Im in. Europe there are. Other. Elements to the drum of joy was written in one thousand nine hundred eighteen is a simple advertising jingle for adults but today the song is a National Symbol of animal popular street musicians and on the waterfront of the capital panama city. Back there last night the german Childrens Book all thirty gentle she was so penned in enduringly popular from age to the country with his book the trip to panama that its title in german translates as our now beautiful panama is not the love for the morning. Here on earth it upon the much. Lower were going on a journey to discover for our said. Just down beautiful panama really is our main focus the panamanian railway its quite a bit older than the better known panama canal that it has run alongside them both in a central and latin america. It was a hell mammal in mali. Not bad not. Down but the other. Hand the man from the panama is the southern most Central American nation of the countrys narrow east point its canal connects the coastal cities of panama city and cologne the pacific with the atlantic and caribbean. The ticket hole in the station of the Panama Canal Railway is low on charm and there arent many customers its the rainy season and that means low season. And. I am a total of ten diesel electric locomotives haul the passenger trains then named after stations along the route that numbers derives from the early years of the railway in panama our trains ready it has a locomotive a both ends this push pull system means the stuff dont have to do any shunting at the final stops. Jewett back to allah mantua is a tour guide hell be showing as a very special corner of his country served by students trying to top up their income a small but welcome breakfast at seven fifteen on the dont the only passenger train of the day departs panama city for cologne the seventy seven kilometer trip takes around an hour and. Only runs with days undeterred by the early hour passengers from many countries have come along for the ride the excursion is one of numerous Tourist Attractions in pam and. A half. There is the car school vs panama citys old town for example a unesco World Heritage site the architectural splendor of panama as colonial past still shines bright here the buildings were commissioned by newcomers from spain and later from france and north america the days when trans road through the quarter are long gone. In the heart of the city on last summer your dressed polish really in resplendent white is the impressive a rock at the drop metropolitano. The old town is panama citys number one tourist attraction. In. Recent years the state of private citizens have been investing in the renovation of its many dilapidated buildings. Gentrification is pushing up rents in newcastle and changing its character a problem faced by many old towns around the world happy but for tourists the colorful buildings are a picture perfect backdrop act. Time and again the streets and squares aboard attractive views of panama city as modern skyline. Theres a lot of bold architecture beyond the waterfront road and we need a. Latin americas highest skyscrapers can be found here International Trading houses banks and hotels. Panama city at the pacific end of the can now is the seat of government as speculators paradise Money Laundering center and a destination for migrants its a cosmopolitan city undergoing rapid growth the capital is home to one and a half million panamanians thats more than a third of the countrys entire population that number swells every day with the influx of commuters the public transport system is largely serviced by buses these often painted vehicles are known as the able Author Office red devils act a metro opened impacting kilometers long and traverses the city south to know a second line is under construction and a third one is in planning. The operator of the state run metro says two hundred fifty thousand passengers use line one every day there are nineteen trains with three carriages each on the line they were built in spain they operate at three minute intervals servicing fourteen stations. There arent many tourists out on foot amid the exhaust fumes in modern panama city they prefer to admire it skyline from afar tourism elsewhere in the country on the other hand is evolving into a key income generating industry. Actually thats the idea of to be. Promoting panama as a touring tourism destination in the panama has many attractions and thats why we are happy that we are receiving. A lot of tourists from all over the world so were becoming very trendy country. With a. Garzas tourism the panama canal has been a destination for travelers for a century not many people explore the country beyond it sure i mean its our Main Attraction people think of the canal when they think about panama. When they go back home theyre gone and all that its more than just we have a lot of other beautiful things to offer as well as. A trip on the Panama Canal Railway is one such attraction it guarantees views that you wouldnt get in the calm or armful of the canal zone is closed off apart from a few Access Points at the locks and trains are allowed in for. The exquisite journey doesnt come cheap. A train ticket from panama city to cologne costs twenty five us dollars. The bus equivalent is two dollars fifty. Thats probably why its only tourists enjoying the views in the historic carriages. For many people the trains just too expensive its just for tourists which i think is a shame sometimes people from panama city ask where i work i tell them on the train they think im in the metro for a moderate arab street racing and many dont even know the Panama Canal Railway and theyve never been to cologne the place were going there like it was a little they often asked me what kind of train this is. One of the carriages of the train is reserved for employees of the cologne free trade zone they use it to go to book. But im off to get his schedule is set so that we get to why. On time get us thinking we depart panama city at quarter past