Tuesday, January 12, 2010

PANAMA CANAL, AGAIN

After leaving Puerto Lemon, we proceeded back to the Panama Canal.  We knew we would be doing this again.  We decided to use the opportunity to sleep in.  That is easier said than done, since there are lots of announcements and a speaker telling about the wonderful canal.

The truth is, this is a wondrous piece of engineering.  The only moving pieces are the doors to the locks and the valves to let the water flow.  The entire system works with gravity.  Water from the huge lake that was created by damming the rivers that flowed out of the mountains, is released downward toward either the Atlantic or Pacific.  I had always thought the locks were necessary because of the difference in the water levels of the different oceans.  It is true that the high tide levels of the oceans are very different.  But sea level is sea level.  The reason there are locks on the canal is that the center of the canal path is mountainous.  The original plan for the canal was to make it like the Suez Canal, flat.  That plan did not work.  The French were unable to finish the canal, after 2 tries.  The US bought the rights and equipment.  With the passage of time and the knowledge learned from the Spanish American War, we knew how to combat Yellow Fever and Malaria.  So, we were able to kill the mosquitoes and decided to build the locks so we wouldn’t have to dig down through the entire mountain range.  Instead we built a huge lake, lift the ships to the lake, then lower them back down.  Amazing.

This picture is from our cabin and shows how close to the side of the lock we are.  Actually, on both crossings we rubbed the side of the ship on the lock.  Other ships had also, since we could see different colors of paint on the concrete.

a canal again (1024x768) 

Here is a picture of the Bridge of the Americas.  It is part of the Pan-American Highway.  The highway ends here in Panama.  You cannot get to South America on it from North America.  So, plan ahead :)

d bridge of the americas (2) Stitch (1024x276)

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