Our First Shore Excursion - Fuerte de San Lorenzo

Last night coming out of the Panama Canal, the wind was blowing up the ocean pretty significantly as we made our way to Colon, Panama for our third day.  It was kind of funny seeing people walking down the hallways like they were drunk as the ship was definitely bouncing around.  I worried, at first, that I might get seasick but that didn't happen and I was glad for that.  It continued throughout the evening until we docked in Colon about 4 a.m., so sleep was a bit disrupted.

We awoke about 6 a.m. and were ready for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. to allow time before our shore excursion. Viking offers a variety of shore excursions each day.  There's always one that is "included" with the overall cruise package and several others that are "optional", sometimes costly and other times pretty reasonable.  We started off with our first shore excursion on this trip with the "included" one - a visit to Fort San Lorenzo which was about 8 miles from where our ship was docked.

It might've been the longest eight miles I've ever been on - about an hour.  Why?  First, Colon is the only city in Panama that doesn't use traffic lights.  In a city of 282,000, you can imagine the havoc that creates so it took us awhile to get out of the city.  Then, one stretch of the roadway was nothing but potholes with cars creeping along, a situation our guide, Reynaldo, assured us would be corrected for our next visit.  

Colon, itself, had some pretty run down areas which Reynaldo explained was housing for the masses that dated back 100 years. He indicated that the people who lived there didn't want to move as it would mean a tripling of their housing expense and utilities.  With some of these buildings, I'm not sure how much longer they'll have that choice. 

We're in the rainy season here in Panama (and Central America) which runs from May - December, while January - April is the dry season.  Today was sunny on and off and rainy on and off, but we managed to stay dry the whole time and throughout our visit to Fort San Lorenzo.

The fort's ruins and associated village site are located on a promontory overlooking the mouth of the Chagres River.  In 1502 during his fourth and final voyage, Christopher Columbus discovered the river. Spain built this fort in 1560 to protect the area from pirates who were making big inroads in attacking the populace.  The fort languished over the next couple centuries until the gold rush brought renewed interest.  Believe it or not, Americans would come to Panama and traverse its short distance to the Pacific Ocean (and then sail up to California) instead of going across the continental US.

The visit was nice - mostly old ruins - and we returned to the ship in time for a lovely lunch at one of the restaurant choices (Mamsen's), a Norwegian deli.  After that, we indulged ourselves with a lovely massage, then the onboard lecture about tomorrow in Costa Rica, and finally dinner.  After that, an hour or so of television (CNN is about the best we can get for news) and then bed for an early start tomorrow.

Great to be together with Cheryl and away from all the distractions of Columbus.  And seeing the bigger world and the people in it is always a wonderful treat.  Not bad for a boy from Clarksburg, Ohio and a girl from Pea Ridge, West Virginia. 

We're looking forward to seeing Costa Rica tomorrow and will report back on our visit into the rain forest tomorrow.

Comments

  1. Mary Lee HessDecember 23, 2025 at 7:15 AM

    So funny seeing you dressed for equatorial America, when it’s been so cold where we are, although it is scheduled to get warmer. Seeing another part of the world is always interesting too. It always makes me appreciate what we have.

    My grandkids are getting so big. I asked them what they want for Xmas, they all said an iwatch!

    Hope to see you soon!





    ReplyDelete
  2. MarianDecember 24, 2025 at 4:44 PM

    That's a cool t-shirt, JD. Where did you get it? : >)

    ReplyDelete

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