"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain
It's been a long time since my last post. I've found It is a lot harder to keep up with a blog when you are moving around a lot. Since my last post, I've spent a week in Panama City, a week in Santiago, Chile, a week in La Campana National Forest, and a few days in Valparaiso, Chile. It has been very eventful and I will do my best to recap the highlights!
Panama City, Panama is the biggest city I have visited in Central America. The Panama Canal has a huge impact on the economy and it is evident from the skyscrapers that litter the city. I was lucky to find a great hostel with a pool in the middle of the downtown area for $15 a night. Besides visiting the Panama Canal, I found that there isn't a whole lot to do in Panama City that you can't do back in the states. I spent most of my time exploring the city and chilling at the hostel whle I waited for Sam and Marlon to arrive. The highlight of my time here was definately visiting the Panama Canal.
The significance of the Panama Canal cannot be overstated. Close to 20,000 ships cross the Canal annually, saving 7,872 miles of additional travel around the tip of South America. The average cargo ship pays around $250,000 to cross the canal, with the highest toll ever recorded at $375,000. The dimensions of the locks are 110 feet wide by 1,000 feet long. The maximum width of any ship passing through the canal is 106 feet, leaving just 24 inches on either side of the boat.To make sure the boats keep in their lanes, there are two sets of trains that are used to guide them. It was incredible to see the percision used in the process. The boat that I saw go through was a car carrier and It is hard to believe that it is considered a medium size boat!
I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of Santiago, Chile. The food, the people and the architecture of the city were all so wonderful and I could definately see it as a place that I would like to live. While it is much more expensive than the cities I visited in Central America, it is much cleaner and developed. I spent most of my time here exploring the city, eating great food, and planning out the rest of our trip. During this time we talked with a lot of Chilean locals about our potential trip down to Patagonia. We were told that this is the worst time of year to travel down south, and that Chile has a lot to offer north of Santiago. With this in mind, we decided we would go north towards Bolivia, following a popular backpacking route along the way.
After we made the decision not to go south to Patagonia, we still wanted to go camping somewhere in Chile. We chose La Campana National Forest, Chile for a day of camping and hiking. We enjoyed La Campana so much that one night turned into four. We had a great time and it was a very memorable part of my trip.
Valparaiso, Chile is a very interesting port town a couple hours outside of Santiago. The hillsides are littered with houses and street graffiti. There are so many big hills in the city that there are trams that act as escalators going up hill. We had a great time here eating seafood, discoverinf different street graffiti, and visiting Pablo Neruda's house. I reccomend anyone who is visitng Chile to make a stop in Valparaiso!
