In Panama for business? Take a side trip to the famous canal

Forty-ton locomotives known as mules latch onto the massive vessel with cables and guide it inside the Miraflores locks, employing a mechanical precision that keeps it from banging into the concrete walls despite the tight fit.

For anyone looking to duck out of a convention center for a few hours, fill a gap between meetings or even if you've just got a long layover at the airport, a visit to Panama City's No. 1 attraction and its newly expanded locks makes for the perfect side excursion.

Shipping geeks in particular will delight at this engineering marvel that revolutionized global maritime trade when it opened for business on Aug. 15, 1914, but it also appeals to a broader audience with nearly 3,000 people visiting each day during the January-April high season.

With each crossing, an enthusiastic guide informed visitors on a recent sticky, tropical morning, the locks fill with about 26 million gallons (100 million liters) of fresh water that then spill into the Pacific Ocean.

Getting to the canal is a snap, with a host of travel agencies and hotel tours competing for your business.

If no ship is passing through right when you arrive, while away the time in the facility's theater and museum for comprehensive exhibits on the canal and its construction — which claimed the lives of more than 25,000 workers, most of them from Caribbean islands, and mostly from tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.