Panama Canal and Colombia 2024
We left Richmond without a rush on Friday Oct. 11 to
Atlanta. Took the free SkyTrain (new to me) to the Gateway center and the
Marriott Hotel. Best pretzel ever in the Marriott. Call it October Fest.
Saturday Oct. 12- Met Beth for 9:45 flight to Panama City. We were told at the hotel to allow 2 hours. What I didn’t know is you have to take a slow bus now (news to me) to the Int’l Terminal to check in there and clear security and then go to the concourse. Slow line to check in (lots of passengers), slower line for TSA Precheck than for regular, and now there’s a newer line with some special id and lets folks cut into the front of the TSA Precheck line. Made it with a few minutes to spare. We watched The Fall Guy- 4*.
NG was supposed to meet us in Panama City. After a while I found an NG guy, we got into his van, and then I mentioned the hotel. He looked, asked our names, and figured out he was meeting other folks (2 crew members, one the third mate on the Quest from Richmond). We ended up getting a ride with Ariel who raised the price of the ride underway a couple of times. Rested, swam in the hotel and had dinner in the bar. We saw a couple of young women in very pretty but skimpy dresses who said they were taking an Uber to a wedding. In the bar we saw a table of old men in black suits and ties, including one in a very colorful yarmulka. I figure they were the band for the wedding reception.
Sunday Oct. 13- caught up with the NG passengers after a very nice breakfast on the roof of the Waldorf Astoria and a swim in the hotel pool. We took a quick walking tour around Old Panama City (which looked very much like NOLA to me), saw the hotel where Teddy Roosevelt stayed when he visited the canal under construction, bussed around the Canal Zone and then got on the Quest.
At night we went through the Miraflores Lock heading toward Lake Gatun and then the Atlantic. This time I got a much better view of the operation which is still impressive because of its low tech nature. As the ship enters the lock, two guys in a rowboat manually catch lines and cast them up to be connected to the mule which is a small locomotive. Between the mules on either side and the pilot, the ship goes down the middle of the lock until it is in place. We went through with another ship. (Now there are other locks for super Panamax size ships.) The lock begins to fill- the whole process take 52 mm gallons of water. Once we are 85 feet up, the lock on the Atlantic side opens and we progress to the Lake.
Each ship going through has to pay a fee based on size. The current record for a huge container ship carrying $85mm of product is charged about $2-4mm. The smallest fee ever paid was 36 cents back in the 1930s for a guy who swam the length of the Canal (with rowboats to protect him from crocodiles).
Panama might be a pretty good place to live- free medical care, salaries paid for working an eleven month year at a salary for 13 months with 18 days of medical leave. U of Panama tuition is $27 per semester or per year.
Except that there are 16 feet of rain a year.
Six months ago the traffic was way down on the canal because the water level in the lake was down 15 feet due to drought. Experts said it would take several years to get back to normal. Now the level is back to normal because of El Nino rains.
The question is asked whether the Canal is running better or worse since the Americans turned it over to the Panamanians- there used to be 10,000 workers, now there are 8500 running the same locks from 1914 and all the dredging. (After we got back from this trip, I ran into Gaylon Layfield at a function and learned he was in Panama City on the day the US Congress voted on whether to turn the Canal over to the Panamanians. This was the question over whether in perpetuity meant 99 years or truly forever. Gaylon said his boss told him to get the first plane out and he did, but Congress did the right thing.)
Monday, October 14- Lake Gatun - nature day. First we went
by boat to Gamboa (where Mauricio our trip leader lives) and then slow bus
(tough roads) to a rain forest research station and canopy tower. There were
several hummingbird feeders set up and about 2 or 3 species of hummers seen. This is a white-necked jacobin.
Above is a snail kite.
Mauricio’s 10 year old daughter goes to school in Panama City, about 45 minutes away. We can see the old transcontinental RR that took the gold mining 49ers from the Atlantic to the Pacific on their way to the gold fields in California. We can also see a WWII vintage German floating crane once used for dredging the Canal.
There were 4 of them after the war and the Allies wanted to limit Germany’s shipbuilding capacity so the US, Russia and Great Britain each got one and one sank in the North Sea. The one for the US was sitting idle and someone had the idea of using it for the Canal. Purchased for $1, shipped to the Canal, it saw several years of use before being retired and now just sitting in Gamboa, a town of 300 and the HQ of the Panama Canal Dredging division. The other employer in the town is the Smithsonian doing studies on global climate change where they have plants in biodomes where they vary the environmental conditions. They do the same to find environmental ways to control invasive species.
