Miraflores

I decided to visit Portobelo when I come back to Panama (because I will definitely come back). Instead to Portobelo I decided to go to Miraflores where one of the locks on the canal is. I ate breakfast with Michil from Holland, Daniel from Switzerland and Riccardo from Italy. All of them have been traveling in South America for months and have interesting stories to tell (we all shared the stories about food poisoning, in detail). Michil was also planning to go to Miraflores so we went together. There's a museum there dedicated to the building and operating of the canal. It was very interesting. I learned a lot about the canal and also about the fauna and flora of Panama in general (tarantulas, grasshoppers, mantees, butterflies, dragonflies, moths and birds). I learned that this is the only place in the world where the captains give the rains to an operator working on the canal who safely gets the ship through the canal. There was a simulator on which the operators learn their skills. I became an operator for a bit and thought that maybe I can become one and stay in Panama. We saw two ships going through the locks, some Princess cruiseliner and a cargo ship. The cruiser had on it´s highest deck, you won´t believe it, a wall for wall climbing. We were straining our eyes to see if they offered horseback riding there but couldn´t see it. It`s just a matter of time... It was huge. It seemed like thousands of people were on it, waving to us furiously. We waved back. We took a few buses back to Panama City center. Panama is beautiful. There are good vibes here. It seems there are a few cities in one: Poland in the 60s, Alfama in Portugal, a bit of NY with high rised buildings, Havana and the Caribbean islands. The city is mostly dirty and loud but it has this amazing character which makes is interesting and not very tiring. I will rest for a while and go explore more of the city in the evening. It will be sad to leave it tomorrow... I will come back.