AN ABUNDANCE OF BUTTERFLIES....

PANAMA!

Motto:  The Land Divided.  The World United.

According to some sources, the first expeditions to Panama arrived in August when butterflies are most prevalent in that part of the rain forest.   Hence, the name Panama which in some Spanish translations means "an abundance of butterflies".

I also arrived on my first expedition to Panama in August, but centuries later when Panama City was celebrating its 500th anniversary and the Panama Canal was also celebrating a milestone anniversary of its expansion.                                                                          

I never thought I would get there.  Seeing the Panama Canal was one of those items on my bucket list that I finally removed some time ago when I realized that there was probably not going to be opportunity to get any farther south of the United States border than Mexico.  

Then with our new revised bidding process at work which is NOT based on seniority, I saw this trip to Panama City pop up last month when I was looking for a trip to trade out of  a two-day assignment that had me working on a Saturday.  I must have logged on almost the moment it had been posted because after my surprise that I had actually been awarded that trip, the messages from other flight attendants began to find my VM and my inbox.  "I would like to take your trip to Panama City " with variations of "and I will give you my Narita trip or any other trip in my line" or some other offerings that I really wasn't interested in.

In spite of having to be to DIA by 4:30 a.m. on a Friday...and having to work on Saturday with a release time after midnight... I wanted to go on this trip.  I couldn't believe I had actually "scored" it considering that for so many years this kind of assignment was totally out of my reach.  

So began my second adventure in Central America.  Most importantly it was a possible opportunity to see the Panama Canal which my dad used to talk about A LOT!  It was he from whom I cultivated a fascination with history and geography.  His interest in people and places found fertile ground in me, largely because of his own interest and the enthusiasm with which he shared his passion for the people and places in the world.  

But I didn't have a clue how I would actually get to the Canal.  Just being in the county in close proximity was the first step--and I would have settled for that if nothing else--but I wanted to SEE the Canal.  My dad had taught me about locks and canals as we went on vacations and encountered them (definitely planned ahead by him, I'm sure) most notably to the locks in Puget Sound.  Then I saw the ones in Michigan at Sault Saint Marie for myself when we were coming home from living in Virginia.  They are pretty fascinating pieces of engineering, though I am not at all into that kind of stuff except for the wonder of their purpose.

On the flight to Panama City I queried everyone else on the crew if they had been there before, what would I have to do to get there, etc.  My flying partner in the back (She was the FIRST one to beg me to give her my trip because she had lived there and wanted to see friends and a whole bunch of other reasons.  I had turned her down, but she had convinced the original person on the crew just the night before to trade with that promise of a Narita trip.  She was one of those flight attendants  you'd be glad you only had to fly one trip with!)  

She turned me off with her "so superior" attitude of "know it all" , so I turned to the First Officer who  told me that even though the Marriott Hotel we were staying at was 30 minutes away, there are tour guides in singular cars that would take one person or more to the Canal, guide them through the museum, allow the passengers to watch the IMAX movie and bring them back to the hotel for $60/car.  The First Officer said he would go with me.

Then began the nightmare of our flight.  Number 47 on the runway to take off from Houston.  It took over an hour.  (Put me in mind of that episode of Buster and Babs--Bugs Bunny's nephew and niece--cartoons that my kids used to watch in which their human friend was at the controls of an airplane and said something like, "Number 75 for take off.  But why wait..." as he pulled back the stick and the plane shot straight up and out into the sky.) 

Then I realized that my position on the plane which I have bid for EVERY month and been awarded that position EVERY month since last October suddenly changes when there is a language qualified person on the crew.  Then instead of working in the back like I prefer to do, I was suddenly in charge of the forward galley which, not only do I NOT like to do, I'm no good at it because of the osteo-arthritis in my right hand.  I just can't make my hand work like it used to.  Fortunately, the purser had only been with the company for about a year and a half.  She said she would handle things in whatever way I wanted to do.  I told her I was a "cracker jack" aisle person.  So, I would do all her boarding announcements, let her be the "bartender" while I took orders for predeparture drinks and run them out, take the meal orders, and after she prepared the trays I would serve the passengers, and all the rest that goes with that assignment.  She agreed.  That made my time up front for two flights less stressful, for sure.  Thank you, Lea!