Infrastructure is old but holding on:
Here are the species seen by boat in the afternoon and on the research center trip- Agoutis by the road in town, crocodile, green iguana, mantle howler monkeys (the males howl in unison like a dog pound, and mature males have white testes!), white faced capuchin monkeys, red naped tamarin monkeys. White necked jacobin hummingbird, blue chested HB, long billed hermit HB, purple gallinule, anhinga, snail kites, frigate bird, black vulture, southern rough winged swallow, tropical kingbird, mangrove swallow, pied puffbird.
White faced capuchin:
Gamboa jungle:
After the nature trip we watched an old Nova TV program with David McCullough about the construction of the Canal. Incredible.
Tuesday Oct 15- The town of Portobelo, named by Chris Columbus on his last voyage, about 5000 people. Recently a center of African influenced art reflecting on the slavery experience, formerly the place where The War of Jenkins Ear in 1744 started between the Brits and the Spanish. Geo. Washington’s brother (maybe uncle) Lawrence was so impressed with the British admiral named Vernon that he changed the name of the farm back home. A horrible war for the Brits, lots of losses due more to Yellow Fever than the Spanish. Our naturalist says that the town was important because of its defenses of the trans isthmus trade and the Spanish treasure that went through here. Everyone in town has unreported bits of archeological finds- you have to go to the bars and drink with them to learn what they have.
The other interesting thing about PB which is happening now is that there is a religious pilgrimage from Panama City with about 100,000 participants walking to PB to celebrate the black Jesus. The pilgrims walk silently and some even crawl. They will all arrive here in six days. There is a procession carrying the Jesus and people pin gold things to his clothes as he is marched through the street.
There is also a Mary in handcuffs where the pilgrims come to be thankful they haven’t been arrested for their crimes. The police are very interested in this and try to match photo ids with the penitents, especially looking for mafia kingpins.
The art includes painting, carving, music and dance. We saw some dancers- women wearing patch work dresses reflecting back on slavery when the clothes were ragtag, and men dressed along the lines of antis in Native American culture- vulture feathers to look crazy so they wouldn’t have to work, clothes worn inside out, black people in black face, plus a couple of very strange looking dancing devils with whips. NG pays the devils and male dancers with 12 packs of beer.
One bird today by chance on the grounds of the old Spanish fort (to protect the gold from privateers like Sir Francis Drake).- a saffron finch.
Wednesday October 16- Guna Yala, Panama, AKA the San Blas Islands, a section of the country peopled by the Kuna people, 368 islands, looking like a combo of the Bahamas- white beaches, clear water, and the Virgin Islands with mountains in the background. The Kuna are known for their small size, the distinctive colorful dress of the women, their fierce resistance to being dominated by the Panamanian culture, their dedication to education, and their art (colorful almost abstract table napkin size items called molas).
There are about 50,000 of them who make a living trading cocoanuts. About 30,000 of them live together cheek to jowl on one small island. Their only furniture is their hammock.
We went ashore on a coconut island, saw some other Kuna huts (no windows), did some paddle boarding and walking around. I tried to fish- lost one fly by barracuda, and then broke the rod. It was frozen together and did not extend all the way. The Kuna dancing on the island was led by a very intent albino, a genetic trait highly prized by the Kuna.
After lunch a shower came through so we did not go back to the island.
Thursday Oct 17
Two stops today. First in a tiny town in Colombia right near the border with Panama called Sapzurro.
There we went on a nature walk (hot and humid) to a small waterfall. I think I added about 6 or 7 new birds. Then there was beach time. I was surprised at the apparent kinds of dogs in town- not mangy mixed breeds, but a pretty ‘doodle puppy, a possible Jack Russell, a deer or coon hound, and one ugly, mean looking pit bull type.
Connie and Beth did a different hike over a small
mountain 245 steps to the border with Panama to La Miel and then back again. The middle photo here is an orange chinned parakeet.
For the second stop we went the town where the migrants who are going to walk across the Darien Gap on their way across Central America eventually to the Mexico US border if they don’t succumb to animals, robbery or murder, lack of water, or something else. They arrive by boats without life jackets but with lots of all kinds of paraphernalia and money too since the town, Capurgana, seems to be growing.
