Panama and The Canal Day 3
Panama and The Canal
Day 03 - Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - A Day in the Life of San Carlos-School Visit-Home-hosted lunch-Overland to Coronado
Winston greeted us this morning with a 45 passenger bus for our trip to San Carlos. It was raining as we drove south and west from Panama City. The temp was 74º with the humidity at 84%.
We left the concrete jungle of the city and quickly entered the lush green jungle of the rural area as we traveled along the Pan-American Highway. This road does not go all the way through to Colombia; vehicles must take a ferry to South America.
We passed the Canal Zone, an area 8 miles wide and 50 miles long which was once completely managed by the US military. Gustavo explained those opulent times until 1999 when the US left after returning the canal to the Panamanians.
We crossed the Bridge of the Americas built in 1962 spanning the canal. We had a great view of the ships lined up to enter the Miraflores locks. Although it was raining which prevented photos, we could see hundreds of ships large and small.
There was a very interesting discussion about the controversy of the US returning the Canal Zone to Panama in the Carter era. Even among the 22 Americans on our bus, there were many points of view as to why this change was made. Hearing the Panamanian prospective reminded us of how parochial our view of history sometimes is.
The income from the Panama Canal is over 5 million dollars per day. Although overhead is high, it is still a very lucrative business. The money is used for social programs, infrastructure within the canal, and to build the new canal that is being enlarged and will bring even more revenue to the country in 2015.
As we traveled through the rain forests and saw the small homes and gardens along the road, Gustavo reminded us that more and more people are trying to find work in the city and are abandoning the rural life.
He has emphasized several times the changes in life style that have happened in the past ten years in social, economic, political arenas.
Our first stop of the day was at the artisan’s workshop, Matildo’s. Brothers Alex and Oliver and 11 other craftsmen do wood carving, metal sculpture, and restoring antiques.
We arrived in San Carlos, a small fishing town at 10:30. Our learning and discovery of the morning was at the Escuela Manuel B Higero Primary School where we were greeted by children who took us by the hand and lead us into their school.
The school is supported in part by the Grand Circle Foundation and we were able to see a new construction of several classrooms funded by our travel donations. Back in the gym, several children performed dances for us.
We were all able to learn the traditional dances and then asked and answered questions of the children and their mothers. After the program we were divided into three groups and we walked with Nadjie and Juan Diego and their mother Taina to their home for lunch.
The children were served on a low table and we all enjoyed baked chicken, rice and vegetables, with a green salad. We talked to the family as I polished my Spanish with new idioms and phrases never taught in traditional classes.
I even played a game of ping pong with their 18 year old son and learned that even though I was a bit out of shape, I could hold my own. After offering a few gifts to our host family, we said good-bye and joined the others back on our bus at 1:00.
After lunch, we drove through town and to San Carlos beach just in time to see the fishermen come in with their catch of the day. We were able to talk with them and take photos of their harvest.
Even though this is a fishing village, the local people do not eat much fish. Most of the catch is sent to the US or to Panama City where larger profits are to be made.
Back on the Panama Highway we drove to the tiny resort town of Coronado where we stopped at a REY supermarket to buy a few things and look at the produce and grocery items to compare prices.
We continued on to seaside resort of Coronado. This is a very popular resort area for tourists and wealthy retirees. Our hotel was beautiful; very spacious and new.
As we reviewed photos, typed the journal, and Gennie worked on her classes, we enjoyed the sound of the waves of the Pacific Ocean crashing ashore.
At 7:00 we met our friends in the hotel lobby and Winston took us out of the resort complex and back to Coronado to El Rincon del Chef, for dinner. We chose the carrot soup, tomato and mozzarella salad and sea bass with fried manioc.
When we got back to the hotel at 9:00 we finished the pictures and journal. Falling asleep listening to the waves brought back great memories of past holidays.
Accommodations: Hotel Solarium - - - Meal: B, L, D
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Comments
The Escuela Manuel B Higero Presentation (2:10)
Matildo’s Artisan Works
Talented Performers
Home Hosted Lunch with Juan Diego
Our Hostess and Our Group
Fishermen in San Carlos Bay
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