While staying at the American Trade Hotel in Casco Viejo, I asked the concierge to arrange a half day, guided tour of the Canal Zone and Miraflores Locks. The hotel staff connected us with Juan Jose Calvache, the Executive Director of Manakin Adventures.
Juan met me in the lobby of the hotel and was my private guide and driver for the half day trip to the Canal Zone, the Miraflores Locks, Ancon Hill, Amador Causeway and the Biomuseo.
Panama Canal Zone
The entrance to the Panama Canal Zone is a short 15-minute drive from Casco Viejo. It stretches 82 km (51 miles) long and 8 km (5 miles) wide and covers the entire waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. For 76 years it was United States territory and feels very much like a US Military Base, reminiscent of the Presidio in San Francisco, CA.
In 1999 it was eventually turned over to Panamanian authorities, but many of the the buildings in the Canal Zone are well preserved, including the landmark Panama Canal Administration Building; it was inaugurated in 1914and is now a protected historical site. Jose’s tour took me through this area and he showed me the impact American families had on the region, including the baseball diamonds and goal posts from American Football fields.
Miraflores Locks
I visited the Miraflores Locks in May 2016, only a few weeks before the Canal Zone Expansion Project was complete, so I can’t speak to any tours beyond the original Miraflores Locks. I could, however, see the expansion site from Miraflores, and it was massive. The expansion added a third set of locks, doubled the Canal’s traffic and allowed much larger ships to pass through it (ships 1.5 times larger).
The Miraflores Locks include a museum, Visitor Center and observation deck where you can watch ships pass through the locks, which are basically a “water elevator,” lifting the ships up to the man-made Gatun Lake, which is 26 m (85 ft) above sea level. Over the past few years this region has experienced droughts, so passenger ships (Cruise Lines) were not allowed to pass, only cargo ships. The museum provides a lot of history (some dark and forgotten) behind the creation of the canal, but for me, the observation deck was the most interesting and memorable. As ships pass through the locks, an announcer will broadcast where the crew is from, where the ship began its voyage, its final destination and its cargo.
Ancon Hill
After the Canal Zone, Jose drove me to Ancon Hill, on the edge of the Canal Zone. Ancon Hill was named for the first ship to pass through the Canal in 1914, and it provides the best views of Panama City and Casco Viejo.
Biomuseo
The Biomuseo is one of the most colorful buildings in Panama City. It was designed by the renowned American architect Frank Gehry (The Guggenheim in Bilbao, The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles). Gehry’s wife is Panamanian and it was his first design in Latin America, which opened in October 2014.
Casco Viejo
Panama City is one of the most modern cities in Latin America, but local government has done a great job preserving the French Colonial, Art Deco and Afro Caribbean architecture. Here were some of my favorite buildings in the old city.
