10-Day Panama Trip

It's 4:30 am here and I just got in.. I'll post a bunch of photos soon but I'm beat right now after flying, flight delays, and being up for 22 hours so far. So here's a little taste, the Bridge of the Americas at night:

Such beautiful colours.

I'll look forward to more pics soon.

wow, that came out great! lucky you!

That connects North and South America?

Yes it does bruce. It is part of the Pan-American Highway and was for awhile the only permanent bridge across the canal effectively linking North and South America. Before it's construction ferries and a swinging bridge that had to open for ever ship were relied on for ground traffic.

As promised here is a snippet of the 400+ photos I took:

Typical street on the city outskirts




Public transportation




Every building was fenced or walled and topped with barbed wire




Local kids at school








Building a large shelter that will house a twice a week feeding program for impoverished local kids




Stray dogs were everywhere


Ships waiting to go through the canal

The Miraflores Lock of the canal






The bell tower and some ruins of Old Panama


A part of the city skyline

Great pictures!

They really are good. Thanks for posting them.

Thanks. I've got more shots of everything I've already posted, so just let me know if there is anything else you want to see more of!

Bullitt, were you down there for work or vacation?

Nice job.... well done. The flowers are beautiful and camo leaves, too. I hope you got a closer shot of the mural painted on that first bus. The second bus looks like outhouses painted above the windshield.

I was down there for volunteer work with my college. Working with kids and doing the construction. We had a day and a half at the end to walk around in a market and sightsee.
I don't have a closer shot bruce, but here's a larger version with more detail:


Here's some more flowers

Whatever is in the mural, it looks evil.
Nice chrome rims on the back and that funky blue wheel on the front... strange.
Good job on the pics, thanks.

Very nice Bullit!

Methinks, Bullitt has an excellent future as a tour guide or travelogue producer for National Geographic/PBS.

xoxoxoBruce;344426 wrote:

Methinks, Bullitt has an excellent future as a tour guide or travelogue producer for National Geographic/PBS.

I have been rolling around the idea of switching from special education to a photojournalism major or something along those lines... what's another 4 years eh?

Thanks for the compliments everyone! :thumb:

I love those hibiscus flowers. They just look brilliant.

Do you ever enter any comps with your pics Bullitt?

The pics of the locks are incredible too. I can't quite describe why I think they're so amazing. I think mostly the subject. I've never seen anything like that in real life and I guess because it's kind of like seeing it through your eyes which are real as in a real person that I sort of, in a way know, it becomes more real.

Thanks for sharing this. I really appreciate it.

Bullit - they are fantastic pics!!

Do you mind if I put the black and white one of the dirt steps as my background?

I love that one and the one of the stray dogs!!

I think the switch would be great for you, seems to be right up your alley.

DucksNuts;344601 wrote:

Bullit - they are fantastic pics!!

Do you mind if I put the black and white one of the dirt steps as my background?

I love that one and the one of the stray dogs!!

I think the switch would be great for you, seems to be right up your alley.

Thanks! And I don't mind at all, here's a larger version if you'd like.
I really would love to make the switch, I just need to look into the details and figure out a thing or two.

Aliantha;344590 wrote:

I love those hibiscus flowers. They just look brilliant.

Do you ever enter any comps with your pics Bullitt?

The pics of the locks are incredible too. I can't quite describe why I think they're so amazing. I think mostly the subject. I've never seen anything like that in real life and I guess because it's kind of like seeing it through your eyes which are real as in a real person that I sort of, in a way know, it becomes more real.

Thanks for sharing this. I really appreciate it.

Yeah the hibiscus flowers were everywhere and always such cooperative subjects!
The lock basically was incredible. It's mind boggling how much water is used and the sheer size of everything involved. They don't even use water pumps, it's all gravity and valves and culverts that you can fit a train into.
I've never really entered any contests, only submitted work to my schools creative arts publication.. I got the cover last year :D

Here are some more random shots that I couldn't help but post:

Local neighborhood. Complete with shoes tied together and strung over the power lines


Lil local kid


F'ing roosters and chickens were everywhere. The roosters acted like dogs.. they crowed to each other at night at unGodly hours like a couple dogs barking back and forth. And when you would pass one while walking down the road it would crow at you for getting too close to its territory.


Construction day.. 90% humidity and 105 degrees when the sun was out.. 100% and 85-90 otherwise.


Goofing around


Fruit was everywhere. Mangos, bananas, pineapples, these wierd little ones that came in bunches, looked like miniature limes but had an orange-ish fruit inside


You tried to avoid these little sonsabitches as best you could.. but chance eventually caught up to you.


Sad


View of Paso Blanco at night. This is where we were building the pavilion for the children feeding program. It's an old slave community that has never broken out of the cycle of poverty.


More ruins of Old Panama




And some more of the canal/lock