Now that I have been retired from my secular job for quite a while and as I continue to step into each day with a purpose of making the most of another God given day, my curiosity has not been dimmed by reality. I love to look at history firsthand not dished out by textbooks or hearsay which in itself is very dangerous. The news feeds do not usually get it right in case you are not aware. Do not believe everything you hear or see on the 24-hour breaking news cycles. Why? Because like most things, new media have been so commercialized that they have compromised their standards to report what sells to their audience. Gone are the days that news is reported strictly based on facts. They also spin it on who they consider to be their listening audience. Has history changed? No, but reporting of such has sadly. I am listening to an unabridged story of Winstin Churchill from his childhood and throughout his life. He was hated, mocked, ridiculed, ran out of office, then back into office at the most crucial time in our modern history not because the politicians and news media of the time wanted him, but the people needed him because he spoke the truth regardless of the naysayers of the time. God has given each of us a gift to spend our days on this ball of earth anyway we choose. We can make a total mess of the days, learn from our mistakes and if it is His will, finish our days strong for those who are left behind when our days are done. Take one day at a time and make the most of this God given gift. Here are 17 days in my continuing story.
After a nice week with our son and his family down in Florida, we met our cruise ship called the “Island Princess”, on Saturday, January 24th and sailed away. If you have ever been on a cruise, you know that it takes a few days just to find your cabin, where to eat and where to walk to see the best scenery. This first day was all about exploring the ship. Of course, the first place to find is where is the buffet so you can eat like you have never been fed. By the end of the cruise, you may wish you had not visited this first, but that is all part of the fun of letting go and enjoying oneself.
After stuffing yourself and watching the ship depart Ft. Lauderdale, we found the theater for a comedian named Gary DeLena to make us laugh. What a great start!
Day 2 included more eating, then we watched amazing but true tales and learned a little about Cartagena and Fuerto Amador, hung around the pool, ate some more, watched the comedian again, tuned into the NFL playoff games and ended with a Broadway musical by Lovena Fox.
Day 3 was more eating. You get the picture that eating was at least 3-4 times a day. My advice is to lose about 40 pounds before you embark on a cruise. Maybe I will take my own advice next time. We enjoyed a talk about the history and building of the Panama Canal. The speaker, Mr. Gary Shahan, has made his mission about this magnificent engineering feat for over 30 years. He shared with me his presentation and an awesome video clip of the canal from beginning to end. We ended our day with another awesome theatrical performance called “Encore”.
On day 4, we disembarked at Cartagena, Columbia for a long excursion on a bus through the new part of the city then the old city & historical museum. According to the Princess brochure, the city’s old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The country of Columbia is one of the largest flower producers in the world importing 70% to the USA including 1,500 orchid species. The Cartagena Folklore performance was a nice feature added to our visit.
We are back onboard for another day at sea, before we entered the Panama Canal. Apart from the eating which I will skip talking about, we watched a true story about the life of a Caribbean Pirate and more about the Panama Canal, today and tomorrow. Here are a few things Mr. Shahan shared in-depth on a flash drive he gave me after his talks.
The journey through the Canal on day 6 took all day and covers 50 miles of waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It was completed in 1914 culminating from a dream in 1513 when Balboa became the first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama. In 1880 Ferdinand de Lesseps and the French Canal company who were the builders of the Suez Canal began construction. They failed due to lack of disease control, cost overruns and engineering problems put them in a situation where they had to take a loss and sell their stakes to the USA for $40 million dollars losing $247 million dollars. The US began in 1904 completing the project in 1914 for $387 million. They had three problems to overcome. First, was the engineering required to carve out a channel through the Continental Divide, thus creating the then largest man-made lake. Second, they had to overcome sanitation problems that impacted those working in insect infested plus yellow fever among other diseases due to unclean conditions. Third, they had to get a handle on how best to organize such a feat outside the USA, so they had to build international support. During the USA ownership until December 31, 1999, they did not charge vessels traversing the Canal more than their cost to operate. After 1999, the Panamanian government was given back control, and they have made a lot of money charging vessels ever since.
Before the canal was built a railroad was constructed, taking 5 years to build from 1850 to 1855. A 47-mile journey costing up to 12,000 lives in the process.
