By Franziska Beyer
When I was just starting my internship at EcoCircuitos, they already offered me the opportunity to participate on my first tour. As the Panama Canal Transit is one of the tours that you can impossibly miss if you visit this wonderful little country, it was like a dream coming true when they asked me to take part.
The EcoCircuitos team was preparing all things carefully, expecting 12 tourists from Australia for the tour on the boat through the canal, starting from Calzada Amador.
While the sun was rising we left the base, I was swept off my feet when slowly we were able to see the amazing skyline of Panama City.
Every boat that passes the canal needs a captain that is authorized to maneuver through the canal; I noticed a mystic atmosphere when our tourists were welcoming him on our boat.
The Panama Canal is a 77km long passageway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean via the Caribbean Sea, opened in 1914. Thinking about the fact that the construction of the canal took such a long time and people from different countries were working on this difficult project I got more and more excited when we started passing through the Bridge of the Americas. I felt so small in our boat gazing at a big container ship accompanying our boat all along the pass trough the canal.
Taking millions of photos when passing the first locks, the Miraflores Locks, to save this unbelievable and unique moment, I got even more nervous when I realized that I had the chance to live this moment once again passing the Pedro Miguel Locks.
I breathed deeply to prepare for this second marvelous moment.
Leaving the boat at Gamboa I felt like on top of the world because of having accomplished one of my dreams.
Our fantastic tour continued until we reached Fort San Lorenzo that was attacked in 1670 by buccaneer Henry Morgan leaving it in ruins. Henry Morgan invaded Panama City using San Lorenzo as his base; visiting this beautiful place you can almost smell Morgan and his crew. In 1980 UNESCO declared San Lorenzo as a World Heritage and EcoCircuitos completed this incredible tour with a luxurious picnic at this amazing place.
So far this tour with EcoCircuitos was my highlight visiting one of my favorite countries, the lovely and marvelous Republic of Panama.
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