Review of Portobelo and Gutan Locks tour

[lyttleone1977]

We were on the Carnival Liberty, in Panama on 11/1.

In Panama we did Portobelo and Gutan Locks tour, offered through the ship. This was the only port I really wanted to stick with the ship for the tour.

Tour the magical city of Portobelo, a market town and fortress that came to life once a year during the trading fairs.

On this excursion you will:

• Be transferred by bus from Colon to Portobelo.
  
• Visit Fort San Geronimo, Fort San Felipe, Customs House and the Black Christ Church.
  
• Learn the rich history of the Portobelo area.
  
• Leave Portobelo and head to the Gatun locks.
  
• Discover the history behind the engineering masterpiece of the Panama Canal.

Note: There will be a restroom stop prior to transferring to the Gatun Locks.

We actually did this tour in reverse. We went to the Gutan Locks first. There was a lot more to be discovered then I originally thought. Our guide explained that 9,000 people are employed at the locks, and that housing is offered to all of them onsite. Since the waterway is international, all of the people make good money. We drove through the housing units, saw where the new locks are being built at (the ones for the “big” ships), then taken to the locks themselves. We saw a ship containing 4,000 containers going through the locks. It is a slow process, but very interesting. Since Panama took over the canal from the US, the locks now operate 24 hours a day versus 12, and can process about 24 ships per day. Before a ship can go through the locks, it has to pay the canal through Citibank (transfer) in New York between $66,000- 300,000, depending on the size. The canal is Panama’s biggest source of revenue, with tourism at #5. According to the tour guide, it is projected that tourism with be number one within 5 years. (I took a bunch of notes for this, and could write about Panama all day! So I better quit.) We then headed for Portobelo. It is a very long ride there, but not to bumpy because of Colon ministers that live there (no pot holes). This is where the Black Christ Church is, Fort San Filipe and the Customs house. This is a town full of history, and the fort and water are picture perfect. The town it self is a little run down, but I got some beautiful pictures of the water. Note: We were only in Portobelo for approximately 30 minutes (if I would have known it was that short I may not have taken the tour). The guide was very knowledgeable and talked the entire time. The then drove us back to Colon, where they drove us through Fort Davies, which is now being turned into condos. There was a funeral for a fire fighter that had died the day before, so the roads were extremely backed up. We saw the tribute to the fire fighter while sneaking down a back street. There are also no traffic lights in Colon. It truly reminded me of New York City with all of the congestion. As a side note, people think they can go shopping in the Free Zone – this is not true. The Free Zone is really only for people who can buy in bulk, and you have to have a special permit to buy there. Not worth your time when just there for a day. There is some shopping at the pier. We picked up some good deals, but once again, not everyone takes credit cards. Got some awesome pictures as we were pulling out of Colon late (Panama Canal Tour and Panama City Tour were the two late coming back). It was a good tour to do with the kids, but if money had not been an issue, we would have done the Two Oceans by Train. My parents did it and thought it was wonderful, but there was no way I could afford over $600 for my family to take one tour!

This was a good tour for people with little kids - or if you want to have dinner at the supper club like we did - plenty of time for a nap!