Left Panama City

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Left Panama City and headed towards the rainforest and staying at Gamboa rainforest resort.  So beautiful, right by the lake, we have a herd of Capybaras grazing right outside our door.  They didn’t like it when we went to harass them.  They made a noise before they jumped into the water, which I interpreted to mean they did not appreciate our presence. 

There are sloths here apparently, but we haven’t seen one yet.  Checked in and then headed out towards the Atlantic coast to Portobello and San Lorenzo, famous old fortified Spanish ports constructed in the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries.

The Spanish used routes through Panama – one, an overland route from Portobello to Panama City and one from San Lorenzo via the Chagres river and then overland to get goods from the Pacific side (gold and silver from Peru specifically and also goods they traded from the Chinese in the Philippines as well bringing goods from Spain and slaves from Africa) The three (Portobello, San Lorenzo and Panama City) formed a defensive triangle for the Spanish – not that it stopped pirates from attacking each of these places many times.  The first fort we went to, Portobello, is still just a little shanty town but the ruins were really interesting. 

Columbus landed there on his fourth trip and Sir Francis Drake died there.  They put him in a lead coffin, in full body armour and buried him at sea.  Divers have been looking for his coffin ever since.  They have a black Jesus at the church in this tiny town.  Typical Spanish, very ascetic, stark and bleak and also a little bit creepy. They have a big festival in town once a year. We just missed it; oh well. 

Then to San Lorenzo which was the other fort, now completely isolated in the jungle that you have to get to it via a military base (a little like Point Nepean used to be).  Because of its remoteness, and difficult access we had the place to ourselves, this picture perfect, very remote place on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic and the mouth of the Chagres River.  As we were leaving we saw a couple of Capucian monkeys jumping through the trees which added to the magic of the place. 

After seeing the ruins, we rushed back so we could be at our hotel before dark.  Get to the Gatun Locks, which when we first passed through was quick and easy, but this time we have to wait for 40 minutes for some ships to go through.  Very inconvenient.  Still, driving across the Canal at the Locks there was really trippy. 

On our way back we missed the turnoff in the dark and spent an extra two hours getting back to our hotel.  Not happy Jan.  But once food and alcohol consumed good spirits returned.