seven and we arrive at twenty past eight and are in the office on time. Then we work for eight hours which is the norm in panama you have to be one of the companys managers thats what gives you the privilege of taking the train. To appreciate it when its not cheap after all. You have. Is it too expensive for regular panamanians i mean you know more for them and they might try the train one day just for fun. Enormous out of. We take this train every day but only because the company pays for it otherwise we wouldnt be able to afford it. Near a florist paid the room again and get to the ship has to pounds three lengths to get from the pacific to the atlantic will vice versa by the shortest route possible namely eighty one point six kilometers. The tugboats the deceased the huge vessels play a crucial role they called a remote daughters in spanish. Everything. Their engines have more than six thousand horsepower our boats currently maneuvering a chinese container vessel into the mirror flores look. There to talk with ray now assisting the ship one of the bow mediums to. The reason i am here is to help him control if need be disturbed and help him not have headway able to slow him down or even stop. The other one on the ballot pressed to control the bowing and keeping interest me because its a canal and not open water its better for the ship actually for us to move whether it be a. Couple angles a discourse or a couple degrees in the course. And for him to you know eventually get into the lot easier rather than trying to steer and then the ship being heavy or not make a wider turn and newsy certainly what we need. Once we do go lucky good bye and so and im ok. Once he goes by himself then we go and. There we take up again and make sure he goes into me and then we repeat the process in two hours without power until we get to go say. Raising and lowering the water level in a low Chamber Takes around ten minutes around four hundred thousand liters of water a move to contain a vessel will head on to the gap to know where other tug boats would systems after around ten hours it will be in the atlantic and get shift is over today heres my mom book a one two three four five six right now. For today. And thats just a normal day. Usually sometimes theres a more very few turns to let. The japanese news the electric locomotives that run on the not whos working credibly com they pulled a huge ships through the looks more than thirty of them per day. Ok motives are equipped with to moche as of two hundred sixty horsepower but each as well as a rock rail system made. In switzerland caught with his grip essential rock which gives them support. Yet another rail supplies the news with electricity. Then named after the pack animals that traditionally carry goods on the panama canal route. You know the number up a kilometer in there called mules because they work horses they need to be very strong for that. Its all about the work they do. The animal exactly ram up to fourteen thousand ships again make their way through the panama canal which was opened in one thousand nine hundred fourteen the lock gates still home phone to china that i want to have after the fed you can hold them so far nothing serious has happened in the canal listening taking very carefully that makes me incredibly proud of this engineering feats the greatest thing my country has to offer i mean lots of different cultures work and everyones passionate about offering the best service around the clock to ships from all around the world but what are. The construction of the impressive panama canal was documented by the new york artist william b. Van engelen in realistic mural paintings they were installed in the panama canal headquarters in one nine hundred fifteen. The building is located on a hill twenty six meters above sea level which is a privilege to the highest elevation in the canal. I am avenue illustrates the length and width of the locks. One of the exhibitions in the Panama Canal Museum displays objects from the every day lives of panamanians. Zip it highlights the canals increasing importance in public and private life from the early twentieth century. Many developments in panama are associated with the isthmus but theres of course more to the country than that can now the museum seeks to answer questions on the identity of panamanians. We were panama before diccon now and we were panamanians before to come now. It but it can at least part of our identity but is not the only part and the building of that identity is there scribble this is missing. The canal Museum Opened in the old quarter of panama city in one nine hundred ninety seven. Recreated scenes from the lives of canal workers the famous photograph of president Theodore Roosevelts visit to the canal a rusty wagon from what was then the Worlds Largest construction pit pictures newspaper articles and tools not least for the newly created Railway Department the collection has its very own history. In this museum on began without anything so i put an ad in the paper that said be a part of the history of you half so and so and saw these kind of things please contact me and the. Response of the people was a. B. C. People began. Calling and calling and bringing in things and we found that range that is really no where from the station and that wonderful piece that is from sally james farhad and you can see in there really all this talked of theres a train station a rich digital photo album tells the story of the panamanian railway it traversed the country from ocean to ocean long before any ship in the can now from eight hundred fifty five on would say it sped travelers from having to sail the longer route around cape horn at the tip of south america they run was that opportunity to carry three days in most not only carol and people would call her thoughts. And to enrich our identity. The Panama Railway was founded in new york more than ten thousand workers died from malaria cholera during its construction. The railway was initially a Success Story but the significance