Kategorie: Panama

Oh, how beautiful is Panama…is the main phrase of our famous Janosch. So expectations were quite high and maybe it makes sense to confess directly at the beginning that Panama and I have not become friends.

Maybe it was the circumstances how and why to get there, not enough preparation or whatever, but I didn’t feel comfortable from the first moment on.

It started quite promising, as a nice guy in my plain helped me at the immigration and later on offered me to share his car with a private driver to get into town. But at the arrival at my hostel, I started to worry.

What looked promising on the pictures, turned out to be on the border to acceptable. One one hand on the opposite of the streets was a big building in construction and on the other hand, the place was neither clean or comfortable and even basics like toilet paper, spoons and cups were missing. Only 2 nights was the only promising thought. I have to admit, that at least the people in the hostel was very nice and helpful, and everything that I could explore in walking distance was ok, but already I develope a certain feeling of feeling uncomfortable walking around outside.

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Upfront my arrival, I got in touch with Victor Perez. I met him via Couchsurfing where he invited me to visit his Kids project in an area called El Chorillio. El Chorillio had made some history with being one of the most dangerous areas in Panama. Also, the place is historical, as the invasion of the USA has taken place here. We agreed on meeting in a cafe nearby two days after my arrival.

To go around in Panama – Grab is your friend. The ride with the car runs through an area called Casco Viejo – which means Old Town. It’s a very beautiful area of Panama as it is stuffed with many colonial buildings, which has been renovated and modernized. Its a huge contrast to the rest of the city as everything here looks clean and rich.

My meeting with Victor was very interesting as he had a lot to explain about the history of this area and his own development. Born as Kuna Jala, he moved into the capital on an early stage. After working several years in Hotel management he was bothered by the development and gentrification that happened around Casco Viejo and El Chorillio. Topped with feeling pity for all the child that grew up at such bad circumstances he decided to quit his job and start to take action.

Through his initiative, he could organize a safe place for the children. The Police station of El Chorillio agreed on placing a development programme for the children in their offices. As the children normally had to spend the day (and nights) mostly on the street, without someone who takes care of them, educate them or simply spent some love to them, this programme invented a huge change for the area. On the one hand, the children have the chance to get some education, on the other hand, they found trust in the police officers.

Soon after Victor found the idea of his program, he found others who liked the idea and started to rais some funding and other initiatives. So I was looking forward to seeing the place of action and find out more.

After our meeting in the cafe, we walked to the police station. I have to confess that this was the first time since I started my travels that I had the deep impression of not being safe.

It was such a huge contrast and happening on such a small scale. With just some steps out of the area of Casco Viejo into the area of El Chorillio, the surrounding changed dramatically. Where a minute ago were beautiful buildings, well-dressed people and clean walkways, now there were broken houses, none maintained walkways and strange people looking at you. Just after a few steps, you feel people watching you. The streets become more and more secluded and I felt losing my orientation.

I ask Victor if he is sure that we can go into this area, and I recognized him greeting people around. He confessed that we are safe and in the right direction. Crazy thoughts run through my mind – „you do exactly what everywhere is written not to do“, „around the next corner, they will rob you“ and so on. I asked Victor how far we have to walk and he replied that it is just a few minutes more. I decided that I will follow him 200m more, and then stop and go back. Luckily we arrived within this 200m.

The police station was far from what I expected as the furniture and equipment reminded me more of 1950 as of 2018. The police officers looked at me like a stranger, but at least they were smiling. Victor started to explain his project ideas to me, showed me pictures from ongoing projects and also some kids were around. Space was very limited and I could imagine how hard this work must be.

After Victor finished his explanations, we walked back. This time I understand that the people in the community already know him and his work. My impression was that people like what he does, and as long I walk with him I’m safe.

Back in Casco Viejo, he recommended a Hotel for me – The Magnolia Inn – which should become my new home for the next week. I moved in the next day, and again I run into a thing that I never had experienced up front. At the reception, they handed a map to me. The picture showed the area of Casco Viejo which was surrounded by a blacked out area – El Chorillio! The area was commented with the words „Don’t go here“ and I felt stupid about my exploration the day before. So I decided not to meet with Victor again and explained to him my feelings. He promised me that I don’t have to worry but my decision was already done.

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Instead, I explored the beauty of Casco Viejo a bit more and had some fun meeting every day new people in the hostel. One evening a young girl arrived and reported that her luggage was lost at the airport. As she didn’t have anything I borrowed some clothes and shower gel. The next day we decided to move to Porto Lindo together. Porto Lindo is located in the northeast of Panama, close to the area of the San Blas Islands. My hope was to meet people and find a cheap trip through the islands. The regular price to find in Panama City was around 5 days / 500€ which was quite expensive from my point of view. To get to Porto Lindo we had to take a bus, passing through Sabanitas. Sabanitas is close to Colone and known to be a dangerous place. As we started in the morning and told the taxi driver where we want to go, he warned us as well. We should take care of the bus station in Sabanitas, where we had to change the bus. Again I felt quite uncomfortable and I become a bit nervous about our trip.