This is the dock where the migrants and the tourists disembark-
We went to a school for a dance demo which was noisy and wild.
Last night we had a lecture on Colombian politics which was much scarier than actually being in the country, so far.
More background information- Panama has 4mm people, 400m indigenous with representatives in govt. Colombia has 50mm, but growing due to fleeing Venezuelans.
Darien Gap travelers- 520m in 2023 with 113m children and half the children under 5. Venezuela, Ecuador, Haiti, Cuba, then African countries, then Arab like Syria. Travel is managed by right wing organized crime. Later I learned that about 380m migrants have come out the other side of the Darien over the last two years. That’s a pretty high mortality rate and then those that come out have the whole of Central America and Mexico to travel.
Friday, Oct. 18-The day started with a long bumpy bus
ride to an interior town called Lorica on the Sinu river (muddy). We walked the
town and learned about the Arab (mostly Lebanese) people who’d come there.This photo was in a sort of bazaar. This shop was selling the famous Colombian straw hats from Tuchin (see later)-
Lunch was at the Mule and was excellent- the Lorica version of an arepa, a corn fritter with what looked like cole slaw on it.
After lunch we traveled further by bus to a mostly
indigent settlement Tuchin which is known all over Colombia for the reed hats
made there. We made 5 or 6 stops at various stages of hat making. The children
at about 10 start with simpler parts of the process, then we saw some dyeing,
and then a 76 year old woman working. The finer the size of the cane thread,
the more expensive the hat. The usual is a 13 or 15, and the upper end is a 33
or 35. Our guide from NG (Lucas Bustamonte) was very proud his hat used a higher grade reed than
the mayor of Tuchin. There was a short but kind of hard rain shower and the
“streets” in Tuchin turned to very sticky mud. As we walked to different stages
the mud ended up being heavy and about an inch or more on our shoes. The bus was a mess on the way back. Once on board the Quest, the crew washed all our shoes.
For each stop since the 15th in Portobelo we have had local musicians and dancers, each with a different style, some more Caribbean, some more Latin American. Here it was a crocodile dance.
Saturday, Oct. 19- We moved about 100 miles and anchored in Cispata Bay. The first part of the day was a panga ride in the bay and mangroves with former crocodile hunters, now turned into caiman conservationists. We saw lots of birds but none new and then turned a baby croc or caiman loose in the mangroves in an area somewhat isolated from the bigger crocs which would find them tasty.
We started before breakfast and were kind of interested in getting back for a brunch, but the local mayor had yet another idea- a surprise dance display put on by some very rhythmic an enthusiastic young women.
After going back to the ship we then went to the Sanguare Nature Preserve on a little island. The options were the beach and then watching some more music or a birding walk. The walk was great and we saw a bunch of new birds. The wind and surf came up so there wasn’t much beach activity anyway.
Sunday, Oct. 20- Overnight we traveled another 100 miles and woke up coming to dock in Cartagena. I was surprised by the modern tall buildings. I was expecting more of Romancing the Stone (still there, the historic area near our hotel). There was a huge Gottwald Crane in the port as well as hundreds of shipping containers in a voluminous cube.
I don’t know whether the number of shipping containers we saw was normal or due to the mini stevedore strike in the US. We left the care of Nat Geo (in my comment card, I said I wished that my state and local government ran as smoothly as the Quest), disembarked the Quest and met Vicky from Big Five. The walk from immigration to Vicky was about 100 yards down a narrow street with about 10-15 fully plumed peacocks living on the walls, including an albino one. First stop to put down our luggage was the Casa San Augustin Hotel. Then Vicky led us on a walk through the Gethsemani area which used be high crime, high drugs, high prostitution area but has now become safe and a little bit gentrified. The art on the walls of the building is amazingly varied and detailed, amongst the regular old graffiti.
We had a coffee with Vicky in the best coffee shop (not
Starbucks and not the Juan Valdez chain). Beth let my coffee habits slip to Vicky (freeze dried). Vicky got a big laugh and then taught me how to make a proper cup of coffee. While we are on the subject of coffee, I include two photos about it from later in this trip-
When we got back to the hotel we could check in, took a rest and then walked more on our own. Beth bought woven bags and I bought a hat. The hotel is old but beautifully restored. Our only complaint was the room was so dark I could not read or see what I was unpacking.
