Taxis in Colon Panama Harbor

I have been hitting reply as had forgotten to hit the Forum Page...getting older. :-) . Anyway, who is familiar with the taxi situation at the Colon Panama harbor.

We want to hire a taxi to the New Reception Center. We understand the old one at Gatun where we have been is closed anyway. We want to spend a bit of time there...about 2 hours I guess. Hopefully, we will have a chance to see a boat passing thru the new locks.

After that we want to take the taxi back to the old vehicle bridge and go over it and then return to the dock at Colon.

Does anyone have the name of a taxi/guide in Colon who will do this for us and who speaks excellent English. Some idea of what this should cost by the hour would be appreciated as well.

We have already been thru the old canal several times and think the ferry from the boat tours and others will be too long a day for us.:)

Thank you. We are themayblums . We use yahoo.

When we docked in Colon a couple of years ago, there was for lack of a better term a "dispatcher" at the parking lot for the mall that is connected to the pier. He was he one connecting the taxis with the riders. The parking lot is within the confines of the mall, so it is a relatively secure area in which to arrange for a cab. As a ball park figure for an hourly rate I would look at something in the range of $20-30 an hour, of course the longer time hire for the per hour should drop. Just a ball park guesstimate.

If you want something more confirmed, a couple of names that have surfaced on this board with positive comments, I can't speak for any of them, but perhaps it will give you a starting place.

Almiza Tours (My Friend Mario) http://www.bscpma.com/mfm/index.htm

robtads2@hotmail.com

I recommended trying to get a good English speaking cabbie only for the reason they could fill in some of local history even though it maybe a highly creative version. Just about any of them will have "enough" English skills to accomplish the basics of getting you there and back. Just might make for a more pleasant excursion if their English was good.