Deuem wrote:
Aren't the Chinese there somewhere building a new canal?
Yeah, but it seems like a USD $50 billion boondogle. It is actually in Nicaragua, but it is close to the Costa Rica border.

As you can tell by the graffiti, it is not very popular...

Before there was the Panama Canal, folks and products from the West Coast of the US traveled to the East Coast of the US by cutting across Nicaragua into that big lake from the Pacific side, then down the river on the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica in river boats to come out on the Caríbe side where ships took everything back up to the East Coast of the USA. However for about 100 years now the Panama Canal has been providing a nice way to cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic without Rounding the Horn. The new Panama Canal expansion is supposed to be finished this year which will surely take all the steam out of the sails of the Nica project. The general thought is that China wants to expand her influence into this region and is doing it mostly by funding and doing large scale infrastructure projects (like the new football stadium in Costa Rica) in poor countries.
In English, that graffiti says, "No to the Canal! Death to the Chinese!"
--
Sam