The Traveling Widower

Tag: National-Geographic/Lindblad

  • Old Town Panama City and the Miraflores Canal Locks

    City skyline featuring modern skyscrapers and distinctive architecture, including a twisted building and triangular rooftops under a cloudy sky. Panama City

    March 20th, 2026

    I figured the trip had to get better once I made it to the hotel, and miraculously, it did. No more stress. Dinner with the group was interesting that evening – the food menu at the restaurant we went to was limited to a few choices of local Panamanian fare – not great (dry fritas and mixed grill of fish and mystery meat), but I was starving by that point. As our group finished dinner, the curtain on a small stage was raised, and there was a dance/music group, that performed a number of dance and musical routines. There were two drummers, one of whom gave an absolutely amazing solo on his single bongo drum – he could probably work a full drum set and play with any rock band. My hands hurt just watching him. The 6 dancers were very good as well.

    A live music performance at El Trapiche restaurant featuring musicians playing traditional instruments, with a sign displaying the restaurant's name and establishment year.

    The schedule for the first day was full from morning through late afternoon. We started out on a tour of the old city, which dates back to the 1600’s. It kind of reminded me of New Orleans, which is not too surprising – Panama has a very complicated history, having been ‘owned’ by France, Spain, Columbia and to some degree, the US. Think back to Manuel Noriega – we bombed the crap out of the city, and eventually convinced Noriega to surrender, after driving him crazy by playing a continuous loop of loud rock music outside the building he was holed up in. Really…I’m not making it up. The playlist can be found with a Google search. I kind of liked what they played. But not everyone likes Black Sabbath or Guns N’ Roses. “I am Ironman” or “Welcome to the Jungle blaring all night and day.

    Back in I the 1600’s,  Panama City was the center for shipping gold from South America to Spain, so it was attacked, invaded and burned multiple times by pirates. Henry Morgan was not very popular here. So the old town was where Spain moved everything to after an earlier version was destroyed, and this one was fortified. At any rate, the relatively small area is packed with very old buildings, some ruined churches, a cathedral, and a lot of restaurants and tourist shops. A nice place to wander around for a few hours until the humidity becomes unbearable, which we experienced by noon. Yuck.

    A group of tourists gathered inside the ruins of a historic structure with brick arches and stone walls, in the Old Town of Panama City
    A narrow cobblestone street lined with colorful colonial buildings and balconies adorned with greenery, under a blue sky with scattered clouds.
    Vertical view of a historic stone wall with decorative architectural features and cloudy sky in the background.
    Colorful hats hanging overhead along a Hat Street, where Panama Hats are sold.
    A historic church with two tall white towers and a detailed stone facade, set against a partly cloudy sky. People are walking in front of the church, and cars are parked nearby.
    A lively outdoor scene featuring dancers in traditional colorful clothing performing in a plaza, surrounded by onlookers and colonial-style buildings.

    One or two last notes on the old city – one street has a bunch of shops which sell Panama Hats – Hat Street.

    Oddly enough, all real Panama Hats are made in Ecuador, where the vegetation used to make the hats is grown. Ecuador has been trying for decades to get the name changed to Ecuador Hats, without any success. Maybe they could at least get the country name added – “Panama Hats From Ecuador”. Sort of like the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

    The old town is located on a small peninsula which juts out into the Pacific, so you get some nice views of the city, most of which which has pretty much been built in the past two decades. The photo below was shot at low-tide….there is a 27 foot difference between low and high, and it changes every 6 hours. People go out in the flats to dig up shell fish, and then have to run back to shore as the tide comes rushing back in. That might be fun to watch.

    A view of the Panama City skyline at low-tide, from the Old Town

    Almost forgot – if you ever travel to Panama, be sure to visit the Biodiversity Museum, which was designed by Frank Gehry. With the exception of the Panama City and Colon, most of Panama is either farmland or jungle, with large tracts still controlled by the indigenous population who are stewards of this land. The overall diversity of life is amazing here. This museum is fantastic, and has exhibits which highlights the animal, plant and insect populations of the country, as well some incredible exhibits on the geology, and prehistoric life (animal and human) of the isthmus. There is even a small aquarium. Worth visiting for sure.

    Fish swimming in a tank at the Biodiversity Museum aquarium

    After rehydrating at lunch (walking in high humidity is draining), we headed out for our VIP tour at the Miraflores Canal. This is one of the tourist stops for the Panama Canal, with a large visitor center which includes  an IMAX theater for viewing a really cool documentary narrated by Morgan Freeman. The standard tourist ticket gets you to a viewing stand, where you can watch ships transit through the lock. We had a VIP tour, with our own guides, and access to edge of the lock. Quite a different experience – you can reach out and touch the ship (if they let you and you’d probably have your arm torn off anyway so don’t do it). We scheduled the tour when a couple of large container ships were transiting the locks. It was amazing to watch as the huge ship pulled in (with two small sailboats crammed in front) and then watch as the lock water level dropped 27 feet in a few minutes. Then the ship was pulled through to the next lock with electric engines (mules) and then lowered another 27 feet to gain entry to the next channel leading to the Pacific. Quite the operation. And best of all, we would be going through the locks in a few days, and get to see the operation from the ship side. Woo hoo!

