A Book About the Panama Canal

Julie and I frequently use my blog as a memory supplement, so when a novel she was reading brought the characters to Columbia, she decided to look up our Panama Canal cruise.

Surprisingly, she could only find a rather odd post comparing our day in Cartegena to a trip to Disneyland.

"That can't be right," I thought.  It turns out that as far as Columbia goes, that was all I had written.  It seems that by the time I got around to blogging about our excursion in Cartagena, our granddaughter Emma had flown to California with her Aunt Amy for a visit.  We went to Disneyland, joined by our son Jay, and I combined narratives about the two events.

That's not really that unusual for me.

I always write about what's going through my mind at the time I am motivated to blog.

That's how current events, novels, movies and the Great Courses all combine into what would otherwise be a travel blog without much content during this past year of pandemic shutdown, but that thought process was not limited to only that unprecedented year.

As evidence of that, once we were driving into Glacier National Park in Montana just after finishing my Panama Canal posts, my mind immediately brought President Teddy Roosevelt into the picture.

In that case, it was a natural transition, because not only did that Republican progressive President greenlight the Panama Canal, he also put the pedal to the metal for appreciating our environment as we enterred the 20th Century including National Parks development.

The fact is, our pre-Covid-19, post-Julie retirement era usually had us traveling so much that it wasn't unusual for me to be experiencing the next adventure while still processing the last one.

Before we boarded Island Princess in Ft. Lauderdale, we had taken a whirlwind tour of Peru from Miami, and I did compile a "book" about that pre-trip.  I think we were so thankful to have a chance to rest on peaceful sea days that are part and parcel of our Panama Canal itinerary that I wasn't thinking as hard.

Truth be told, I found myself speaking much more about Machu Picchu with friends and family than what for most cruisers is a major bucket list vacation, the Panama Canal.  However, make no mistake; the Panama Canal is a great trip!

Better late than never, here is "A Book About the Panama Canal."

From Cuzco to Cruise Co

Panama Canal Virtuoso

Aruba Blues

Cartagena Through a Disney Prism

Panama Canal Centennial

Rio Corobici in Costa Rica

Lake Nicaragua's Las Islatas

Pirates of Granada, Nicaraqua

Cabo

Pirates of Granada, Nicaragua

1888 ‘Pirates of the Spanish Main’ card game

Wrinkles spread from his eyes, creasing the Welshman's tanned, weathered face as he squinted in the moonlight, hoping to discern any branches or boulders popping above the surface belying significant obstructions that might tip his canoe.

The 30 year-old and his rough looking companions paddled surreptitiously up the San Juan River, fighting the current that flowed into the Caribbean Sea.  The men of diverse skin colors and ethnicities didn't chatter or sing sea shanties as they rowed, understanding silence to be their best ally.

Granada, Nicaragua

As the first light of dawn made noticeable the silhouettes of all six canoes under his command, Henry Morgan pointed toward shore, and soon the pirates' boots splashed in the shallows as they dragged their canoes onto the river bank.  Though exhausted, they took time to carry their flat bottomed boats to the brush where they camouflaged them beneath branches.

The buccaneers spent the day in hiding.  They discreetly foraged for food, repasted and rested in preparation for that night's efforts.  A few days later, they reached La Mar Dulce, the Spanish Sweet Sea as it was called, though this was actually the fresh water lake we now call Lake Nicaragua. 

Plaza in Granada

On its far banks sat the first European city on the American continent, a claim bolstered by official registration with the Crown of Aragon and Kingdom of Castille as founded in 1524, but these pirates were not concerned with historical claims about this city or its Moorish and Andalusian design.  They made the difficult, stealthy approach because La Gran Sultana, as Granada was also known, housed great riches awaiting transatlantic passage to Spain under guard of the powerful Spanish Armada.

Captain Morgan and his men had been legally authorized as Privateers to attack and loot Spanish ships and ports on behalf of the British Crown.  In payment for playing havoc with Spain, which had acquired great wealth through its rapid domination of the New World, the Privateers could keep most of their stolen treasure.

Convento de San Franisco in Granada

The Golden Age of Piracy had begun in the Caribbean 15 years earlier in 1650, but this location deep within what is now Nicaragua was considered more secure than a bank's vault.  Captain Morgan's bold assault caught the Spanish completely by surprise.

The pirates sank all the Spanish ships in port, set fires in the city and then absconded with a treasure of a half million pounds sterling in the 12-foot boats they had previously stolen in their raid on Villahermosa, Mexico.

While loading that much additional weight into such small watercraft undoubtedly strained their capacity and made the canoes difficult to control, Henry Morgan's men nonetheless made their escape up the Coco River, with assistance from the indigenous Miskitu tribe.



Freshly Painted Re-Construction in Granada

Before the Lake Nicaragua boat ride that I wrote about previously, we had been led on a walking tour through Granada.  In many places, the re-constructed city, with most buildings over 100 years old, has an appearance almost like a movie set built in the style of the original architecture, with freshly painted walls making it look even newer than it actually is.