So, we were late arriving into Panama City.  Right in time for Friday afternoon traffic.  A slow crawl into the city which made our arrival so late, there is no way we would have gotten to the Canal before the Visitor Center closed.  What good would it have been to get to the Canal and not be able to go up to the observation deck, take a picture that PROVED I had been there, peruse the museum, and watch the IMAX movie narrated by  none other than Easy Reader (for those of you who remember The Electric Company) Morgan Freeman.  As we were checking into the hotel, the First Officer said he was sorry to bail on me but the time constraint made it an unattractive prospect.  And they had to leave on an earlier flight in the morning so no time then.  But....he would buy me a beer.  I thanked him, but no thanks on the beer, and went to my room.  Then I put on my regular clothes and went out for a walk on crowded, crowded city streets to do some sight-seeing on my own.  

If EVER there had been a time I mightily wished Louis was there with me on a layover, this would have been at the top of THAT list.  Still I enjoyed going out and walking to see the sights until it was getting dark.

Okay, I tried to reason away my disappointment.  So I didn't make it to the Canal.  I made it to Panama which is some place I thought I would never get to see.  Get over it.

But I thought a lot about it that night after I went to bed.  "Come on!  You're a grown woman!  You've lived in two foreign countries, there isn't a real threat of danger in going to the Canal by myself, you can go there and still be back by noon in time for the pick up, and you're not that BIG of a ninny!"  

So, I got up the next morning, got ready, and presented myself to the Concierge down in the hotel lobby just after 8 a.m.

He walked me right out to the first of MANY identical touring cars lined up at the hotel, introduced me to the driver in a white golf shirt with touring company logo,  told him what I wanted to do, and asked if I were okay with the $60 fee the driver pointed out to me on his price sheet.  YES!  And I got in.....

The First Officer was right.  This was NOT difficult.  These are people in business to take tourists like me--safely and informatively--where we want to go. The driver who didn't feel confident speaking fluent English, communicated with me by speaking Spanish into his smart phone app which then appeared immediately in English so I could reply in English and immediately my response translated into Spanish.  WOW!  (I since learned this is just a ho hum regular thing--not the spectacular feat I was struck with.)

And, also just like the First Officer told me, the driver stayed with me during the entire visit to the Visitor's Center except the IMAX movie which he said they would not let him accompany me, but that he would meet me in the parking lot when it was over 45 minutes later.  On the observation platform, the driver introduced me to his friend who gave me a whole tour guide as we went around the entire expanse of the perimeter from one vista to the next.  It was great!  Informative but not stuffy, and I loved seeing the grandeur of the expanse from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans as he was pointing out the ships and the old Canal and the most recent addition of a larger Canal to accommodate the huge ships now.  

Next was the Museum.  You might already know I read every word on EVERY placard.  The driver was patient while I did that, guiding me from one exhibit to the next with offers here and there to have him take my picture.  This was stuff I had learned in my own history and geography books while I was in school.  

Ross' words floated through my mind.  The ones he always used to say while we were doing the tourist thing everywhere we went with the kids.  "Well, you've heard about it.  You've read about it.  You've seen it on TV.  And now here you are!"  Incredible that a kid from a little hick town in Wyoming has been able to see so many wonderful things around the world.

I had asked the driver if there was a place at the Canal where I could buy souvenirs.  He said  yes, but they were expensive.  He told me that after we left the Visitor Center, he would take me to a shopping area in Panama City that had Mercados where I could purchase souvenirs for less money.  He did that when we left, according to his word. 

 Along the way he took me through all kinds of areas in the city where he also kept up a running commentary of where we were--"the most humble part of my city", the beautiful cathedrals, and the modern buildings.  Sure enough we pulled into a narrow street crowded with shoppers just like me.  He parked in the middle of the street and went into the Mercado with me where I spent some time looking at local artifacts, Panama hats both plain and decorated for the 500th anniversary of Panama City, and YES!  Nativity sets!  Of course I had to have one. 

