A canal and some fish and a hat.

I’m rather taken with Panama City.  Mainly because of the thrill of the Isthmus and the canal. To me, there is something marvellous about being at the skinniest bit of the Americas. I’ve been right down to the southern most point and a very good way up to the top and now I’m at a point that’s only 50 miles wide.  

Panama only gained total control of the canal comparatively recently and the millions of bucks that the canal makes every single day has created massive growth and a high rise city.  The setting, right on the Pacific, is glorious but the new buildings are not entirely lovely. Just tall and strangely skinny, like long slender fingers reaching upwards. The old city is undergoing massive restoration and has great charm. As in most places in Latin America the people have an easy going manner and friendliness. 

We went to the Miraflores Locks this morning and watched a giant container ship, with seemingly almost no clearance, squeeze through on its way to the Caribbean. Using the canal saves the ships 8,000 miles of sailing around the bottom. I won’t bore you with more facts and figures -just Wiki it - it will astound you.

The rally proper starts tomorrow morning when we drive 500+ kms to our night stop. Except, five of us haven’t got our cars yet. We arrived a day early for the rally but not early enough to get our car as the office is closed for the weekend and doesn’t open until 9.30 (practically the afternoon) on Monday. It also closes for a leisurely lunch so it maybe be a long process.  Some of the crews who arrived here even earlier than us had a wait of many hours whilst the paperwork was sorted out that stretched into the afternoon. It’s a bit of a bugger as you never know what’s happened to the cars on the long journey here and there is usually a bit of fettling to do. Not to mention packing and sorting out of the interior. This is particularly pertinent for us as we have little space and need to poke things in every nook and cranny.  Never mind, it is what it is and it just means a long day tomorrow. It’ll be great to actually be on the road though. 

 We are the oldest car on this rally by 38 years. Blimey!