Page 170 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2020 South Africa

The closing scene in Romancing the Stone was got plenty of room to roam far from the busy
set at Cartagena's imposing Castillo San Felipe canal. Late in the day we cruised toward the Mi-
fortress but was actually filmed in Veracruz, Mex- raflores Locks, past the Panama Canal Visitor
ico. The similarities were spot on as I recalled Center where hundreds of onlookers lined the
scenes from Veracruz in the 1980s. We lasted four-story balconies to watch the water's dra-
long enough to walk atop the city's stone walls matic rise and fall. We reached the Pacific Ocean
and along back streets, but succumbed to the hu- as the day ended—a pretty impressive feat indeed.
midity with time to spare. Sweet young girls in ruffled dresses greeted the
The main event—the Panama Canal crossing— ship at Corinto, Nicaragua, where the dirt streets
was far more intriguing than I expected. I caught a and ramshackle storefronts were reminiscent of a
few canal documentaries on the in-room TV prior languid Mosquito Coast backwater. We stuck
to the crossing and brushed up on the history. We close the port in steamy Costa Rica, where I'd
ordered room-service coffee for our morning en- passed much of the late 90s while writing the
try into the canal from the Atlantic Ocean and Traveler's Costa Rica Companion (now out of
watched tugboats guide us into a narrow channel print). I was reluctant to join any shore excursions
toward the lower lock as an enormous fuel tanker since I had the extreme good fortune to ramble
slid toward us in the upper lock. As the water level around the country before there were large ex-
rose, the two vessels edged past each other with cursions and wildlife encounters.
smiles and waves on both sides. Antigua, Guatemala was the highlight on the
As we sailed along Lake Gatun I scanned the Pacific Coast. Locate about 90 minutes from the
jungle for the abundant birds and monkeys I'd port. Antigua is another UNESCO site with gor-
seen on previous Panama adventures. But they've geous architecture and extraordinary artisans. I'm

170 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020