Panama City, Panama

Tuesday Feb. 27, 2007

I first met Dr. Gilberto Chanis in San Jose, Costa Rica during a multi-country club ride for large bikes (thus excluding the 99 gazillion small [mostly 2-stroke] motos that crowd the streets of every city and town south of the US). He rode up from his home in Panama City on his nearly new Ducati 698. Besides being one of the only people in the ride who spoke English, he was also extremely friendly, and after finding out that I would soon be riding through Panama he insisted that I call him when I got there.

So after a couple more weeks of regrouping in Costa Rica, I finally crossed the border into Panama (with only about a 2 hour delay) where I was glad to see an ultra-modern highway system - something I hadn't seen since the United States. I know the US had a large financial impact here, but I wasn't prepared for such a drastic change from the overcrowded Costa Rican roads. I appreciated being able to travel at higher speeds again to help cope with the heat and humidity of the lowlands that seemed to sap my energy whenever I slowed or stopped.

When I called, Gilberto was at his country home in the small town of El Valle (about 150 kms SW of Panama City) with his family. It happened to be an extra-long, 4-day weekend in celebration of Carnival, so most businesses were closed and it looked like everyone was out partying. He suggested it would be best for me to stay with them for a couple of days until they went back to work in the city: Who was I to argue. Upon arriving I was instantly treated like a member of the family. I enjoyed getting to know everyone a little better while relaxing in this cool little town. The higher altitude meant we actually needed covers on the bed at night and the whole town was built in a volcanoe crater, so no hot water heaters were needed here (just drill into the ground).

One day while I was there we took a short ride to a neighboring town to partake in a smaller version of the famous festivities taking place in every populated place in Latin America. Our towns' Carnival included a queen who was paraded through the streets atop a trailer surrounded by crowds of drinking and dancing locals. She continued to work the crowd further by dancing in the streets before the water truck was finally brought in to cool everyone off (a tradition that many people seem to enjoy). Afterwards we rode the fabulously twisty little highway back to the Chanis retreat for a great dinner and some wine before watching The Fastest Indian on my laptop.

When we got to their impressive home in the center of the capital city a few days later (merely 2 blocks from the now vacant, US raided, Manuel Noriega house), it seemed like every member of the large Chanis family insisted on helping me somehow. When his dad was at work, Totin would ride with me around the city and show me some of the pitiful moto shops they were forced to live with, or restaurants that were unfortunate enough to serve me (I was having a bad day OK). When not working, Gilberto was helping me make arrangements to get the bike shipped to Colombia. One evening I was treated to a lovely tour and dinner in the spectacular old-town section of the city. And on a short ride north of the city one day I saw the beautiful ecological reserve of Gamboa Park on huge Lake Gatun which serves as the water source for the canal.

One day Rebecca (Gilbertos' wife) took a couple family members and I to see the amazing Panama Canal. Something I'm sure they've all seen many times before, but they somehow managed to continue to look interested and I never felt rushed.

Here's some canal trivia for your next party:

- The concept of a canal near Panama dates back to the early 16th century, but the first attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under French leadership. After this attempt failed and saw 20,000 workers die, the project of building a canal was attempted and completed by the US in 1914. The building of the 77 km (48 mi) canal was plagued by problems, including disease (particularly malaria and yellow fever) and landslides. As many as 27,500 workers are estimated to have died during construction of the canal.

- The republic of Panama recovered absolute control of the canal from the United States on Dec. 31, 1999.

- To date, the most expensive toll charged for passage of the canal was $249,165 US on May 30, 2006 to the container ship Maersk Dellys, and the least was 36 cents to American adventurer Richard Halliburton who swam the canal in 1928. The average toll is around $54,000 US.

- The volume of earth excavated from the canal's Gaillard Cut is equivalent to the amount removed from a 1.115 m² (12 ft²) area extending from the earth's surface to its core.

- The withdrawal of the US has allowed Panama to sell excess electricity produced by the canal's dams, which was previously prohibited by the U.S. government. Only 25% of the hydroelectric power produced in the canal system is required to run the canal.

- Vessels traveling from New York to San Francisco save 12,670 km (7,873 mi) by using the canal instead of the Cape Horn route around South America.

- 202,000 m³ (52 million US gallons) of fresh water from lake Gatun are drained into the sea by the locks every time a ship transits the canal.

- Main users and percentage of world trade transiting the canal:

1. United States: 69%

2. China: 18%

3. Japan: 17%

4. Chile: 10%

5. South Korea: 8%

6. Peru: 7%

7. Ecuador: 6%

8. Canada: 5%

9: Panama: 5%

10. Mexico: 4%

- 14,194 vessels transited the canal in 2006.

- In 1934 it was estimated that the maximum capacity of the canal would be around 80 million tons per year; canal traffic in 2005 consisted of 278.8 million tons of shipping.

- The canal will surpass its maximum sustainable capacity between 2009 and 2012.

- Construction to double the capacity of the canal will begin in 2007 and is estimated to be completed no later than 2014 at a cost of $5.25 billion US.

- The new canal will allow traffic of up to 600 million PC/UMS tons and post-panamax vessels capable of carrying 12,000 containers.

On a visit to a very posh harbour where only the richest of the rich dare set foot, I saw two very large and utterly impeccable yachts (one even packed a full size helicopter). Standing only feet from their nose, it was hard not to envision a Princess or King aboard them. I was even lucky enough to see a huge submarine exiting the canal - something I'm told is rare as they typically cross at night to avoid being noticed.

The Chanis family were all fabulous hosts and they seemed to take great pride in showing me their country - what incredible representatives for Panama! It's impossible for me to express how fortunate I am to have met them.

After many phone calls, e-mails and difficult discussions I was able to find air transport for Buzz to Bogota for $379 US, which was a little better than the typical $550 paid by most others I'd talked to. I spent most of the day helping the cargo company prepare and strap Buzz down to a thin aluminum plate which would have a top put on it later. As per their request, I removed only the windscreen, proved I had only minimal gas in the tank (oddly, they never bothered to ask about the red jerry gas can I have on the back, although I showed them it was empty anyway), reduce the air pressure in my tires to 20 PSI and disconnected the battery. I took my laptop, some clothes and my other valuables as carry-on luggage with me, but Buzz still weighed 322 kg (710 lb). Good thing they didn't charge by weight.

My flight ($254) left at 7pm and Buzz's left at 2am, which meant I would arrive later that same night and would have to go back to the airport in Bogota in the morning to pickup Buzz. Sounded good to me. What could possibly go wrong?