The historic city had been sacked several times by other pirates subsequent to Morgan's raid, and then on December 14, 1856, that Granada was totally destroyed.

The Conquest of Nicaragua by a few hundred mercenaries in 1854 temporarily installed a filibuster (essentially a pirate with more permanent ambitions to rule than pillage) named William Walker as President of Nicaragua.  Walker had eyes on ruling all of Central America.

Why did he think a power base in Nicaragua would give him enough power to fulfill his megalomaniacal dream?

Mambacho Volcano Viewed from the Road

Prior to the Panama Canal's construction, the primary water route from the east coast to California's gold rush came up Nicaragua's San Juan River, as Henry Morgan had, and then by stage coach to the coast.

Control of that route was worth a fortune, and in fact Cornelius Vanderbilt already had expanded his substantial shipping fortune from his efforts to improve the waterway and operate the stage coaches.

To fund his own ambitions, Walker revoked Vanderbilt's exclusive rights, but Cornelius did not retreat to his New York mansion or Newport summer "cottage" muttering that it was good while it lasted.  Instead, Vanderbuilt struck back as a powerful enemy who helped ruin Walker's grand plans by allying with the counter-revolutionaries, providing both money and soldiers to the cause.

Burial Urn at Convento de San Francisco

It was one of Walker's defeated generals who burnt Granada to the ground on his way out, proclaiming in a final note, "Here Was Granada." 

As we walked around the bustling city square, our guide told us about the city, but we could only hear fragments of what he said due to the ambient noise.  Previously on the 2 hour bus ride, this former school teacher proved himself to be an expert on his home country, hanging up a map and passing around other visual aids to accompany his descriptions of the area and its history, so I wish we could have heard him better in town. 

When we reached the quiet of Convento de San Francisco in Granada, our guide provided a wonderful narrative about its museum's art, including the pre-Columbian statues found at nearby Zapatera Island. 



Monkeys in Nicaragua

A decent luncheon buffet of local foods completed our Granada visit before continuing to Lake Nicaragua, which left all of us content to rest on the bus ride back to the port in San Juan Del Sur, but we had an unexpected treat: monkeys in trees by the side of the road to bid us farewell.

Lake Nicaragua's Las Islitas

The world's only freshwater sharks live in Lake Nicaragua, but as we boarded the third small boat excursion of our Panama Canal cruise, I had doubts we'd see anything but herons, ducks and other assorted water fowl among Las Isletas, 365 palm-covered mini-islands near the shore.  Nicaragua pleasantly surprised us.

First, the flora, with orchids and water lilies, proved to be much more colorful than the mangroves outside Cartagena or the leafy jungle we personally saw in Costa Rica.  The birds themselves seemed somehow more naturally graceful and serene, despite the fact that many of the islets housed private estates worthy of wealthy investors on House Hunters International.  Then again, wealthier investors have greater financial motives as well as means for protecting or even enhancing the beauty of the environment where they live versus indigenous natives who naturally see their world primarily from a more immediately practical perspective as a source of food and other elements necessary for day-to-day survival.

Our youthful but experienced skipper navigated among the tiny islands, knowing instinctively where to idle to allow his passengers to soak in the sights and snap away with cameras. 

He read our appreciation of the luxurious estates as well as the pristine lagoons perfectly, and we all enjoyed every minute of our boat ride.  Without question, arrival at "monkey island" brought the most oohs and aahs from his appreciative audience.  Our guide not only knew of monkeys but seemed to have built a friendship with Ponchito and the other monkey residents.  During our ride, the skipper never built monkey island up as the grand finale or even mentioned it.  He just positioned the boat perfectly and waited for monkeys to come out of hiding in the trees to put on a self-directed show.  

No other boats competed with us for the attention of the apes, and we spent about fifteen or twenty minutes bobbing gently in the water, laughing at their antics.  We stayed so long, in fact, that by the time we headed into the harbor, the rest of the boats in our group had already returned, and there didn't seem to be a mooring left for our boat. 

Our skipper took some verbal flak from shore for arriving late, and the motor stalling out a couple of times as he tried to find a place to park didn't help.  Nonetheless, when we returned to the bus, his passengers were all jabbering like howler monkeys, singing praises of our great boat ride on this beautiful sunny day.

Panama Canal Centennial

Polite Cruisers approach Centennial Bridge

If you're looking for a non-stop party at sea surrounded by like-minded people, look no further....at a Panama Canal cruise.  People attracted to a two week voyage with twice as many sea days as ports will naturally tend to be more sedate.



Demographically, think comfortably retired people whose cordiality and refinement represent a throwback from the current increasingly crude society of excess represented by profanity-laced movies starring Melissa McCarthy.





Opening the Lock for Island Princess

Not that long ago, McCarthy played Lorelai's wholesome friend Sookie on "Gilmore Girls," which itself contrasts sharply with her recent foul-mouthed characters in movies like "The Bridesmaids."  Her career shift parallels the rapidly changing standards of society.  In any case, for those of us born before 1960, it's nice to be around people who don't rely on variations of the f-bomb as nouns, verbs and adjectives.  I know: we're the ones out of touch.