faded with the completion of the trans continental route across the United States in eight hundred sixty nine it regained importance during the canals construction. When the french began excavation in eight hundred eighty one they bought the railway and used it to transport workers and materials. And. They ran out of money however and in one thousand know for the United States acquired control of the canal zone overseeing the project to its successful completion now the Old Railway Route had to be changed because it followed the river valley that would be flooded the line was relocated at a cost of nine Million Dollars during the canals construction trains carted away around two hundred million cubic meters of soil and rock nobody cared about their fate when the area was flooded on the fifteenth of august nine hundred fourteen the panama canal opened to traffic and. Last while the shipping routes flourished from the outset the railway was in the red nationalizing it in one nine hundred seventy seven made no difference either. The railway line once celebrated as the first into oceanic connection on the isthmus decayed for decades it was rescued by a private company that has been operating the Service Since the year two thousand on new tracks through the canal zone. Our guy jill bento is a member of the ku not an indigenous tribe who live on the san blas islands off the coast of panama the train used to be cheap and he remembers the people especially me and my gran that we moved sometimes to the island by boat if they could train them to the sea in the panama city because he was working in the panama canal and up thank god. He was on a Different School i was. Working in southern panama canal banjos lived in panama city for a long time he likes it bad but nothing beats arlin block this is a small x. In the city and. Because to have only been out to the normal bearing natural life. So we dont report it and went to the to the so we came. There is nothing like that dont worry about what time is now. There is a roller coaster like road through the rainforest to the huna young a region on panamas north coast we company do better on a trip that. Was. Bad that the. Thirty nine islands on the san blas on key hell ago are inhabited. In one thousand nine hundred twenty five the coon on one autonomy from the panamanian government in a bloody fight for the survival of their culture. Every Island Community has its own rules some reject tourism others have cautiously opened there are dealing world to outsiders. There too is from the island of counties or and where allowed to accompany him that. The. Family and in the solo. First were introduced in the cassady congress or the assembly hall. For that hes like a minister of culture for all the communities and guess again hes just visiting tomorrow he will travel to the cool part of overlook where hell talk about the tradition of over there we have all three of cheeks theres just the most important house of the from the culture and thats why all visitors should come here and drink the chiefs are becoming a small donation is expected katine is home to a thousand people other communities count just one hundred members islands maybe remote but so net energy and mobile phones on a rarity many who now work on the mainland they bring the technology with them when they return home a small festival is just coming to an end and the women and girls seem to have dressed up for the occasion but in fact these colorful clothes are every day outfits. The chops are a doing grid application fabrics known as move was designed to protect the wearer from the dangers of life. The small village Museum Displays many spiritual objects of the coun our culture along with a large collection of mullens which are popular souvenirs among visitors to panama. City but the museums curator underlines the true purpose. That is not in the corporation the mall artist protect the spirit of the. Work on the board in the war a model demolished this war can hardly colors the black one we used to laugh. Just to hide in the knife to hide in the spirit of the red color red color here is but the quinoa c. S. U. Happy like the spirit of the spirit the yellow one is the about the gold in the chain its like the sun is still to know among all the want about is the green is about the mainland of the mountain everybody makes but most women are the female and they dedicate to make them all of somebody sometime sometime this summer i learned the good of mankind war they can do that of them all of this is personal for the back. How similar made several layers of fabric are placed on top of each other pathans a cut out and the edges a certain together by hand in the language must sell and tells us a little bit about her life. And we make sure that the name it and then in the language mother and grandmother turn to everything she says that the fabrics cant be bought in the city they dont use natural dyes that she often produces traditional patterns but very modern ones too she sells them for around twenty dollars why american mine. Only been economic convoy ok billion dollars and on that. Income even though i know banjo and his mother when hes in. City the thing he misses the most is how cooking. Monarchs i had in the book eighty percent of the food traditionally eaten here is healthy. No exaggeration. Its a digest fish and other seafront. Theres smoked fish uka all good nails and if they want to make lanterns we cook them and coconut milk nuts to coon adare. Whenever i visit the island after having been in the city i wish i could stay that i want to have but oh well i have to go back to work. But oh yes its a magical place with a lofty its name and crew not. Go out oh. So in spanish its called christine by yours but its real name is it. Better c. R. Y. Dont like a lot of c. R. Y. Nor do you misuse some. Within. The see this as a young age she says yes means yes and the cool not on which but i come every saturday where you are a little like the. The United States handed the can our over to panama in