Monday, Oct. 21- Cartagena; breakfast in the hotel-slow,
on Colombian time. We went with Vicky on an excursion north of town past the
airport to La Boquilla. It is the beach area for the people of Cartagena. The
homes are pretty squalid, the traffic wild with motorcycles acting as cabs, and
the water is not the clarity we expect in the Bahamas. A mangrove swamp empties
there and attracts a lot of shore birds. We went for a pirogue ride through the
mangroves in a skinny boat. The water was only knee deep and the boatmen were
throwing cast nets for fish and crabs. On the mangrove roots there were hermit
and spider crabs.The second photo shows the pirogue assembly plant- a combination of fiberglass and wood.
Birds: great yellow legs, willets, black necked stilts, sanderlings, little blue heron, two kinds of egrets, great blue heron. When we came back to town Vicky took us to a place known for Caribbean style arepas that were double fried with an egg in the middle. On our own later we walked the wall a bit and the historical area.
We visited Bolivar Square and the area around it. I was surprised to see a Chris Columbus statue. We also were introduced to Saint Pedro Claver (the figure in the back below), a priest who ministered to the native peoples rather than used them for free labor.
Vicky explained (but it sounded a bit like guide lore) that the reason many South American dances feature a lead with the left foot and then pulling up the right foot is because the shackle of the slaves was on the right foot.
Tuesday, Oct 22- This was basically a travel day. We said
goodbye to Vicky and flew to Medellin to meet Juan Carlos from Big Five.
Medellin (pronounced there with a “j” at the end) can’t quite decide whether to
forget or remember Pablo Escobar, the whole drug business, and the violence
between left and right. Refrigerator magnet:
It has about 3mm people, lots of traffic, lots of motorcycles, and a metro system which even Bogota doesn’t have. Hotel El Cielo was ultra new and flashy with lots of plants and an 11 course/ 3 hour gastronomic experience which we skipped to eat in the very nice bistro area. El Cielo is located in the fashionable (lots of money here, legal or not?) El Poblado area. Our morning coffee had “El Cielo” written in cream and yucca waffles!
Wed. Oct 23- Medellin.
The main event of the day was the excursion to Comuña 13, a very large,
very poor area of town located on several mountain sides. We rode the public
tram/skyway up one of two of the mountains to see the comuna from above. Before
the tram people had to walk up and down. Back down some of the way we got off
and walked to a school to meet Andres, a young Afro Colombian (late 20s) who
has been working through a band and his music to help break the cycle of
violence and hopelessness. He really was an inspiration- very charismatic and
expressive. Andres taught us how to play those 5 gallon plastic drums like we
see here with the guys outside the Mosque and how to do graffiti art (which is
all over Colombia, some good some not). I did not include video of us playing the drums or of Andres rapping because it would use too much memory.
Then we went with him to see another project- green terraces, in which the grocery stores have teamed up with some Moms to grow vegetables hydroponically on the roof of a school. Basil and a kind of cabbage were the products we saw. Next it was walking up the hill through more of the comuna (which now has gotten a bit touristy) to lunch.
It seemed like Andres could run for Mayor because he knew and greeted so many people. I am sorry to say this is the one meal I can’t remember but I am sure it was good. After lunch we left Andres and went to the Casa de Memoria, which is a museum dedicated to the victims of the violence. There were many horrifying and sad stories. This was a pretty full day of the history of civil war, violence, and slaughter. What shocked me was that our waitress at dinner (mid 20s) had never heard of the Casa de Memoria.
Truth, justice, reparation:
Thurs., Oct 24- Now the real purpose of this trip gets started, in Bogota where Angie and Leon from Big Five meet us at the airport. It was a teary reunion with Angie after probably 10 years and also since one of her two brothers had multiple heart attacks at age 58 last week and died. Our hotel is the Four Seasons Medina which is located in an area with lots of upscale restaurants. Bogota has about 15 million people and all of them seem to be in motion all day every day. It is located at 8600 feet in elevation, which makes walking uphill a little tough for us who have been at sea level.
On our way to check in at the hotel the four of us guided by Leon went for an uphill and downhill walk in an area called La Candelaria. It had lots of good street art, many shops, and historical sites like Bolivar Square on which all the branches of government are situated.
We had lunch at a really beautiful restaurant called Origen which had lots of old wood doors and shutters, interior art, an open atrium, and plenty of customers. Beth had the best dish which was a kind of stew with beans. I ordered a piece of beef which was way too big for me. More walking around and then to the hotel. No need for a big dinner.