    A large cargo ship passing through a canal, with visible shipping containers stacked on its deck, under a cloudy sky.
    A large blue cargo ship, Maersk Batan, docked at a harbor with several smaller boats alongside. The scene includes cloudy skies and a port environment with a person standing on the dock.
    View of the Culebra Cut at the Panama Canal, showcasing the Miraflores Locks with a sign indicating 'Canal de Panamá'. Water levels are visible in the lock chamber, with surrounding infrastructure.
    Close-up of a ship's hull partially visible behind a sloped dock, with textured surfaces and industrial details.
    A large ship positioned in a lock chamber with cranes and machinery, surrounded by trees and cloudy skies.
    One of the electric engines which pull ships through the locks on Panama Canal

    I have some great video of the huge container ships moving along the canal, but I’ll have to add those after I return. The Wifi on the ship is not strong enough to support video uploads to WordPress.

    We finished the day off with a noisy dinner in the Old Town, after sitting in traffic on the drive back to the hotel. Traffic in Panama City is awful during rush hour since many of the works live outside of the city. And there are lots of cars, even though they have a subway and inexpensive public transportation. It gets worse when it rains – many of the roads flood. A lot of the buses and cars have snorkels – the water can get pretty high. The dinner was OK – food was great, service inconsistent, noise levels at “Heavy Traffic” on my phone app, but still a good evening and day overall. 

    Not a bad start for the trip after what I’d been through getting there. And I was not arrested for impersonating a National Geographic photographer. Things were looking up. 

    Peace

  • Please Let Me In Your Country

    AI generated image of a distressed man with gray hair and glasses is speaking to an immigration officer at an airport, while a line of passengers waits in the background. The officer appears to be gesturing to the man, who is showing visible emotion.
    Not real, AI generated

    March 19th, 2026

    I really did not think I would have much to write about on my travel day to Panama City. I definitely could have lived without this one incident – yet another major stress.

    The flight out of Houston was OK – about 4 ½ hours of boredom, although I spend some time on an introduction for a book I’ve been thinking of pulling together for the past year. And, I had a window seat, so I of course took a few photo’s, especially once we got to Panama and approached Panama City. You pass over the Pacific side of the canal, and can see all the ships waiting to enter. Pretty amazing. Panama City is also huge and very modern, with some incredible architecture. I hope to get a few pictures this week.

    Aerial view of a coastal city featuring a skyline of tall buildings and a small island in the foreground with waterfront properties.
    Aerial view of a coastal landscape featuring multiple waterways, boats in the water, and a town along the shore, with lush green hills and scattered clouds in the background.
    Aerial view of numerous cargo ships anchored in a calm sea, with an island in the background.
    Aerial view of Panama City with numerous high-rise buildings, surrounded by water and mountains under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

    At any rate, unlike most of the other airports I’ve been to, you exit from the plane right out to a very large concourse. I was expecting that a foreign flight would have a separate, cordoned off passage directly to immigration. Nope. I had no idea where I was going, and noticed a sign which point to Terminal 1 baggage and immigration. So, off I went on yet another airport hike. When I got to immigration, one of the guards asked me what airline I flew in on, and told me I had to go all the way back to Terminal 2. Another airport hike. I was already nervous about the exit flight thing that I experienced with the airline. And of course, it was a problem with the Panama immigration as well. The officer did not speak much English, and was confused when I told him I was boarding a cruise ship and going to Costa Rica. We went back and forth on this for a while, and he eventually found another officer who spoke some English. I pulled out my itinerary for the trip, which had National Geographic in big letters on it, and the guy looked through it – he started asking what we do on the trip. I told him about going to the National Parks, and then cruising through the islands and he seemed to think this was a research or educational ship. He looked at my camera bag and I told him I was a photographer. So, they both went off to the immigration office, and probably told them I was a National Geographic photographer, and they approved my entry, I was not going to disagree. I was really concerned that they were not going to let me in – I was close to getting down on my knees and pleading, but I would have to use Google Translate, and who knows how that would come out –  I could wind up in an El Salvador prison.

    I grabbed my passport after he stamped it, said Muchas gracias, and sped off to get my luggage. I was the only person coming in on this flight, so there was only one person waiting over by the doors with a NatGeo/Lindlbad sign. Fortunately, I noticed him and off we went to the Waldorf Astoria. Success. I made it here alive. Not too bad a hotel room either – it will be hard switching over to the small cabin on the ship after this level of luxury.

    Beautiful room at the Panama City Waldorf Astoria hotel.
    If only the ship cabin was like this…

    I’m going to chill for a while, then go to our group welcome dinner. Tomorrow we tour around the city and the Canal. I’ll be trying out that new lens tomorrow for sure. No more stress. I’ve had enough today.

    Peace