The French effort was doomed from the beginning as they tried to use the same concept as the Suez Canal which was a sea level crossing. They did not account for the huge differences between the Atlantic and Pacific sea levels. They wanted a flat dry solution and that was far from reality. The jungles and the effort to excavate through such terrain left them in dept with around 22,000 deaths due to accidents and disease. They could not appreciate engineering difficulties and resolve disease issues. Their effort was not all lost as 40% of the excavation was completed.
In 1902, the US Congress debated between Panama which was part of Colombia at the time and Nicaragua which had active volcanos. A vote was taken and Panama won by four votes mostly because just prior to the vote Mt. Pelee erupted in Martinique killing 30,000 people. Between the fear of volcanos and the amount of money already invested in Panama it won just barely. Politics was in play I am sure back then as it is now. It was still not a done deal as Colombia was playing hard ball with negotiations. The US did not negotiate with them. Instead, they supported a Panamanian revolt against Colombia and had offered US Naval support. The US paid Panama $10 million up front and paid rent of $250,000 annually. US also gave Colombia $25 million in 1921 for helping Teddy Roosovelt broker the deal. Sounds a bit fishing to me but goes to show you politics has not really changed over the years. Just the names. Was Teddy a hero or a thug?
John Wallace was the first Chief Engineer between 1904-5 then quit some say due to the bureaucracy of the time. Makes sense, especially if he thought it was a suicide mission. Maybe he did as he brought both his and his wife’s coffins to Panama. John Stevens took over from 1905 to 1907. He rebuilt the Panama Railroad, improved sanitation, built housing, recruited workers, improved dirt removal/disposal.
Dr. William Gorgas was a sanitation expert who improved conditions further by paving roads, removing standing water, introducing fumigation and increasing public awareness that mosquito bites cause malaria. John Stevens quit after 2 years. Not sure why but Teddy was not a happy camper. He replaced John with Major George W. Goethals to finish the job. Teddy became the first standing president to leave the US on a diplomatic mission.
The work was still hard, but the engineering feat is still a marvel. The Pacific tides are 20 feet where in the Atlantic at 1 ½ feet. They made it a success with three locks on both sides utilizing fresh water from the man-made lake called Gatun. The lake is completely restored with enough fresh water to service the locks with the excess water going out to sea. It took 4 years to build an 85-87 feet deep lake to allow a constant supply of fresh water. 43,000 workers with 6,000 deaths but job done just in time for beginning of World War conflicts. Navy ships used the canal during those conflicts. The USS Missouri Battleship passed through in 1945 with 1 foot to spare on each side of the locks. It met its demise at Pearl Harbor as you may recall.
Panama riots on January 9th, 1964, made the involvement in the Canal a political football so President Carter started the process of getting out of the Panama Canal business. A treaty was signed in 1977 with the gradual control of the Canal to Panama by December 31, 1999, allowing a permanent neutrality with the US retaining the right to defend it. Was that a good deal? Some say maybe and some say not. Only history will eventually tell the facts. One thing is for sure; the Panamanians make a lot of money charging vessels. Technology is growing as well as moving cargo techniques so there will no doubt be a time when the Canal is not crucial. When will that time be? Who knows, but in the meantime, it is a vital passageway when you look at the alternatives.
It saves three weeks of time and 8,000 miles going through the Panama Canal versus going around South America starting in Florida and ending in California. Over 1.2 million ships have passed through the Canal since its opening. Remember, the USA did not make a profit on the running of the Canal whereas the Panamanian government collects a lot of profit and is steadily growing. 2023 they made $2.5 Billion, 2024 $3.45 Billion. The numbers for 2025 are not reported yet but are steadily growing. The new locks allowing bigger vessels to take advantage of the shorter route opened June 26, 2016. Not only is this an engineering marvel, but it is also very lucrative for the Panamanians.
On day 7, we found ourselves at Fuerte Amador situated in the Pacific entrance to the Canal. It is a man-made peninsula extending out into the Pacific Ocean. There is a one-mile causeway built from the excavation efforts for the man-made lake and connects four small islands creating the city.
