A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!

Of course you can't go to Panama without a stop to see the canal!

Shannon and I headed out to see the Miraflores locks (I can´t seem to get away from Miraflores!).  After taking part of the morning to learn to navigate the bus/metro system in Panama City, we successfully made it out to the locks (and back!  Not bad for my basic Spanish!).  I remember learning about the Panama Canal in school, and the operation of the locks, but seeing it in person was much cooler!

Luckily, we were just in time to see the last two boats of the morning:

It takes about 10 minutes to fill or empty the lock.

Random fact: The engines that keep the boat straight through the canal are called mules...after the live mules that performed the same job on the Erie Canal...even though they never used the live ones here in Panama.

We were pretty excited to learn that the lock doors were fabricated in Pittsburgh
and have been in operation since the canal opened in 1914.

Since Panama took over the operation of the canal from the US in 1999, they have been working on plans to expand the operations to allow wider boats to pass through the canal.  You can see the new construction in the distance from the observation deck:

This model of the canal expansion was on exhibit in the Biomuseo.

Costa Rica!...errr, Panama

Traveling to Costa Rica has been forefront in my mind for many months now. I've been talking to Shannon about what we'd see and do there and telling everyone how excited I was to go. With great anticipation, I left Lima last week….to have it all come to a screeching halt when I reached the gate for my last flight in Panama. I handed my boarding pass to the attendant...

“And your yellow fever vaccination card?”

“My what?…. But I don't need that-I'm American... I checked the requirements!”

“Yes, but travelers coming from Peru must have one.”

“... <jaw drop>...”

And thus my plans came crashing down around me. What an idiotic mistake!  

“But wait,” you may be asking, “Why didn't you get the vaccine in Panama and then go on to Costa Rica the next day?” Well, I would have liked to, however, to be effective, the vaccine requires a 10 day waiting period – longer even than my planned journey!  I was left with two options - turn around and return to Peru the same day or stay and explore Panama.  As I was already geared up to explore a new place, I opted for the latter.  Fortunately, Panama doesn't require the same vaccination! 

Happily, Shannon was able to join me for a couple of days as well, so we were able to have a bit of the adventure we had been planning for so long.

After some quick research, we decided to stay in the up and coming part of Panama City, Casco Viejo. It had a great view of the skyline of Panama City.

Although it's not so pretty when the tide is out...

Casco Viejo has a bit of a Village-y feel

...much like my beloved Barranco 

Iglesia San Francisco

...where the old and new sit harmoniously side by side

It would be interesting to see the changes in a few years.  Many of the buildings we saw were just in the beginning phases of reconstruction, with just the front walls finished, but mere shells inside.

Fortaleza Real Felipe

I haven't been travelling much lately, but I did sneak in some time to see some new spots in Lima. One of the places that I had been wanting to see was the Fortaleza Real Felipe in Callao.  Knowing that parts of Callao are notoriously dangerous and that the tours of the fort were only in Spanish, I had pushed it to the side until I could find a suitable escort to take me there.

Luckily, I found one who not only drove me there but also translated the tour for me!  I was really glad that I got the chance to see it-and on such a beautiful day!

My escort is a big history buff too, so I really enjoyed learning more about the history of Peru, even though there are things from different eras.  The main story is that the fort was the last holdout of the Spanish royalists during the fight for independence in the 1820s.  There is a really sad story that during the siege they were starving so they sent women and children out of the fort where they were gunned down by independence fighters.

The fort was originally built in 1747 as protection from pirates.  I guess pentagon-shaped forts were all the rage around that time since Fort Pitt has a very similar plan from a couple decades later.

Nowadays the fort functions mainly as a military museum.  This building is the Governor's House. Originally it had 3 shields carved into the stone above the doorways, but these were removed after the independence fighters took control of the fort.  Now it has various displays about the evolution of Peru as a country as well as other aspects of military history.

We were only able to see the Queen's Tower from afar.  It was originally used for storage for ammunition and other supplies.

However, we were able to tour around the King's Tower.  Unfortunately (?), we got separated from our tour group at this time, so my facts are a little sparse for this part.

This was a prison cell/hallway.  I got about halfway in before I started to freak out from the confined space.
The idea of ending up in this jail would keep me on the straight and narrow!

These are flags that would have been flown to communicate with ships.  I remember that he white was for diplomatic purposes and the yellow one was for quarantine. but I'm not sure about the other 2.  

I was really surprised to see 9 people on a cannon crew!

The view from the top of the King's Tower.  

The grounds are full of interesting memorabilia as well.  There are displays of tanks and guns used in wars throughout the ages as well as statues of great military heroes.

The Monument to the Unknown Soldier is dedicated to all those who have sacrificed their lives fighting for their country.

This is a replica of the casa de la repuesta-the place in Arica where Francisco Bolognesi refused to surrender to Chile, despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned. 

Arica ultimately fell to Chile and Bolognesi was killed during the battle; however, he is still revered for his courage and patriotism.  This statue of Bolognesi originally stood in the Plaza Bolognesi in Lima.  Although it was intended to depict the hero at the moment of his demise, some people interpreted it as a moment of drunken stupor.  Thus, a new statue was commissioned for the plaza and this one was moved to the military museum at the fort.