I purchased an eight figure set including the Holy Family, two animals, and three Panamanian "wisemen".  In the shelf display, the baby Jesus was missing.  I asked the clerk.  And she told me it had been stolen.  What a shocker!   That happens in Panama, too.  But she had a set in the back which included the baby.  And now I can hardly wait to display my new Nativity set which I got from a Lamanite country which wasn't a gift to me (all of which I dearly love!) but I was actually "there" for this one.

Here are some factoids (not in any order, just off the top of my head) from the museum and from Morgan Freeman's narrative which began with Balboa's Spanish expedition in the early 1500's when he first saw the Pacific Ocean.  Balboa.  Now there's a name I recognized from elementary school history lessons!  Loved the movie from the first word of the presentation.

--the locks work entirely on the principle of gravity.  There are three sets of locks the ships go through to achieve the correct level of water to proceed from one side of the isthmus to the other.  Opening each of the three locks raises the ship just the right number of feet to the next lock, etc. until the ship reaches the lake.

--the Canal does NOT cut across the country from East to West.  The canal starts out due South and then makes a sharp turn to go straight East.  (Had to readjust my mind's eye on that one!)

--though a French company first started the canal project in the late 1800's they failed when the engineer, who had successfully built the Suez Canal, ran  into difficulties.  Not dry desert he was working with this time.  Rain forest, hot and humid temperatures, disease borne by insects, land slides, etc.  Whole different ball game....

--the United States took over the project after they spent ONE DAY around 1900 backing the Panamanians to break off with Colombia to whom they belonged.  The US had originally thought of building a canal through Nicaragua.  But now Panama was the place it was to be built.  The original Canal was finished in 1904

--the Canal is just shy of 50 miles long and connects 160 countries in shipping routes that no longer have to go around the tip of South America to get from the Pacific to Europe or from the Atlantic to Asia

--though the United States had complete control of the Canal Zone in perpetuity, there came a time when things didn't go so well.  It's operation was intended only to break even.  But the Panamanians felt like their country should get some monetary benefit from the canal.  Jimmy Carter and the Panamanian leader signed a treaty in the 70's that Panama would take complete control of the Canal at noon on December 31,1999.  

--more than a hundred years after the original canal was completed, a second canal parallel to the first was completed which now allows larger ships, some as long as the Eifel Tower is high,  presently carrying cargo on top and not just in the hold, to transit through this miraculous waterway

--it takes about 8-10 hours for the complete trip through the canal

--about 13,000 ships go through the Panama Canal every year

--toll fees are expensive and are based on cargo, size of the vessel, etc.  The smallest fee was $.036 in 1928 paid by Richard Haliburton when he SWAM  through the Canal.  The most expensive fee to date was in 2018 charged to a Polish vessel with over 13,000 shipping containers.  That fee was over $1,000.000 and change!

-- Brazil may be the only country that comes to mind when you think of "rainforest", but Panama's Darien jungle is a lush area near the equator that is also a major part of the Central American rainforest.  Adds up to heavy jungle and stupefying humidity

--after my "history lesson" that day, I had a better picture of WHY Louis had been in Panama in late 1989 while he served in the Army.  The Army had been called in to quell any disturbances that were arising in the clash between the US presence and the native Panamanians who wanted the US out--and it was during this time that the Army ultimately captured the notorious dictator Noriega after he had been terrorizing much of Central America for years.  Louis has always said he felt that the US presence in Panama, though not popular with everyone, was a plus for that country.  It gave Panama the foundation for what they were able to carry on and do for themselves as they established a free country with eventual control of the Panama Canal

--and finally...there are about 16,000 species of butterflies in Panama.  Definitely "an abundance"

I'm so very happy that I was able to see this divided country that unites the world.  

AND...MY DAD WOULD HAVE LOVED IT, TOO !

NOTE:  As it turned out, my "know-it-all" flying partner DIDN'T know it all.  When I actually got to the Visitor Center, she had told the hours of operation wrong, how to take a transport to get there, and more.  She said taxi was better.  But taking a taxi was about $40 just one way without all the "extras" I got from my guide.  AND...she decided she was too tired to hook up with her friends after all!  So, there you have it. One trip with her was a week's worth!