¡De nuevo en Panamá!

¿Xopá? ¿Todo bien?

Whenever you hear people greet each other with “xopá or que sopá” you know they are Panamanians. They like to say things the other way around and they have many unique words which I’ll be teaching you during my stay in Panama ;). “Que sopá” comes from “Que pasó”....it’s a way of saying hi, more like “what’s up or what’s going on”.

After a long, busy and “expensive” week in The Netherlands I finally arrived in Panama last Saturday!

In The Netherlands I managed to visit some friends and family and I was glad to see them all after more than a year. These visits took me to The Hague, Spijkenisse, Schiedam, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Winterswijk and Arnhem. The weather was generally not very good and it was “cold”!!! At that time I was really aware that I’m not very interested in living in The Netherlands again. I wasn’t used to that kind of weather anymore, the cold, the grey, the wet all the time. No way!
I went to my friend Christian in Germany one day before my departure, which was from Dusseldorf Airport. He lives close to a train station from where it takes only 30 minutes to arrive at the airport. So I spend one night there and met all his siblings, his mom, his wife and two of his friends that I knew already. Was good to see them all again. We spent the night playing some Nintendo Wii and playing poker.

The trip to Panama started with some problems at the airport. My current ticket is purchased for a little more than 5 months. When entering Panama, you DON’T need a visa. You get a stamp in your passport and you can stay up to 90 days in the country. If you want to stay longer, all you have to do is cross the border overland to Costa Rica, stay there a few days and come back to Panama. Then you’ll get a stamp again which allows you to stay 90 days again. No problems at all. But, Delta Airlines actually wanted to refuse me to board my flight because I’m staying too long in Panama, more than 90 days, and I don’t have a visa. I told them that it’s not the first time I’m going to Panama and that I know about the 90 days thing. I said that I will take a cheap bus, cross the border and come back into the country. Delta Airlines “demanded” me to proof them that I indeed will leave the country. Of course I couldn’t do this because I don’t have a bus ticket. They “forced” me to buy an air ticket with them, which was Panama City-San José (Costa Rica) with Copa Airlines. Copa is the Panamanian airline, which is also member of the same Sky Team Alliance as Delta Airlines. With this ticket I could “proof” that indeed I will leave Panama and they would allow me to board the flight. The guy told me that they do have this information on their website, but I couldn’t find it anywhere myself. Of course I had no other choice. The ticket costed me € 351, + € 67 taxes, + €45 reservation fee. So a total of €463. The ticket is of course refundable, which means that in Panama I can cancel it and get money back. BUT, the € 45 remains for Delta Airlines, the € 67 tax I won’t get back and they will take US$50 off the ticket price before I get the refund. €351 was US$451, thus I’d get just US$401 back. When I’m in Panama City I can cancel the ticket at Delta’s office. After the stressful situation, I finally boarded and flew for 10 hours to Atlanta, wait there for 4 hours and then a 3,5 hour flight to Panama City.

I was very angry about this whole situation. Since when do airlines check if you have a visa to stay that long in a country or not? Its not their business!!! As long as you can enter the country without a visa, that’s what matters. If it would have been the USA, where you can also stay 90 days without a visa, then I would have understood why they do difficult because nowadays they are very strict when travelling to the USA. But for Panama I can enter without a visa and stay 90 days. Wether I stay longer than 90 days or leave the country or not, that’s not the airline’s business. I feel like Delta Airlines took advantage of the situation and made me buy a ticket with them, which of course means a “little” extra income for them but A LOT for me! I basically “lost” €45 + €67 + US$50. Last year when I flew to Australia, I had a one year open ticket. Did the airline ask me where my visa was? NO, they didn’t ask me for a visa, although you do need one when staying that long in Australia but when “entering” the country you don’t! When I flew from Thailand to Vietnam, of course the airline asked me for my visa because you need a visa for Vietnam when entering the country. I contacted the German Department of Passenger Rights to ask for help regarding this situation. They already answered me, sending a form I need to fill out and send by airmail, fax or e-mail. These are the same people I contacted three years ago, when KLM made me lose my connection flight in Germany due to a 2 hour delay. Once in Germany, KLM did not help me at all: No food, no information....nothing!!! It was Qantas that helped me, putting me “stand by” for a flight direct to Singapore. After waiting 12 hours at the airport, without knowing for sure that I could go or not, I got a chance to fly with Qantas. When I sent the complaint to the German Department, they helped straight away. It took a little bit long, but finally KLM send me a letter apologizing and with many discount coupons, a free telephone card, and including a huge discount on any KLM flight within a year. That’s how I flew to New York for “very cheap” in May 2006.

So now, Panama for 5 months. Why that long? Because last time I stayed 2,5 months and I wanted to stay longer. If 5 months turns out to be too long, I’ll change the date and leave earlier. In Panama for me it’s not just holiday, it’s like coming home. Some friends here are like family and I really wanted to spend some good time with them here. During my time here I’ll just chill out, go out, hang around with people, go to the beach and river, visit sites etc. It’s the first time I’m here during this period of the year and, apart from Christmas and New Year, for the first time I’ll experience bigger local events including the “Feria de Boquete” in January in the town of Boquete, the Carnival which is celebrated at it’s best in the central part of the country on the Azuero Peninsula (Chitré and Las Tablas), and also the "Feria de David" here in the city of David.

