocks. A bed at the dorm costs around 8$, a private room with shared bathroom is 22$.
Into Panama, Bocas del Torro and Boquete (09.11.13 - 14.11.13)
From Puerto Viejo we took a bus down to the border crossing into Panama. Six years ago there was only the old railroad bridge which pedestrians had to share with trucks and cars. Now there is another bridge for vehicles and they even fixed the huge gaping hole in the railing where a truck/car must have plunged into the river.
After proving we would leave the country again by showing them an email (which could have come from anybody ;)) we got our passports stamped. Having some time and Tico Colones left we visited the Duty Free store! ^^ How can a 1l bottle of Jägermeister only cost 13$ in the middle of nowhere in central america?! We bought some rum (7 year old Centenario), red whine (from Chile) and as many beers we could get for our Colones. Sadly the only cold beer was some shit american brand, why?
After a shuttle and fast boat ride we arrived in Bocas del Torro. There has been quite some change since I got my PADI Open Water certification here six years ago. The many chinese run super markets (I counted 7 in the main street o_O) for example or the multi storey hotels and apartments for example.
As it has been a while since we've been diving we booked a two-tank-dive ^^ which took us out to The Caves. It had some nice rock formation but not much aquatic life besides the millions of fireworms. Also the visibility was quite poor due to the heavy rains in the night before. But the second dive was even worse! Our inexperienced divemaster swam away from us multiple times, getting lost and we had to surface to find her again... She swam over flounders (which she has never seen before she told us later o_O), scorpion fish, baby lion fish (sadly no spear at hand), nudibranches, cleaner shrimps and lobsters. Not everyone gets the good education of Underwater Vision it seems ;)
The next two days was more or less all rain so the trip to the beach never happend and we left. A boat and taxi ride later we found us perched into a local bus and shouted at by a the co-driver. Him being cross-eyed didn't help and none of the passenger knew who he was talking/shouting to. During the almost five hours we wished we would have taken the direct-tourist-shuttle for twice the price... In David we changed into a proper Chicken Bus™which was first class in comparison. Our accommodation in Boquete turned out to have a hot jacuzzi! This was quite welcomed as the temperature was in the sweater-at-night region. The exertions of the previous day took its toll and we more or less slept away the whole day. Again the rainy weather discouraged to do any tours and the steep prices didn't help either. So we relaxed and I did some research on what to do once we get home - I have some ideas ;)
After proving we would leave the country again by showing them an email (which could have come from anybody ;)) we got our passports stamped. Having some time and Tico Colones left we visited the Duty Free store! ^^ How can a 1l bottle of Jägermeister only cost 13$ in the middle of nowhere in central america?! We bought some rum (7 year old Centenario), red whine (from Chile) and as many beers we could get for our Colones. Sadly the only cold beer was some shit american brand, why?
After a shuttle and fast boat ride we arrived in Bocas del Torro. There has been quite some change since I got my PADI Open Water certification here six years ago. The many chinese run super markets (I counted 7 in the main street o_O) for example or the multi storey hotels and apartments for example.
As it has been a while since we've been diving we booked a two-tank-dive ^^ which took us out to The Caves. It had some nice rock formation but not much aquatic life besides the millions of fireworms. Also the visibility was quite poor due to the heavy rains in the night before. But the second dive was even worse! Our inexperienced divemaster swam away from us multiple times, getting lost and we had to surface to find her again... She swam over flounders (which she has never seen before she told us later o_O), scorpion fish, baby lion fish (sadly no spear at hand), nudibranches, cleaner shrimps and lobsters. Not everyone gets the good education of Underwater Vision it seems ;)
The next two days was more or less all rain so the trip to the beach never happend and we left. A boat and taxi ride later we found us perched into a local bus and shouted at by a the co-driver. Him being cross-eyed didn't help and none of the passenger knew who he was talking/shouting to. During the almost five hours we wished we would have taken the direct-tourist-shuttle for twice the price... In David we changed into a proper Chicken Bus™which was first class in comparison. Our accommodation in Boquete turned out to have a hot jacuzzi! This was quite welcomed as the temperature was in the sweater-at-night region. The exertions of the previous day took its toll and we more or less slept away the whole day. Again the rainy weather discouraged to do any tours and the steep prices didn't help either. So we relaxed and I did some research on what to do once we get home - I have some ideas ;)
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| Minion on the old railway bridge |
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