We couldn't get a direct flight home from Ecuador and had to have a stopover in Panama so we decided to stay and explore the city. And see the Panama Canal. 

We arrived in Panama at 10:30 am. There was a guy at the exit holdimg a sign with my name for the cab ride to our hotel. That's the first time that's happened! I know, I'm a loser for getting so excited about that. On the way to the hotel, he was kind of annoying - trying to sell us tours and such and Vic had no time for him. To top it off Vic gave him $40 (we booked it for $35) and then he pocketed it and looked at us and said "Oh do you want change?" Needl as to say we won't be using him again! So, we're finally at the hotel (crazy traffic here) and our room wasn't ready so we went for a walk in the area to get our bearings. So far, Panama City is not that pretty, at least not like what we thought it would be like. I'm hopeful once we see more of it that I'll change my mind. But it does have lots of skyscrapers, some of which are very unique, interspersed with new buildings. Apparently, the resort area is about 1 1/2 hours away. It's REALLY hot & humid here as well (not as hot as the Galápagos but once it gets to a certain temperature it really doesn't matter anymore) and I don't think we'll be getting much beach time due to the distance. 

We had lunch and went back to the hotel. Our room was still not ready so we waited in the lobby and got caught up on emails and such. The hotel is quite modern and the rooms are fairly nice but we were missing some things - a hand towel, coffee pods and the toilet needed unplugging after Vic used it (don't say it!). So after unpacking and getting settled it was about 4:00 and we went for another walk to explore the area. There are 5 zones in Panama City:
1 - Causeway of Amador, located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. It's a road (built in 1913) that links Panama City with the islands of Naxos, Culebra, Perico and Flamenco. It's described as a place for outdoor recreation and is in the Old Town. 
2 - Casio Antigua, the Old Town.
3 - Cinta Costera or Bella Vista, with the most hotels in the city. 
4 - El Cangrejo (El Carmen), once the most modern and exclusive neighbourhood of Panama City. Today it's a bohemian area with shops, restaurants, and embassies. This is where our hotel is. 
5 - Obarrio, the sight of the first racetrack in the city (now a mall is located there. . It's filled with restaurants and shops. 

Panama City is the capital of the Republic of Panama. Panama has a population of about 4,000,000 (Panama City comprises 1/2 of that) and is 30,193 square miles or 113 people per square mile. Panama has 10 provinces and 5 indiginous communities. 

After our walk we came back to the hotel to cool off and the next went for a nice dinner at a restaurant across the street.

We really came here here to see the Panama Canal. We will be taking a tour tomorrow of the old city and the Panama Canal. Looking forward to that. But here's some info I researched on it. 

The Panama Canal is one of the great manmade wonders of the modern world and I didn't want to miss seeing it in person. It is over 100 years old and cuts trhough 51 miles of jungle and rock. It raises and lowers huge ships with ease. Here's a little bit of history: The Isthmus of Panama was discovered by Europeans in 1513. In 1534, Charles V ordered a survey to determine if a canal was possible. The French were the first country to attempt building a sea level canal but they failed to consturct it in the 1880's due to poor planning, engineering problems,incessant rains that caused heavy landslides, and tropical diseases that killed thousands of workers. In 1888, it was decided that a lock system was the way to go decided. However, at that time, funding was pulled from the project by the French. It wasn't until 1904, that the U.S., with Theodore Roosevelt as the President, took over construction. Not learning from the French effort, the Americans devised plans for a sea-level canal along the roughly 50-mile stretch from Colón to Panama City. On May 4, 1904, the project started but chief engineer John Wallace encountered immediate problems. Much of the French equipment was in need of repair, while the spread of yellow fever and malaria was frightening off the workforce. Under pressure to keep construction moving forward, Wallace instead resigned after a year.A railroad specialist named John Stevens took over as chief engineer in July 1905 and immediately addressed the workforce issues by recruiting West Indian laborers. Stevens ordered new equipment and devised efficient methods to speed up work, such as the use of a swinging boom to lift chunks of railroad track and adjust the train route for carting away excavated material. He also quickly recognized the difficulties posed by landslides and convinced Roosevelt that a lock canal was best for the terrain.Dr. William Gorgas, chief sanitary officer, who believed that mosquitoes carried the deadly diseases indigenous to the area decided to wipe out the carriers.  His team fumigated homes and cleansed pools of water. The last reported case of yellow fever on the isthmus came in November 1905, while malaria cases dropped greatly over the following decade. There were many setbacks including resignations and strikes so the quality of life for workers and their families was improved but still casualties mounted from unpredictable landslides and dynamite explosions. Construction of the locks began with the pouring of concrete at Gatún in August 1909. The Panama Canal officially opened on August 15, 1914, but celebrations were subdued due to the outbreak of WWI. Completed at a cost of more than $350 million, it was the most expensive construction project in U.S. history to that point. Altogether, some 3.4 million cubic meters of concrete went into building the locks, and nearly 240 million cubic yards of rock and dirt were excavated during the American construction phase. Of the 56,000 workers employed between 1904 and 1913, roughly 5,600 were reported killed. 

Fun facts about the Panama Canal:
- Gustave Eiffel, who designed the famous tower in Paris that bears his name, was hired to create locks for the canal but this never happened because the French company that began construction went bankrupt in 1889. At the time, the French had sunk more than $260 million into the canal venture and excavated more than 70 million cubic yards of earth.
- Throughout the 1800s, the United States, which wanted a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific for economic and military reasons, considered Nicaragua a more feasible location than Panama.
- It took more than 75,000 workers and 10 years to build
- The French attempts at construction had led to the deaths of more than 20,000 workers and America’s efforts fared little better; between 1904 and 1913 some 5,600 workers died due to disease or accidents.
- Between 13,000 and 14,000 ships use the canal every year.
- American ships use the canal the most, followed by those from China, Chile, Japan, Colombia and South Korea.
- Every vessel that transits the canal must pay a toll based on its size and cargo volume. Tolls for the largest ships can run about $450,000. The smallest toll ever paid was 36 cents, plunked down in 1928 by American adventurer Richard Halliburton, who swam the canal. Today, some $1.8 billion in tolls are collected annually.
- Ships line up on each side, waiting their turn to enter the canal, which operates around the clock.
- On average, it takes a ship 8 to 10 hours to pass through the canal. While moving through it, a system of locks raises each ship 85 feet above sea level. Ship captains aren’t allowed to transit the canal on their own; instead, a specially trained canal pilot takes navigational control of each vessel to guide it through the waterway.
- In 2010, the 1 millionth vessel crossed the canal since it first opened in 1914.
- Oversight of the canal was transferred from the U.S. to Panama in 1999.
- The Panama Canal was recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven wonders of the modern world in 1994.
- Large ships around the world are built with the Panama Canal's locks in mind (1,000 feet long and 110 feet wide ). None have gotten stuck so far. However, in 2007, work began on a $5.25 billion expansion project that enables the canal to handle post-Panamax ships; that is, those exceeding the dimensions of so-called Panamax vessels, built to fit through the canal, whose locks are 110 feet wide and 1,000 feet long. The expanded canal, which opened in June 2016, is able to handle cargo vessels carrying 14,000 20-foot containers, nearly three times the amount previously accommodated.
- People are no longer allowed to swim across, as Richard Hamilton did in 1928; he was charged 36 cents.