By Jayden and Aiden
This morning was much more relaxed, with no hikes, no hands-on activities, just a trip to see the famous Panama Canal.
We started the day by taking a boat out to the Gatun Lake, which is a (mostly) freshwater reservoir that serves both the canal and the wildlife. The lake is completely man-made, created as a result of damming the Chagres River by buidling the Gatun Dam.
As our guide, Rodney, explained, the lake, which now sits over where mountains and native communities once were, hosts a wide variety of wildlife, including many different types of birds, crocodiles, and monkeys. Once the lake filled the area, the mountains became islands. On our boat trip around Gatun Lake, we got to experience some of these creatures up close, such as a keel-billed toucan, howler monkeys, and some white-faced capuchin. Our guide explained to us that the white-faced capuchin can be an extremely aggressive and rude animal, not just because of their instincts, but because of tourism. Tourists frequently visit these islands in Gatun Lake. In fact, we witnessed it ourselves. These tourist boats frequently stopped to observe the animals, however, they would also come into close contact or even feed them. Our guide explained that the animals’ expectation of being fed by tourists is rather harmful, as it can disrupt their natural diets, ecological functions, and even make them more greedy or aggressive. For this reason, we intentionally stayed further away from the animals, only getting close enough to see them, but not close enough for them to make contact with our boat. We also learned that the geography of this man-made lake is also quite important, as it connects different ecological corridors, provides a lot of diversity as a wildlife reserve, and is the main source of water for the canal.
Then we made our way to see a documentary about the Panama Canal at the Panama Canal’s IMAX theater. We learned a lot about the history of the canal and how it actually works. Morgan Freeman voiced the documentary and perfectly described the features of the canal, including how the canal generates energy, how it doesn’t use any water pumps and uses gravity to move water from the Gatun Lake to the locks. This was pretty interesting because earlier that day we took the boat ride through the lake and canal and now we were learning about it. We also learned a lot about the challenges it took to make the canal like the mosquito battle and that the French originally failed to make it first.
Once the documentary was over we went outside to look at the Miraflores locks where we saw a huge container ship passing through.
Then we took the bus back to the hotel and got ready for our traditional Panamanian dinner where everyone ate traditional Panamanian food, like chicken or pork chops. Then we were treated with a performance from one of the indigenous tribes, which ended with a big dance circle and even Mr. Kolaris and Mrs. Pande busting a couple moves. Our night ended with a reflection on the roof of the hotel overlooking the city, where we reflected on our major takeaways from the trip and some favorite memories.