To be clear, I don't actually spend time around anyone who speaks like that, but I've encountered this type of low-life increasingly frequently.



Gatun Lake

Just as Melissa McCarthy's on-screen transformation illustrates the coarsening of society over the past decade, the Panama Canal on its 100th Anniversay might just as easily be seen as a metaphor of the difference between America emerging in the 20th Century versus now.



The Panama Canal began with the grand vision of a French company, Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique.  Led by Ferdinand de Lesseps who had similarly built the Suez Canal which made investors rich by providing a valuable waterway to meet immediate demand, they began digging on February 1, 1881, but twenty years and 20,000 worker deaths later, the jungle's environment had proven to be too much to overcome.

Teddy Roosevelt in 1903 by J.S. Sargent

In 1902, new President Teddy Roosevelt took his can-do attitude with which he had led the charge to victory up San Juan Hill and applied it to the Panama Canal project, using his bully pulpit to overcome objections to what many thought would be a boondoggle.  The US purchased the French company's rights, property and equipment for $40 million.  Over the next dozen years, the project would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and 5,600 workers lost their lives.

Entire villages in the Chagres River Valley were relocated so that in 1913, that valley could be dammed and flooded to form an artificial lake.  With its lovely hilltop "islands," Gatun Lake to me is every bit as impressive as the Panama Canal locks.

On August 15, 1914, twelve long years after Teddy Roosevelt challenged Americans to take on the monumental task, the Panama Canal opened, evidence of how vision, hard-work and perseverance could accomplish the seemingly impossible.



Long Approach

When I was a child sixty years later, another young President, John Kennedy, would similarly challenge Americans to put a man on the moon, and America succeeded there, too.  It was another high point of what many historians call the American Century, which included key rolls in two World War victories over tyranny, plus leadership in the expansion of capitalism and other forms of freedom throughout much of the world.

By the time President Jimmy Carter took office in 1977, however, America had taken on a different failed French project, the Vietnam War, which depending on your viewpoint was a terrible mistake to begin or the subsequent abandonment of our "can-do" spirit that from the outset of the century allowed us to accomplish anything.

President Carter signed the treaty that would turn over control of the Canal to Panama by the year 2000 during his first year in office.



Marina With Modern Panama City Skyline

With the lowering of the US flag on December 31, 1999, operation of the Panama Canal transferred to China under a fifty year lease with Panama. 

As mentioned previously, Island Princess was built to Panamax standards, meaning it can barely squeeze through the Panama Canal, with only 2 feet of clearance on either side.  Steering such a large ship under its own power through the narrow locks would be extremely difficult, so electric mules along the banks pull large ships into the precise position.  However, soon larger cruise ships will be able to transit the Panama Canal.



Approaching the Bridge of the Americas

Not content to limit the potential of this passageway as larger freight as well as cruise ships have brought cost advantages to other areas of shipping, China will soon complete a second Panama Canal, one that allows ships more than 50% wider and capable of carrying double the weight to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific without going around the southern tip of South America.  And not content to stop there, China also has a new 100 year lease with Nicaragua and plans to build an even larger canal through Central America to compete with the Panama Canal.



Entering the Lock

Many children in the 1960s were admonished to clean their plates, because there were children starving in China.  Notwithstanding the non sequitur, I find it amazing that in a half century the tables have turned.  We now seem to be entering what may, only forty years after President Richard Nixon opened the floodgates of American capital to the formerly impoverished communist country, become known as the Chinese Century.  I personally wouldn't want to live in China, where hundreds of millions still slave in poverty in heavily polluted cities to create plastic doodads and iPhones for Melissa McCarthy movie fans who never consider they may be selling their futures for immediate gratification, but the miraculous transformation cannot be denied.



The Original French cut of the Canal

In the final analysis, influence of the Greek and Roman empires continue to this day, and while the British Empire may no longer rule the waves, English has become the preeminent langauge of science and commerce throughout the world, including in China, which has hundreds of local dialects (as well as confusing cuneiform writing) that made that country an unlikely source for a practical alternative.    Certainly many British citizens continue to live fulfilling lives, including a few lads who overcame humble beginnings in the WWII rubble of their kingdom to begin what could be considered empires of their own, including Richard Branson and The Beatles. 

Brit Winston Churchill prophetically said, "The empires of the future are the empires of the mind."

The American Empire, if you can indeed call it that, has always been one of ideals, and I don't think when we awaken from our current daze, much in the way we awakened from the Great Depression to defeat Germany's National Socialism in WWII, that we will be ready to pass the torch of civilization on to another empire quite yet.



Wes at Centennial Bridge

Did Julie and I constantly worry about the direction of America during our Panama Canal cruise?  Not so much. We were too engaged in our more immediate reality. Then again, like most of our fellow passengers, we had spent decades of our time metaphorically digging the canals of our own lives, allowing time to appreciate a comfortable coast.