A day where nothing goes as planned...
Trying to avoid taxi fares, we set out to find the locals' collective bus stop by foot. If found, we'll get to one of the locks along Panama Canal for under $1US, yay for saving money!
After following directions given to us by one of the hotel receptionists for 30 minutes, then an unsure suggestion by a security guard at a park, and finally a driver who literally shoos us off his bus, we can't find the damn bus stop.
We know our current location on the map, so I improvise a new interpretation of where this phantom station is. I decide we should cut across towards this new theory point, though the streets seem narrow and tangled, "as long as we are headed west, we'll get there somehow!"
As adventurous and bold as I may have seemed, it was merely pride in my sense-of-direction and competence that would not allow us to catch a taxi at this point. The sun would soon be right above our heads, it was already warm and stuffy...
One block onward, a turn around the corner, and we suddenly enter what appears to be lower-incomed apartment complexes with unfinished brick walls, dusty/bumpy streets, garbage everywhere, and direct stares that don't smile back. Ah, this is where the books have been telling us to avoid walking through...
"HONK!" screams a white pick-up truck from behind us. I look closely and there are two men in military uniform sitting in the front, it says "Policia" on their vehicle, phew. The driver signals us to come towards him and asks "what are you doing here? Hide your camera and phone!" and after a bit of explanation and confusion on both parts (most likely due to my Spanish), he tells us to hop on into the covered bed of the truck. He drives us through the streets in the direction that we were headed towards, and I understand why the officer and the books told us to stay out of the streets.
We get through to safety, a remote, rural area with grass and an entrance to a freeway. The cop orders us to get off and keep walking straight. We do, but I am to believe now that he thought our desire was to walk the whole 8 km to the locks.
After another 45 minutes in search for any bus that would take us near the lock, Dad says "let's just get a taxi." I don't know if I dreaded or hoped for those words, but with this one phrase I fell at ease giving in and flagging down a taxi. A mere 10 minutes on the tiny vehicle and we arrive at our long anticipated destination, Miraflores Lock.
The locks at Panama Canal is a must see.
Right upon arrival, we witness a gigantic tanker that paid US$200,000 to pass through the canal. The timing is so superb, I have to thank my dumb pride for costing us so much time in the morning to get here.
To see the biggest construction in the history of mankind, and to think that the dimensions of most ships in the world are designed to fit through the Panama Canal; both are quite a boggle of the mind.
The museum here is quite enjoyable too, since I usually dislike them.
(For those that aren't familiar with locks and how the Canal works, google it!)
We learned our lesson, and taxi it back to our hotel in the Casco Viejo region of Panama City. Unfortunately we take a suggestion from our guidebook and eat at a diner which requires a walk in the ghetto. The food and service terrible, the way back was a bit creepy in the dark.
We find sanctuary in the closeby market owned by a Chinese family. Somehow, the same skin-tone makes me feel at home, and my fear of Panama City is diminished knowing that fellows of Asian descent are able to establish shop here.
A few beers and I am out.
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