Right now I’m in the city of David, which is the capital of the province of Chiriqui and is the country’s third city behind Panama City and Colón. About 125.000 people live in David, a city which is mainly designed in many "blocks"....the streets run parallel to each other. This Sunday my friends are going to Panama City for 2 nights to do some Christmas shopping and I’ll go with them to, but I won’t shop. These two friends, Ernesto and Maria Villarreal, are my best friends in Panama. I got to know Ernesto since 1999 in Curaçao during a Youth Latin American baseball tournament (Senior League). My father was in the baseball organization and I went to the opening ceremony that night. The bus that was supposed to bring the Panamanian team back to the hotel didn’t show up and the players were divided into a few cars of the locals, including my dad’s. Ernesto was one of them and that’s how it started and we kept contact since then. I came in 2002 for the first time and made other friends and the second time in 2005 I made more friends and that’s how my “network” here grew a little bit. Now I know quite a few people in the country. Ernesto got married with Maria in 2004 and their son was born in January this year, so there will be a big party for his 1st birthday soon! Another good friend I have is Luis (Toto), who lives in Panama City and he’s the one who picked me up at the airport when I arrived and brought me to the bus terminal to take the bus to David. When I stay in Panama City, I stay at his place.

Panama is a beautiful country with nice and friendly people. The country has about 3 million people. Life isn’t bad here. Minimum wage is about US$250 per month; a teacher starts with US$500 which for Panama is a reasonable salary. The currency used here is the US Dollar, also called Balboa. Panama is currently the fastest growing economy in Latin America. General living conditions here are classified as “good”, and according to figures only people in Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Costa Rica live “better” than in Panama. I must say that the difference between Panama and Costa Rica isn’t that big. There is a lot of poverty in Panama, on the countryside and in the slums of Panama City which includes neighbourhoods like El Chorrillo and Curundú. In 2005 we drove one time through Chorrillo, it looks quite poor and rough. Not recommended if you have nothing to do there, too dangerous....full of “maleantes and rakataka’s” like they say in Panama. The extreme poverty is found among the local, indigenous people who live on the country side. They really don’t have “anything”. The difference between rich and poor here is very big, according to figures the 10% richest earn about 40% of all the money, while the 10% poorest earn just 1%. Countries like Brazil, South Africa, Botswana and Chile a.o are far worse than Panama when it comes to income inequality. I will tell more about Panama and Panamanians in my next blog.
Here in Panama they have the “Loteria” which is quite similar to the Wega di Number in Curacao. But it only plays twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays. You can buy 4-number tickets or 2-number tickets which they call “chance”. You go on the street at the lottery vendors and look which numbers they have and you buy them, it’s not like in Curacao where you go to the offices and say which numbers you’d like. Here only the first prize pays very well, second and third not so good. With 4-number tickets, the 1st prize is $2000, followed with $600 and $300 for 2nd and 3rd prize. One piece costs $1. There are also prizes for the three first and three last numbers. With 2-number tickets, the first prize is $14, second is $3 and third is $2. One piece costs $0,25. I always spend $2 to $3 on the loteria....just to try, you never know ;)

Parts of Panama that I really want to visit this time, includes El Valle de Anton, Colon, Isla Grande, Portobello, the central provinces, Pedasi (where a Dutch friend is living currently), climb up the highest peak of Panama which is Volcán Barú at 3400m, Chagres National Park, National Park La Amistad and Bocas del Toro again. Maybe also Costa Rica and/or Nicaragua. One of my friends has a cousin who brings cargo to Central American countries, mostly Nicaragua and Honduras, and I could go with him again, like I did 3 years ago. Then we went to Managua, Nicaragua but we couldn’t stay too long. So if I can go again, I’ll stay in Nicaragua for longer.
During my time in Panama I’ll also look for a flexible job, for 2 or 3 days a week. It would be a job where I can use my English. They don’t pay very well here, but it would be just something to keep me busy. Today I’ll also start playing volleyball; they call it “birriar”. It means that many random people gather at certain days and they start playing. There are also “birrias de softbol” which is the same, but for playing softball or baseball. Apparently they are starting with softball in January and I may join. One of my friends plays there too.

The day after I arrived, Ernesto celebrated his 25th birthday with just a few families and friends. He kept saying that all his three “compadres” are here, meaning Juan (Wicho), Rafael and I. With his wife, Maria, we went one day to the Costa Rican border because they wanted to buy sport shoes. They are cheap there. I also bought a cheap pair of Nike shoes because I really needed new ones; didn’t buy one since 2006. The border area is very chaotic and not nice at all but there you can find everything from shoes, jewellery, camera’s, perfume, clothes etc. at very good prices. Another thing that happened was that I lost my contact lenses. Stupid me, I forgot them in the aircraft, in the seat in front of me. So at the moment I’m going to get new ones which means extra costs again.....but I already had them for 19 months and here in Panama they are MUCH cheaper, so I try to look on the positive side.

Anyway that’s all for now, the blog is long enough by now. I’ll try to write the next blog within 3 weeks.


- Bon Pasku i Felis Aña!!!
- Prettige Kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!!!
- ¡Feliz Navidad y un Próspero Año Nuevo!!!
- Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
- Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!!!


Hugs,

Elton

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