Touch down baby!!!
Yip, I'm here. No more fannying about. I'm now a REAL foreigner with limited language skills, no geographical knowledge except for what I've read on lonely planet and I'm not afraid to admit it, I'm totally out of my comfort zone.. I'm going to miss the States. They have nursed me through my first 3 months of travelling and turned me into a porker in the process, due to their delicious junk food (mainly chilli-cheese-fries and cinnamon rolls).. and cheap wine! Yummy..
The first thing I noticed about Panama was the heat. It's not stifling or pathetically hot but it HAS to be the most humid place I've been. If I open my balcony door, the whole room fills with condensation like I've been in a hot shower. If I use my iPad or iPhone outside, the screen steams up. Even if I put on my sunglasses, I look like a sweaty pervert as my Glasses fog over within seconds! It's weird!
My mirror after leaving the door open for a min
So while in Panama City I've done the expected, Panama Canal, Casco Viejo (the old town), bit of shopping for outdoor wear, a visit to the Amador causeway and even managed to go to a few nature reserves to see the beloved sloths - possibly the cutest mammal alive ...
First sloth I spotted
Casco Viejo
My hand next to a critter, so you can visualise the actual scale - yikes!!!
Ok, so educational facts ala'Lola....
Panama Canal
This is what I've gathered so far:
It's man made and initially started by the French in 1880 but they made a balls up and after 13 years trying to build it, it went pears. Mainly due to the fact they tried to build it the same level as sea level. Supposedly the soil is clay, so this wasn't possible as the land kept capsizing and the French where too incompetent in this arena to sort it out 😳! The other key issue was disease and they reckon about 20k people died from malaria and yellow fever and other tropical lergy.
After this embarrassingly epic fuckup, the Americans took the lead (1904) but took a different strategy. They decided to build the canal with Locks, as opposed to sea level and spent years on research on the engineering concepts and disease control.. They nailed it basically (girlie swots).
Key facts
- Amount of money spunked by the French $260,000,000
- Amount United States paid French for their rights and property $40,000,000
- Canal Zone acquired by U.S. from Panama by treaty February 23, 1904
- Amount United States paid Panama for Canal Zone $10,000,000
- Date of official opening August 15, 1914
- A boat traveling from New York to San Francisco saves 7,872 miles by using the Panama Canal instead of going around Cape Horn.
- Length of Canal from Atlantic to Pacific 51 miles & Width 10 miles
- Time to transit Canal 8-10 hours
- Number of ships crossing daily 40
- Estimated cost of the Panama Canal built by U.S. $375,000,000
- Toll charge for Disney Magic cruise ship in 2008 $313,200
- Estimated cost for expansion of the Panama Canal $5.25 billion
- Estimated year of completion of expansion 2014 (pigs will fly)
Why bother? Well, it's the only transit to get a boat from one end of the Americas to the other. If boats where to take "the scenic route" and go round the land, it would take them an additional month and 8,000 miles, at extreme cost.
In the year 2000, the USA handed back the control of the canal to Panama but the initial passing this through senate (back in 1978 I think??) was not popular. General consensus was "we built it and paid for it, it's ours" hey ho, it's back under Panama control. Nice American neighbours eh?
Ah, a history if the world according to Lorraine, hahah. Hope I haven't bored you too much?? Xxx
Lost & Found
Sooo, Ive now been holed up in the jungle for almost 3 weeks at a jungle lodge called Lost & Found. I am currently volunteering here, helping to check in guests, keeping the communial areas clean and help advise guests of local trails and tours of the area. Have to admit, I really like it here but damn, it's way way way out of my comfort zone. First issue BUGS and they are bugs of prehistoric proportion! I have seen some absolute corkers since I've been here and for some reason, the little shits sense my fear and usually target me as either a running blood buffet or as a landing pad. Saying that, some are amazingly beautiful and come in amazing colours and patterns but regardless, I would rather admire at a distance!!
Second issue LOCATION - the lodge is situated in the jungle at the top of the mountain, so even "popping out" for a pint of milk needs a degree in orientation and quad muscles of pure steel. It's a 15 min uphill hike to the lodge, which is doubled if you are carrying groceries or anything of any weight.
Third issue is WEATHER!! It's a cloud/rain forest, so the weather is very unpredictable and when it rains, it rains. It got so bad at one point that we couldn't leave the mountain for days, due to torrential rain and poor visibility!
Those are the negatives and to be honest, it's a very small price to pay, as the positive certainly outwiegh the negatives.
There are some cool people here at the lodge, spectacular views of the Panamanian mountains and Volcano. The wildlife is amazing and on a daily basis we are visited by humming birds, capuchin monkeys, cacomistles, olingos and not to mention stunning tropical birds who gather in abundance at the outdoor showers in the morning - it's pretty cool.
I'm going to detail the lodge and my time here in the next blog (promise to issue within the next few days) in more details as there is too much to detail at once.
So until then, it's adios from Jungle Jane, reporting from no mans land!!!
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