Did I mention Bogota has a lot of traffic all day everyday?
Friday, Oct. 25- Friday was bird watching day number one high up (10,000 feet?) in the Chingaza Park. The first stop was to picnic around a closed cement plant and right off we saw a new hawk for me. We drove around more and saw a few species but the wind was blowing kind of cold. That made the birds less cooperative. After a good and huge lunch, we went to an amazing place I can only describe as a hummingbird farm. There were many feeders in several locations at the place and probably 6 different species of hummingbirds were zipping around all over.
Sat., Oct. Oct. 26- Beth departed for the airport to go
home at 5:30 this morning. C and I had a free day with Angie. I feel like we
covered whatever part of Bogota we hadn’t covered with Leon. First we wandered
and had breakfast at the flower market. So many flowers and so many plants, so
interesting. We got there kind of late in the morning and it had been going for
hours.
Next we took the funicular further up in elevation to Mont Serrate where there is a chapel with the stations of the cross and a fallen Christ, incredible sights of the Bogota skyline, and lots of greenery. The tram and the whole place were jammed with all kinds of visitors.
Next we came down to flatter land and walked around the Usaquen flea market looking for souvenirs. I think Connie did most of her Christmas shopping here. After a break, Angie’s bf Jaime met us at the hotel to take us to dinner with Angie, her mother, Juan José, and Jaime at Angie’s apartment.
Angie brought out a box of old photos from her time with us 30 years ago. She hasn’t changed a bit. Angie’s dinner was great- she served a very classic Colombian stew which was different for us but very tasty. We met Angie’s 2 rescue cats and one rescue dog. They told us that the cat once fell 13 floors at the apartment but emerged unscathed. This was a big week for Angie- our visit, new job starting Friday and keys to a new apartment which she is remodeling.
Sunday, Oct. 27- The last day was a great day of bird watching. However, due to water restrictions because of drought, we could not enter La Florida which is a park on the outskirts of Bogota. Diego, our extra birding guide, suggested a park called Santa Marta which was also closed due to drought. Plan C was the Botanical Garden which was open and turned out to be perfect.
After all this mention of birds, see the end where I hope I can list the new and close to new species (but not all the species) seen over the whole trip by location. Lunch was downtown at a place called Madre. I had a great Delores pizza. Then we made a quick trip through the Gold Museum where it was indigenous people’s day. Between Angie who works with the indigenous and Leon we got a full picture of the gold craftsmanship before the Spanish came.
Next it was time to pack and to say goodbye to Angie. We hope she will be coming to the US next year, and Beth says she is coming back to live in Medellin.
A crude expression I picked up in Spanish summarizes this trip- Que chimba. I won't translate.
Monday, Oct. 28- Travel Bogota to Atlanta to Richmond. We shared the Bogota to Atlanta flight with a woman who broke her leg and thumb while bird watching in the coffee area of Colombia and with two guys who had done that floating camp on the Amazon tributaries fishing for peacock bass. I watched two really good documentaries, A Thousand Casts and 399: Queen of the Tetons.
On the leg to Richmond we had a number of moms and daughters who had been in NOLA for the Taylor Swift concert.
New birds- about 39 new species plus a lot of good ones previously seen
10/14 Gamboa
White necked jacobin
Pied puffbird
blue chested hummingbird
snail kite
long billed hermit HB
southern rough winged swallow
10/15 Portobelo
saffron finch
10/17 Sapzorro
black chested jay
red crowned woodpecker
lineated woodpecker (very much like our pileated)
orange chinned parakeet
western white tailed trogon
black hawk eagle
yellow throated toucan
gray breasted martin
10/18 Lorica
ringed kingfisher
10/19 Sanguare Nature preserve
crested oropendola
chestnut winged chacalaca
keel billed toucan
caribbean ovenbird
blue gray tanager
10/25 Chingaza
great thrush (may be what they call zarazul in Chile)
broad winged hawk
andean siskin
bronze tail thornbill HB
green violet ear HB
tyrian metal tail HB
great sapphire wing HB
sparkle violet ear HB
white bellied woodstar HB
red crested cotinga
rufous collared sparrow
10/27 Botanical Garden plus
eared dove
purple gallinule
bare faced ibis
white tailed kite
tropical mockingbird
Swainson's thrush
shiny cowbird
