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| We went through 2 sets of locks with the Rio Grande |
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| A Panamanian girl showing off the national costume |
We went with one of the German couples for a boat trip on the Panama Canal. Manuel took us to Flamenco Island at Amador to get a bus to the tour start in Gamboa. We got seats in the air-conditioned cabin and went on deck to take photos. We went through the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks, accompanied by a huge ship, the Rio Grande. We got lunch on the boat.
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| Large cranes standing by to lift the containers |
It was a great experience. Gus, the bilingual guide on board, told us many facts about the canal. It was opened in 1914 after an American team completed the complex building project where de Lesseps had failed. The structure of the locks is still the same today as it was then, although they are building an extension to the locks now. The Canal Zone was administered by the Americans, until in 1977 Jimmy Carter signed a handover treaty, the handover being completed in 1999.
Afterwards we tried to see the Independence Day parade in the old town but it had finished. Dinner tonight somewhere local.
