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Traveling Central America – The Panama Canal

The country of Panama is strategically located, geographically unique, and attempted its best over the centuries to exploit this fully. Since the time of the Portobello fairs to the railroad transisthmian first present to the interior, often considered the eighth wonder of the world.

A canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans had been a dream since the first Spanish settlement. Actually, it was Carlos V of Spain who first envisaged a shortcut through the Panamanian jungle to ease the difficult passage. Thus, in 1524, he ordered an inquiry into the earth. However, which inspired the king initially was not so much the possibilities of trade, both as a way to bring back to Spain, at least with difficulty the treasures of the treasure discovered recently in Peru. Unfortunately for him, earth-moving techniques were to need significant improvement before his idea could be realized.

It was not until 1826 when the United States began investigating a treaty with the countries of South America to "protect companies that want an open system communication between the two oceans, "the construction of a canal attracted worldwide interest, with France, Britain and the United States looking for locations and ways to avoid the long journey, difficult and dangerous around Cape Horn. The first attempt in this direction was the construction of the Railroad Transisthmian in 1855, which eliminated about 8000 kilometers of the route.

The first attempt at a canal was in 1854 by a multinational expedition that includes the United States, France, England and New Granada. But the impenetrability of the forest has taken its toll and the attempt failed, resulting in many deaths. But do not be intimidated in this effort the most crucial, in 1878 the French obtained a concession from Colombia to build a waterway. Again, after seven years to combat disease and other jungle problems the attempt was failed with yellow fever, malaria and various plagues dominating. This project, with the idea of building a channel level, was eventually abandoned at the turn of century.

Eventually, the creation of a canal became a military imperative for the United States, which began (unsuccessful) negotiations with Colombia in 1902. Finally, Panama declared its independence from Colombia in 1903 and the project went ahead. The monumental construction took 10 years to complete, at a cost of $ 387 million.

The Panama Canal is 50 miles long running from northwest to southeast. About eight hours is required for a vessel Typical traffic channel, while being gradually raised to a height of 85 feet through three sets of locks – the Gatun, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores.

The operation of the giant lock consumes large quantities of fresh water. For every ship passing along the waterway, about 52 million gallons of water flows for the blocks, then out to sea. This comes from Gatun and Madden lakes. The gates lock, marvels of engineering, consisting of pairs of leaves of tall 47-82 feet tall, 65 meters wide and seven meters thick. Its weight is 400-700 tons, but each can be opened or closed in 2 minutes, powered by electric motors.

To navigate the channel, the captain of a ship must leave the responsibility for his ship for a pilot of the Panama Canal. Currently over 250 pilots to drive more than 14,000 vessels per through the canal every year. The total time spent in the channel is about a whole day. Navigating the channel is not cheap for vessels with an average of 10s of thousands of dollars, depending on the size of the vessel and its contents. However, whatever the toll, which is usually ten times what it cost to sail around Cape Horn.

The Panama Canal Commission welcomes visitors at the Miraflores Locks on the Pacific side of the Isthmus seven days a week from 9am to 5pm. Ships passing through the locks can be seen from a pavilion where commentators provide a commentary in English and Spanish-language, giving full details of the channel, including the startling statistics. From yachts and small vessels to container ships, cruise liners and even huge small submarines, the Panama Canal is truly a international crossing point.

About the Author

Bianca Tavares guides you around Latin America, helping you to
learn Spanish
and even find some romantic Spanish poetry at
Learn Spanish for Love
.

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