The ride from El Valle to the Pan-Americana is amazing, but the Careterra itself is a bore. There are radar police at regular intervals, especially when the limit is 80 or below.
We have guest house in the city for a few days.
We are off to see the Panama Canal today. Nearing the canal we crossed the bridge of the Americas. The Panama Canal has two locks on the Pacific side and you pass one on the way to the viewing platform at Miraflores.
We were very “lucky” today at the canal, because we saw a number of boats going thru at the same time.
The museum has some interesting displays and even a simulator for the ships bridge.
Later we also saw a huge cargo ship come thru the locks.
Driving into the city from the locks you arrive on Avenida Balboa, which offers a panoramic view of the city.
We are here to get the bike storage and shipping organized at Gerig, but we had the weekend to sight see. The first stop was the historic district of Panama or Casco Viejo, where there is a mixture of run down and restored buildings.
There are a number of squares each with a church., some of which are in ruins.
These Kuna women were having a heated argument over whose sales stall was in the wrong spot.
We next headed over to Panama Viejo or the old site of Panama, which is in ruins. From the 1600 pirates, indigenous from the Darien, an earthquake, and a great fire, tried to destroy the city on his site. The last straw was when it was sacked by a Welsh privateer in 1671 and destroyed.
for more check out our ADVRide report Finding Freedom.