Homeward Bound (for now)

Today I begin the long journey back to Australia. Starting with an 18 hour bus ride tonight up to San Jose. On Wednesday I leave Central America and on Friday I arrive back home in Sydney.

Eight months, eight countries, hundreds of chicken buses, dozens of boats, motorbikes, horses, quad bikes, self built cars, mini-vans, taxis, tuk-tuks, utes and a couple of planes. I've read close to 50 books, watched dozens of movies, met hundreds of people. I would hate to think how much beer and rum I've consumed but I have done dozens of yoga classes in several different towns to hopefully counteract some of that. I've eaten more beans and rice and fried chicken than I care to think about.

Central America is beautiful and fascinating. Each country is so different from each other but I think you need to spend time here to really see that. Even the differences between Pacific and Caribbean is huge. Most people wonder how I could possibly spend eight months just in Central America but I can't see how I would have done it any other way.

This blog will take a well deserved break over the Australian summer but I'll be back online in March to report on my new adventures - volunteering in India...

Panama Canal II

Today I headed out again to that engineering marvel, the Panama Canal. The Miraflores Locks to be precise - an obligatory stop for any tourist in Panama City. It is pretty cool to see the boats being raised up through the locks and passing through. No much else to say so I'll give you some statistics on the canal.

The Panama Canal is 77 kilometres long between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This waterway was cut through one of the narrowest saddles of the isthmus that joins North and South America.

The Canal uses a system of locks -compartments with entrance and exit gates. The locks function as water lifts: they raise ships from sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake (26 meters above sea level); ships then sail the channel through the Continental Divide.The water used to raise and lower vessels in each set of locks comes from Gatun Lake by gravity; it comes into the locks through a system of main culverts that extend under the lock chambers from the sidewalls and the center wall.

The narrowest portion of the Canal is Culebra Cut, which extends from the north end of Pedro Miguel Locks to the south edge of Gatun Lake at Gamboa. This segment, approximately 13.7 kilometers long, is carved through the rock and shale of the Continental Divide.

Ships from all parts of the world transit daily through the Panama Canal. Over 14,000 vessels use the Canal every year - commercial transportation activities through the Canal represent approximately 5% of the world trade.

The Canal was built by Americans (after a failed attempt by the French) and was opened in 1914. The Americans controlled and operated the Canal until it was handed back to Panama on December 31, 1999.

The project to widen the Canal and build two new sets of locks has been underway since 2007 and they hope to complete it in 2014.

The reason the French pulled out of the project was the deaths of over 21,000 workers from yellow-fever, malaria and landslides. A further 5,600 workers died during the American construction phase.

Most of the workers came from Jamaica, Barbados and other neighbouring countries and islands. Many settled in Panama once the Canal was completed.

San Blas

On Tuesday morning I set off for a few days sailing in San Blas or Kuna Yala. This is a part of Panama on the Caribbean side that belongs to the indigenous tribe, the Kunas. It is an autonomous area that is governed by the Kunas under an agreement they have with the Panamanian government.

There are about 365 islands in the area, of which only about 30 are inhabited. Many of the others are used to grow coconuts and they are owned by different Kuna families.

The Kuna are an interesting lot. They have lived their lives quite peacefully there for generations, with the main trade being coconuts, fish and molas (the local handicraft). Apparently they only started dealing with money in the mid-nineties, prior to that trading using barter. Given the islands are pretty much at sea level, there is a program to relocate all of the island dwellers to the mainland in the next five years. These beautiful islands may not exist as they are for much longer if we keep killing our planet.

Many of the children are now growing up wanting a more modern life in the city and to get away from the simple island life. This is a big problem for the Kuna so now the chiefs are creating new rules on a regular basis to stem the flow of people. They need now a letter of permission from the chief to leave the area and this is not always granted.

To get to San Blas, there is a new road with a bridge that has only been completed in the past two months. Now it is really the beginning of the end of quiet, idyllic San Blas. With the bridge finished, they can start moving in the heavy equipment to build a huge marina and hotel complex and I'll bet it won't end there. This type of enterprise will help keep the young Kuna here but it won't be life as they know it.

On the boat we sailed around, visited a few of the islands and did some snorkelling. There was an eclectic group on the boat - a mixture of poms, Canadians, Guatemalans, an American captain and the token Aussie. The Guatemalans were a mother and her two children and I later learned that the mother is the daughter of a former Guatemalan president who now lives in exile in Panama. The kids, I've also learned, are convinced that I'm a writer since I spent so much time on the boat reading.

From Tuesday to Friday this week there were a series of national holidays so the islands got pretty crowded with rich city Panamanians coming out for a night or two of camping. I had planned to stay on an island for a couple of nights after the boat but changed my mind when I realised it might not be the relaxing time I had hoped. Luckily Captain Tony let me stay on the boat another night to get a bit more time there.

The Panama Canal

Yesterday was a great day. I had signed up for some tour of the Panama Canal, not knowing exactly what it involved but it was a good opportunity to see it. We were collected at the hostel at 8am after very little sleep and driven to a point on the canal where there is a lake - Lago Gatun.

There we were met by Carl, an American who lives in the only houseboat on the lake and he runs tours there. This is the part of the canal where it is wild jungle and it is absolutely gorgeous, except for the ugly parts where they are working on the canal expansion. But the jungle reclaims those areas in a matter of a year or two after they've finished, digging, dredging and blowing things up. We passed some absolutely huge ships going through the canal, making us feel tiny in our little boat.

We saw four different types of monkeys, two types of them came onto the boat and we fed them peanuts and bananas. At Carl's houseboat (which is also a guesthouse) we had lunch and hung out with his menagerie of animals which included a caiman, toucan, three iguanas, parrott, monkey, snake and a rabbit. The rabbit was meant to be food for the snake but the snake was freaked out by it so now it is a pet.

After lunch we kayaked down a narrow canal and swam in a small waterfall and pool. When we got back to Carl's we all lazed around in the water on our swimming noodles drinking beer. There are crocodiles and caimans making this water home but we weren't too concerned. Carl reckoned we should check out some of his videos on youtube so we can see exactly what we were swimming in. I'll have to do that...