We managed to find our bus and the trip up to Sabanitas was easy and nothing bad happened at all. But as we arrived at the checkpoint in Sabanitas, the bus guide stepped out of the bus and guided us around the corner. I felt eyes watching us, and tension in the air. Around the corner at the next bus stop already a lot of people was waiting. Here the tension becomes normal again, and a few minutes later the chicken bus, we had to take comes around the corner. We were the only tourists on the bus, but the people looked friendly and my nervosity becomes lower again.

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Reaching Porto Lindo, we found ourselves in a very small village, where most houses looked kind of broken and obviously the people here was poor too. Our hostel was up one road and around 500m up the hill to walk. The owner of the hostel was very nice and kind but the hostel itself was a very low standard. 15€ a night was the highest I ever have paid to stay in a dorm. The dorm room was in the basement, wet walls, smelly, dark and no stable WIFI. At least outside was a small kitchen, so we could cook some food. We walked down into the village and did some shopping. Groceries also pricy, and not much to buy. We walked around and all that we saw had a lack of beauty. The sea water along the coast was dirty, a lot of trash everywhere. I started to wonder why so many people reported Panama as beautiful.

Next day I started to figure out a new place to stay with stable WIFI. All the places I found was 30€ – 60€ upwards one night and miles away from the standard that I was used to from SEA (South East Asia). At least I decided for a small hostel that was not located at the sea, in an even smaller village a few kilometers more east as Porto Lindo. Hostal Wunderbar was the name and ran by a German couple. Guido, the owner was that kind of person, who always had a story to tell. His voice was strong and his humor was kind of rough. He reminded me of the actor from the Netflix series Pablo Escobar, and it could not be a better fit in this area. I could negotiate a good price with him for 3 months and WIFI was strong. The place was not a dream place but quite and I could imagine staying here. So we agreed that he will pick me up the next day at the taxi station and I was happy about the process.

Next day I waited at the taxi station for more than one hour, but no Guido appears. After I messaged him a few times, he asked me if I had the possibility to come by taxi. A bit angry I ordered a taxi and moved to the hostel. As I reach there, Guido explained to me that he wants to change our deal. I should take a different room. This room was in the basement and the furniture and decoration were miles away from the room we formally decided on. Also, he wanted me to pay the regular price in the first month and limit the price in the next month so that I will reach the price we agreed on only if I really stay 3 months. I was not okay with this information, and the overall behavior told me it’s better to leave. But as I was kind of desperate and in need of good WIFI for work I agreed on the conditions.

Sadly it was not possible to rent a scooter. The only option to get around was to take a chicken bus. But as the area was far from everything also the busses were rare. It was possible to go to Porto Bello and Back or to go more east to La Guaira. From La Guaira it was possible to take a water taxi to visit La Isla Grande. As there were no buses back to Porto Lindo in the afternoon, you needed to stay overnight or take a taxi. On La Isla Grande the cheapest hostel was 15€ / night and the water taxi was 5€ one way. Quite pricy as La Isla Grande has not much to show and the beaches around also was not very beautiful.

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The most beautiful thing from my point of view was the people. The staff in the hotel developed quickly into my part-time family and they take a lot of care to keep me happy. Also, I met Hanna at Hostal Wunderbar. Hanna was from Germany too and regularly lives in the area of Munich. She traveled also a lot and I loved her calm personality and sense of humor.

But even after a few weeks, my feeling of uncomfortable won’t go away. I had to face Christmas and New year upcoming and my wish to be somewhere else becomes more and more overwhelming. Where to go? The first thing that comes into my mind was Koh Kood. I missed my smiling Thailand, the beautiful nature and to swim in the ocean so much. So I decided to free my soul from Panama and booked a ticket to Bangkok. As you have to go a half time around the world the trip was 38 hours in total. But anyway I looked forward to it, as I would fly through San Francisco and Singapore.

Frightened as I was I decided on top not to go by bus. Luckily the brother from Alexandro (the stuff that worked in Hostal Wunderbar) had a car and he offered me to bring me to the airport for a good price.

Two days later we started early in the morning. On our way we passed, the area was there must have been the robbery on the bus. Just by passing with the car it was clearly visible how poor the people must be who lived here. Shocking!

Happily, I arrived at at the airport safely and as quick I have dropped into Panama as quick I was gone again.