I really like Panama. Two very distinct coasts, jungles and mountains and cities linked by cheap buses, fantastic food/some of the best coffee in the world, and it's easy to work on the canal which is a fascinating experience.
Nah, work. The canal has three locks to adjust the water level by like 30m between the oceans. In each one you're secured to the walls by lines. For big ships it's metal chains guided by small trains, but for yachts it's just thick rope. Boats of any size can go through so a lot of retirees take their tiny yachts through there instead of risking the extremely dangerous Drake Passage. For those you need extra deckhands to ball the rope up, throw it to the canal workers on the top of the lock, and then hold the boat steady so it doesn't ram into the cargo ship behind it. Those are called linehandlers and there's no special qualification for it. You just show up at the marinas on either side of the canal, drink with people until you find one sailing through the next day, and get paid like $100+food to cruise the canal for two days. Then do it again.
It's one of my favourite experiences. The canal is a history/logistics/nature nerd's wet dream.
I once watched a 90 minute documentary on the canal and they didn't even mention that in passing. It seems to me that by-and-large there are two kinds of documentarians. The first kind - gets their hands dirty and they know how to tell a story. The other kind never gets their hands dirty and because of disinterest or sloppiness etc - they never get to know the topic as well as they should.
It's a very casual industry. There are a few boater forums where people advertise their transit schedules, but for the most part it's just random backpackers hanging out in Casco Viejo/Colon/Portobelo/Puerto Lindo. I don't even think I saw local dayworkers lining up to do it.
I really like Panama. Two very distinct coasts, jungles and mountains and cities linked by cheap buses, fantastic food/some of the best coffee in the world, and it's easy to work on the canal which is a fascinating experience.
Typo? Walk?
Nah, work. The canal has three locks to adjust the water level by like 30m between the oceans. In each one you're secured to the walls by lines. For big ships it's metal chains guided by small trains, but for yachts it's just thick rope. Boats of any size can go through so a lot of retirees take their tiny yachts through there instead of risking the extremely dangerous Drake Passage. For those you need extra deckhands to ball the rope up, throw it to the canal workers on the top of the lock, and then hold the boat steady so it doesn't ram into the cargo ship behind it. Those are called linehandlers and there's no special qualification for it. You just show up at the marinas on either side of the canal, drink with people until you find one sailing through the next day, and get paid like $100+food to cruise the canal for two days. Then do it again.
It's one of my favourite experiences. The canal is a history/logistics/nature nerd's wet dream.
I once watched a 90 minute documentary on the canal and they didn't even mention that in passing. It seems to me that by-and-large there are two kinds of documentarians. The first kind - gets their hands dirty and they know how to tell a story. The other kind never gets their hands dirty and because of disinterest or sloppiness etc - they never get to know the topic as well as they should.
It's a very casual industry. There are a few boater forums where people advertise their transit schedules, but for the most part it's just random backpackers hanging out in Casco Viejo/Colon/Portobelo/Puerto Lindo. I don't even think I saw local dayworkers lining up to do it.