Yay! We got the vans out of the port in Panama City
today. This was the least painful port experience
we've had. This is due to the fact that a friend of a
friend of Tyler's adopted us on arrival and, as it
turned out, had a family friend who is a customs
agent. My strong recommendation to anyone shipping
into Panama is to contact Eli Bjorkman or his mom,
Loris, at Primitive Paradise, Phone (507) 264-3770.
They will be able to put you in contact with the
Customs Agent.
This is Holy Week and everything started shutting down
today for the long Easter weekend. Tyler and I have
spent the afternoon sorting through the spare parts in
his van and finding space for them in mine. I'm
undecided as to when I will be leaving Panama City.
We are expecting an overnight package for Shay and it
didn't arrive today so it won't be here until Monday.
Maybe we'll have Eli forward it to American Express
for us so that we can hit the road, but, as I said,
I'm undecided.
Panama City has, by far, the most American influence
of any place we have been on this trip. Almost
everyone, it seems, speaks some English.
The variety of restaurants is amazing. There's even a
Chinatown. Centuries before the Canal was built, the
gold stolen from the Incas was transported across the
Isthmus by mule, transferred to another ship headed
for Spain. Later, a railroad line was built from the
Pacific coast to the Carribbean coast. The Chinese
were brought here as laborers for the railroad. For
us it meant the best Chinese food this side of
California.
I haven't had a chance to visit the canal yet, but,
from the port this morning, I could see the bridge of
the Americas looming over it.
Shay and I hired a cab one day and visited the 2 old towns of Panama. The
first old town was leveled by Henry Morgan, the pirate, and 1200 of
his men. The town was then rebuilt in a different place, a very colonial
section of town which is under reconstruction and will, one day, be
the envy of many another colonial Latin American city. The original
old city remains in ruins. In fact, very little of the old city is currently
protected from scavengers. I read that as late as 1950 the ruins were
intact but that the modern city grew to encompass it and that the poor
people continue, to this day, to scavenge the rocks from the old walls.
A very sorry state of affairs, I must say.
Jeanne
