Friday, February 10, 2012

Colon and Old Panama

On Thursday, I took the railroad from Panama City to Colon.  This is a very historic railroad as when completed in 1855, it was the first train that went from the Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean and was the quickest and easiest route to go cooast to coast in America.  It also was the highest stock priced on the New York Stock Exchange on the mid 1800s - topping at $295. 

Now days, the passenger train portion of the railroad is only a tourist attraction.  They only operate one passenger train each way and only on week days.  Still it was a very interesting trip as the track parallels the Panama Canal all the way from coast to coast.

Upon arrival in Colon, I took a local bus to the Gatun Locks.  These locks are much more impressive than those at Miraflores as these locks are much longer and deeper.  Also, the viewing area is much closer to the canal at Gatun.  It is interesting to note that the construction of the canal necessiated the creation of Gatun Dam and Lake Gatun.  Lake Gatun was the largest man made lake up until the Hoover Dam created Lake Mead.

Colon City is notorious for its crime rate.  Until recently, LonelyPlanet advised all to take a taxi even if going only a couple blocks.  Today it isn't quite that bad as I walked about without incident.  Still, there was little to see there and soon I was on an afternoon express bus back to Panama City.

Today (Friday) I did a self tour of old Panana, aka Pansma Viejo.  These are ruins of the settlement that Captain Morgan destoryed in 1671.  The government has made giant strides since they began in the 1990s to preserve and document this area.  They have made some restorations but most of the ruins remain in the state they were found.  They also have a nice (but small) museum on site that explains the site and the work done to date.  I just wish more of the explanations were in English.















No comments:

Post a Comment