Day 30: Panama City (Part 1)

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This blog is not as much about Panama City as it about my experience getting there. Sometimes travel throws up interesting situations and I thought it's an experience I should share. The travel bit of Panama City will follow in Part 2.

I flew into Panama City from San Jose. On the flight I met a traveler who was going to Cuba and I asked her to keep me posted on how she finds it so that I can evaluate it in my plans.

It was an evening flight and it was befitting that Costa Rica bid me goodbye with a stunning sunset. It was even more mesmerizing when the moon rose in full brightness as the sun was setting.

At Panama City, the immigration was a little complex and in the process I was a little brain fried. After immigration and picking up my bags, I took a taxi and reached my hostel in Panama City and realised I had left a small bag with money and old passports at the airport.

I panicked a bit, but decided to go back to airport and look for the bag after dropping my bags at the hostel. I was lucky to find a cab (it was late night) and the cabbie was super sweet. He told me not to worry and that he believed I will find my bag. He didn't take money from me when we reached airport and said he will wait for me. And remember, all this conversation was happening with Google translate 😊

At the airport, I told some security people about my lost bag, they asked me to speak with the airline folks. The airline offices were shut but a porter of the airline after hearing my story, decided to help. He took me to the airport staff, who in turn took me to the police. A senior police officer took me to the police station at the airport and assured me of all help. There another officer took down the information and called another officer who spoke English. Together the two of them made some calls and in about 30 minutes they had located my bag.

Some kind soul had found my bag and left it intact with lost and found near baggage claim. After some security process to get back into the airport, I finally got hold of my bag. I thanked the police, the airport staff and the porter. They were all super professional and helpful. And I returned to my hostel with my friendly cabbie.

I realised that kindness and honesty of strangers and powers beyond me helped me in this situation. Reminded me of the quote "How do you change the world? One random act of kindness at a time."

One issue that remained was that I was given a 30 day visa in Panama versus my original plan of a longer trip. I decided to stay a couple of days extra in Panama City to extend my visa.

I did go to the immigration office but they said the extension is possible only when I have only 5-7 days left on the current visa and it is possible to do it only in Panama City. As I had no plans of coming back to Panama City just for extending my visa, I changed my plans to make it a 30 day trip in Panama.

Such is travel life, you deal with things as they come and you improvise.

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Photos

Sunset on my exit from Costa Rica
Sunset and Moonrise on my exit from Costa Rica