Locks (Las Esclusas)

Yesterday we saw Panama's most famous attraction: the Panama Canal! We saw a cruise ship go through, and as we stood among the crowds overlooking the locks taking photos, we saw that those aboard the cruise ship were reciprocating our enthusiasm. We waved and hollered and received waves and hollers several times. It took about 20-30 minutes for the cruise boat to enter the lock, for the water to lower, the doors to open, and the boat to advance. One of my favorite aspects is that the ships don't sail through the locks, they are pulled by 4-6 small locomotives that carefully guide them through the lock so they don't hit the sides. There's only about five feet of clearance on either side of the biggest ships. We also saw a sailboat pass through, which looked pretty cute because it was about 1/100th of the size of the other ships.

We learned about the history of the canal at the museum, too. Here are some of my favorite facts:

1. The narrowest part of the canal was basically built through solid rock. (That's probably why it's the narrowest part--it was so hard to drill through the rock that they only carved away what was entirely necessary.)
2. Enough dirt/soil/rock was removed as would have been removed if one had dug straight through the diameter of the Earth.
3. Each lock contains 100 million liters of water.
4. When the mosquitoes became a problem, spreading malaria and other diseases, a huge project was enacted that drained basically all the standing water in the city. 
5. Most ships are charged around $300,000 to pass through the canal.
6. Richard Haliburton swam the canal in 1948, and he was only charged 36 cents!

The Queen Elizabeth.

The Miraflores Locks (there are two here).

The lock doors weigh as much as 300 elephants. I assume they are well-fed, healthy elephants.

Me and Mallory. Notice, between our heads, the ship entering the lock.

Sailboat! It may have cost the owners of this boat several thousand dollars to pass through the canal.