A recap of our visit to the Panama Canal

I just want to apologize for not blogging earlier, but I was experiencing internet connection issues. So the group took a trip to Panama Canal on June 7th, which was pretty interesting! Did you know the canal was opened on August 15, 1914? It is a German design which still functions today! The width of each passageway is 110 feet, leaving only 2 feet of clearance on either side for the biggest ship to pass! The largest ship allowed to pass through is called a Panamax ship, which can be 106 feet and 1000 feet long. The visitors' center was across from the Miraflores Locks and boats heading from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean start there. It takes about 8 to 10 hours for a ship to make it completely through the Canal due largely to the slow process of the water filling up the locks. The water relies solely on gravity to fill the locks, which is absolutely unfathomable to realize that water can move such a massive Panamax ship! There is construction in progress to build a third canal, which will be straighter than the previous passageways. It will use a water reserve system to recycle 60% of the water to move the ships, and is planned to open up in 2014. We learned so much information about the Canal that I just don't have enough room for it all but now you'll have to visit for yourself! Later, we went to visit the older part of Panama City, called Casco Viejo. Here we saw the several different types of architecture left behind by the contributors in the construction of the Canal. French, Spanish, and Barbadian influences highlight the city, which is quite evident even though many of the buildings need restoration. This area also included the portion of the city in which the United States bombed when Noriega was in office. We also visited the Amador Causeway that was created by using the excess materials from the excavation of the Canal in the early 1900s. The excess materials from the third canal is being used to extend the coastline in order to create room for a park and native vegetation. Stay tuned!

Marissa DeSimone

BBC Student