Trip to Panama

Over a million tourists each year choose to visit Panama and traveling around the City and the country on the whole is cheap and safe. Arriving in the airport, there are desks from all the main car rental companies such as Avis and Budget. There are also plenty of taxis lined up to whisk you into the city in around 15 minutes, and if this is your first trip, taxis are an excellent way of seeing the city without greying your hair, or reaching for the blood pressure pills. Taxis are cheap. Pay around $1.75 for travel within a zone, for example from the shops on Via Espana to Albrook Mall. How they make a living I do not know, as tipping is not obligatory.

On my first visit I drove into Panama City at 5pm on Friday evening – not smart. There were 4 lanes of traffic, moving on a 3 lane highway – nerve-wracking - and I began to understand why all the cars looked like they had rolled down a hillside as they had so many dents and scrapes. There is also a distinct lack of signs for major landmarks like the Bridge of the Americas, or City Center. There are signs for roads not shown on your map, and roads named on your map that seem not to exist, so the co-driver and map-reader is just as frustrated! However, after a few trips you come to realise Panama City is actually very small with only a couple of major roads in either direction, and driving around becomes less formidable.

If you really want to blend with the locals, then take a trip by bus. They frequent the city and regularly leave for all the major cities of Panama. Certainly to La Chorrera, Chame, Coronado and El Valle they are every 10 minutes from the transportation center behind Albrook Mall and cost around $2.50 for the 50 mile trip to Coronado. Once you have purchased your ticket, you need a 5cent coin to go through the turnstile to get on the bus, so have one ready to avoid missing your ride!

The buses are old US school buses and are all individually decorated with artwork depicting saints, family members, cartoon characters or whatever takes the driver’s fancy, so they are all highly individual and very brightly colored. It is a pleasure to stop next to one at a red light and enjoy the scenery as it were!

The buses earn their name “Diablo Rojo” or Red Devils for the way they drive. Each bus is individually owned and run. Consequently time is money and the more trips that can be done in a day, the nearer the owner comes to making a profit. Since they are all operating on a tight margin, a day of lost work can make it difficult to make the loan payments they took out to buy the bus. Beware the very loud local music that plays throughout the journey. If you are lucky there will be a film showing on longer routes, otherwise just people-watching is a great experience in itself.

These buses also drive around the city at night as “Party buses”. The seats are moved to the sides and there is a wooden dance floor in the center. As the drivers continue to drive wildly and erratically, as only they know how, straps are suspended from the roof for you to hold on to and stay upright whether you want to dance or not. There is also a bar which is included in your $25 ticket. Stay on as long as you want to ride!

However you choose to travel, enjoy the journey, the people, the sights and sounds of Panama and the experience of being somewhere totally vibrant and different.