Panama in the early morn

I had to make a 10:00 am flight to Houston Monday so arranged to get a ride from Alex, our former tenant. Alex is Venezuelan working on project developing a resort on the Caribbean side and a very dynamic guy. After one year in San Carlos he knows and is liked by everyone in town. Anyway, Alex had a change in plan and was not going into Panama City that morning but arrange for a taxi driver and friend named Nene to drive me in, at Alex’s expense.

I was a little concerned knowing the Panamanian penchant for being late (sometimes really late) but Nene showed up at 5:31 and off we went.

This was the first time I have seen the road to Panama City while not driving and very early in the morning. The sun rises at 6:15 and sets at 6:05 all year round. Remember it is Latitude 8 and there are very little season changes in the sun.

As we drove along I watched Panama wake up on a holiday Monday. It was like being in downtown LA at 7:00 Sunday morning. A few people walking on the highway or waiting for bus, very few cars, trucks or busses on the road. In fact Nene said there were no police either and we cruised at 115 km/hr all the way in. The sun was coming up in our faces and low clouds hung on the mountains until we crossed the Bridge of the Americas (La Puente de la Americas). There are only two bridges over the Canal and until two years ago there was only one, the new one Centurillo which was built by a German firm and is beautiful with a fan of support cables holding up the span. How is that for a run on sentence?

Even in Panama City it was very very quiet compared all the other times I have seen it. You see, anyone with any money at all has a house in the “interior” where they go for long holiday weekends. Places such as San Carlos and all the surrounding beach development double in size on a fiesta weekend.

So we cruised through the city and I got to the airport 2 hours before my flight. I will have to consider flying again on a Panamanian holiday.

And if you think US TSA is illogical consider this one………I go through security (X-ray, pull out the laptop, all but the toothpaste and face creams in plastic bag bit), have a bit of breakfast in the secure area and then queue up to board. At the gate are four nice young Panamanians in uniform, physically checking inside every carry on bag? And when they find I have bottle of water I just bought I am told I can drink it there but not on the plane. Ya just gotta laugh at the way things happen.

More in a couple of weeks
sj