Panama is amazing.....!!!

Panama is a booming country as far I see, I have not read much about it's economy but you see construction everywhere, I would guess that 50 % of the super buildings in Panama City are under construction as we speak. The avenue you see in the picture was inagurated ...a month ago !!!! and build with the soil that's been removed in the construction of the third channel, many areas has been "created" with the material removed to build the channel, one is a road that conects Panama with three small islands in font of the city and there is a plan in the pipeline to build an artificial iland in front of the bay....impressive.

 Also cities in Chiriqui province (where I sleep in David) are doing work to increase tourism around the beaches.

The channel that links the Pacific with the Atlantic oceans is about 77 km long and 15000 vessels cross in a yearly bases paying a fee based on weight to the Panama estate. The channel, project started under French leadership in 1880 and after almost 20000 death,  it was abandoned  until the USA took over the construction. It was build by the US Army Corps of engineering and inagurated in 1941, transferred to Panama for full control in 2000 and looks like revenues are pumping the growth

The city is modern and buildings are huge.....there is some marginal areas as well but my impression is that these are going to disappear soon.

 As a legacy of the American presence, you can see all the barracks that used to hold soldiers that has become a variety of different things like the Ciudad del Saber, a government initiative to sponsor technology and education and where UNICEF has their headquarters in Panama.

 Ok, finally I shipped my bike to Ecuador (Quito) and I'm leaving today at noon to join her and start the other stage of the trip.

 So far Panama and Costa Rica looks like the more prosperous areas I've visited in Central America and I would recommend to visit.I hope you guys are enjoying and comments about how to improve the site are welcome.

 Jorge