Panama


	Ulla, wake up, we’re coming to the Panamean border ; it’s hot here… very hot !

Of course it is, XL, and it’s not finished as from point A to point B, we’re more or less 1,200 km from the Equator, the hottest area of the planet !

The people look civilized and rich here, but we’ll see

You know, XL, in all these Latin American countries, there are 3 social classes : the very rich, the middle class (small house, car and comfort) and unfortunately the poor !

This country that everyone knows for its riches, thanks to the canal, whose construction began due to a Frenchman, Mr Ferdinand de Lesseps, who didn’t get to finish it as the French Government let him go bankrupt from lack of funds, so the pharaonic construction site was stopped in its tracks… it’s the same story for the Willis Jeep, invented by a Frenchman, but the Americans recovered the project and collected its gains.. « Bravo to the Frenchmen » right ? Waff, waff, waff

Look around you : Panama City. You’d think we were in Hong Kong….

But before we get to the capital city there are 2 stops, and meeting the Panamean people, who love to celebrate and party, as do our masters

Super, what an evening…

Tell me, XL, watch out not to go over there, there’s a colony of red ants and in years gone past, the most cruel torture was to tie up your ennemies on a red ant colony, can you imagine ?

So, XL, if you keep me from having my siesta, I’m going to do you in, waff, waff

That’s nonsense, Ulla : Do you really think my Gypsy would let you do that… ?

It’d be better for you to eat coconuts the Gallic collected on the ground, there are so many of them

Then, that’s Panama ?

Yes, with its canal

Did you see this ? We’re stopping here, near the racecourse… it’s time to see how we’re going to get into Columbia !

Well, as usual, using the roads

No, XL, there are no roads, nor borders between Panama and Columbia which was sold… so we’re going to swim over there ?

« N’importe quoi » Ulla je reste ici, moi…. !

Mais non, XL il faut prendre un navire car il n’y a même plus le ferry et pas de service spécialisé pour le public donc c’est à nous de trouver le cargo ;

OK, Ulla, trust our companions : they’ll handle this. I’m suggesting we go visit the old part of Panama

Look, XL, it’s beautiful : you’d think we were in Cuba

…craftswork on the roadside…

Tell me, Ulla, it looks as if they’re right in the middle of an electoral campaign here…

And yes, as is the case everywhere the politicians are selling the people their nonsense …

What nonsense ?

Just wind, look at this poster with Martinelli with such a sincere look, waff, waff !

Well, no politics : it makes even the best of friends argue and tear apart…

So, let’s head for Colon (good old Christopher, you’re everywhere)

And yes, the trip will be from Colon to Carthagena, at least 10 hours of sea !

The first prices we obtained through freight forwarders : 9,800 US Dollars, for our convoy. It’s a catastrophe : our masters hadn’t planned such a budget but as the Gallic was (in a past life) a freight forwarder himself he’s going to get us out of this mess, if not we’ll stay and live in Panama

XL, do you know the joke that says « What’s the difference between a bird and a freight forwarder » ?

No, I don’t !

There’s one of them that stops stealing out of here… Really… !


	Be serious, Ulla. I’ve understood that a sea transport company proposed 6,500 US Dollars. You see ? It’s decreasing but it’s still too high !

So today again we’re going to go to the two ports but there… it’s not the same with advertisements in Spanish to find a company that’s going to sell us a freight at a decent price as our Quebecer friends say it, like you, XL !

Finally, we’ll have taken a whole fortnight to find a serious company and yes, these do exist… !

The price obtained is 33,000 Dollars, for two (40-foot) containers so a platform and if there are people who wish to know the name of the firm, you must write to us on our Golden Visitor’s Book ;

But there’s no departure before August 18th, so that’s in a fortnight’s time…

You know, XL, we’re going to see that famous road that stops at the jungle border at which the FARCs’ territory begins

Oh, but I’m scared we might get kidnapped…

Of course not, we don’t go in for politics, us… as do some people

You’re silly, Ulla, let’s take the road to Colon until Yaviza in the Darien province and shut up !


	That’s madness… well yes ! The road stops at the river and to continue, there are only contraband paths and we’ve travelled 400 km

Here in this last village, it seems as if all sorts of small dealings produce the riches of a few sly people !


	Oh, Ulla, we must go now (400 km) as there is no hotel, nor guest houses and we’ve given up our mobile home at Espinar, the posh suburb of Colon in which all the inhabitants are of an exceptional kindness, and our house was well protected…


	….thank you …


	…military parade…


	…the meat delivery man… in the middle of the street…




		…at Espinar.. our parking space


	..each morning, a toucan’s visit


	XL is keeping an eye over Alfredo the electrician


	We leave for Colon in the Free Area : it’s a city inside the city for goods bought in bulk by professionnals… Clothing, cameras, alcohol.. etc.. and our 125 cc mini motorbike…


		That Gallic’s mad… ! Someone’s going to get hurt here, XL, I feel it… !





			Thank you Jesus our guide and taximan, with his huge heart…

		Here we are ready to leave Panama : we’ll meet again in a few weeks to tell you about and enable you to discover Columbia, Equator and Peru…

		Allow us a little time to build the site.


	A few dozen friendly pawings and see you soon if America, this time South America, is hospitable and if the « Banditos » let us to travel.


	XL and I send you this little journalists’ report we made of the canal :

PANAMA and its Canal


	A brief history :


	During the Canal’s construction, more than 205 million cubic meters of earth were removed.


	To give you an idea this quantity represents : if these materials were laid on the wagons of a goods train, we could go around the planet 4 times before we finished


	January 7th, 1914, the Alexander la Valley Floating Crane carried out the first crossing of the Canal


	However, it wasn’t until August 15th, 1914 that the Ancon steam vessel officially inaugurated the Panama Canal

The Canal began its operations 24 hours a day as of May 12th,1963 thanks to the set-up of fluorescent lighting along the Culebra trench and at each water lock

How does it work ?

The Canal works thanks to a system of water locks. It is approximately 80 km long and enables the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to link up at the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama and the American continent. It opened its doors to international sea transport August 15th, 1914. Since the, more than 942,000 crossings have been carried out. When the locks are used, the basin doors close to enable the water moved by gravitational pull from the upper level of water to go to the lowest level of water.

Approximately 197 million litres of fresh water are used with each link-up, this water then pouring out into the sea ; all this operation is controlled by the Water Locks Control Station.

Though, through the transit, the boats use their own propulsion systems, when they go through the locked passages, they are pulled, using cables, by locomotives that are electric today, moving on rails. The locomotives, each working two by two, maintain the boats in position in the basins. According to its size, a vessel may require from 4 to eight locomotives

The three sets of water locks, each comprising two lanes, are used as water lifts : they raise the vessels to the height of Gatun lake, located 26 metres above sea level, to then make them come down to sea level on the other side of the Isthmus of Panama

Maximum size allowed for vessels today

Length 294.31 meters 965 feet

Width 32.31 meters 106 feet

Draft 12.04 meters 39 feet