Day 8 we are at sea enjoying a relaxing day. (Eating too much. Yes.) Then day 9 we are off to visit Puntarenas, Costa Rica, known by the Spanish explorers as the “Rich Coast” due to its rumors of gold and other treasures. It is also known as the Switzerland of the Americas. It was very nice to see young dancers in traditional dress perform while we clapped to the music then a walk through a butterfly enclosure. While we drove through the city streets for just this day only an election for a new president was being held. What a contrast to how we elect folks. The results appear to be in now with Laura Fernandez declaring victory dominating the votes due to her right-wing populist stance. They gather in the streets, cast their votes via picture at one of many voting stations and may take a few weeks before results are confirmed to announce a winner. Is our voting better? Maybe, we should look at how we can get to honest elections without media bias. Is that possible?
We were back on the ship for day 10 for more, you guess it, eating, then enjoyed time at the pool before watching a few shows. Day 11 we saw Puerto Chiapas, Mexico which is the southernmost part of Mexico and the town of Tapachuta meaning “Flooded Land” founded in 1486 by the Aztecs. The boarder of Guatemala is nearby, and we saw many signs of military patrols keeping the illegal drug traders away. We visited the Izapa archaeological site, where stone carvings reveal connections to the early Mayan calendar. At Tuxtla Chico, we learned the history of the sacred cacao bean and watched how that bean which when roasted, ground up, added sugar, and cinnamon to make chocolate. The bean is enclosed inside a nice tasting soft white substance, but the hard bean is not very good to eat until it is roasted and tastes like a burnt peanut before ground and sugar added to make the final product.
Day 12 we decided to stay on board instead of going on an exertion to Huatulco, Mexico. This place is made up of nine bays bordered by 36 beaches so not really our thing. We watched a folklore performance called the heart of Huatulco on the ship which was very nice. Day 13, at sea again, where we did the usual but did watch a very interesting talk on the history of Route 66. The speaker shared his presentation with me giving me a lot of insight to this peace of American history. Here are a few notes about the first presentation with more to follow on our next day at sea. It started out as an unpaved dirty road before being paved in 1930 to become an early freeway. Route 66 started in 1926 from Chicago to Los Angels at approximately 2300 miles. It was fun to listen to the old classics as the presentation was going on like “Davy Crockett/song, underwear! “and “King of the Wild Frontier”. Songs in 1955. Also, remember Chubby Checker. Also, John Steinbeck’s 1960 movie “The Grapes of Wrath” about the 1930 novel of Okies traveling the route for better conditions escaping the depression and dust bowl conditions. It reminded me of my mother who found herself in California looking for a better life with her family. The music of those days around the route 66 was awesome like “Get your Kicks on Route 66”. Remember Wolfman Jack, the song “Big Girls Don’t Cry” TV shows like “Father Knows Best”, and “Beverly Hillbillies”.
On day 14 we disembarked at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico which was a sleepy little village but no more. It is now an international resort city made famous by film director John Huston and his hit “Night of the Iguana” starring Richard Burton. He brought his then girlfriend Elizabeth Taylor to share time of well, you know. We visited the Church of Our Lady of Guadelupe, the beautiful Mosaic tile park, and finished with a nice meal after Mexican traditions of tequila tasting. Someone got to try it so that was I. LOL
Day 15 and 16 back at sea doing the usual overeating, watching shows, listening to awesome music. One band in particular was very entertaining playing all kinds of music from Beatles to all sorts of rock and roll. They were called the “Tide Breakers”. We got to meet them and found out they are all from England riding this cruise ship back and forth through the Panama Canal then staying onboard to sail to Hawaii, then Australia and New Zealand before finishing their gig. It is a long time, but the lead guy says it pays the bills back home. We watched a show called “On the Bayou” reminding us of New Orleans passing a good time. I watched the NFL Superbowl where the Seahawks beat the Patriots. Nice to watch the game though I had no skin in the game but enjoyed the fans going crazy. We also watch more about the story of Route 66.
As all things must come to an end, we had to pack up on the night of day 16 to get ready to disembark in Los Angelas on Day 17. We headed to the airport for a long wait before our flight back to New Orleans arriving by Mid-Night.
What a trip! This one is now off our bucket list. Now, we are looking for more adventures enjoying life one day at a time.