dieweltgehoertuns

Let’s start with very important news: My fear of flying is definitely part of the past. We took a small airplane of Air Panama to travel from Bocas to Panama City and all I felt was a bit of a fast heartbeat. Who would have thought of this before? One problem less!

Before we arrived we expected a San José like city. Very soon we recognized Panama City doesn’t play in the same league. It’s more comparable to an European or an American city. The city is much more developed, much safer and somehow more open minded than San José. Some signs speak for them:

-        You can leave your car everywhere which means you don’t have to watch out for a guided parking place. The houses are not fenced and don’t procure people live in cages.

-        It’s much cleaner and one is working on quality of live (posters try to make people to throw their rubbish in cans; a Japanese company cleans the ocean water and the beaches of the city so that people can go bathe in a few years).

-        It doesn’t smell bad all the time

-        We didn’t recognize a serious traffic jam, not even in the rush-hour.

-        people are interested in tourists and are happy to answer our questions about their city and their country

-        There is a tourist police which really intends to serve and to help

By the way, because of the police we could visit the city for a cheap price. Our city guide was a policeman on holiday who offered a tour according to our needs. In five days we could see the following:

-        The older city (high light: the birds walking around in the president’s palace. it’s a tradition).

-        The ruins of the first city of Panama (almost 500 years old).

-        The new city which looks like an American city

-        Mi pueblito (reproduction of a typical Panamanian village)

-        the island of Taboga

-        The journey in the train from Panama to Colon along the Canal of Panama

-        and of course the Canal itself with its locks (Miraflores: museum and the point of view)

There is an anecdote to tell:

After a short walk on a hill which provides a nice view over the city we recognized two Americans who where really excited. She was lying in the grass pushing the button of a small machine all the time. It was a counting machine. She said she was coming to this place every single day for seven weeks and she never saw this before. After a while we looked in the skies: there where thousands of emigrant birds, Turkey Vultures and Swanson’s Hawks who were on their migrations from the USA and Canada down to Argentina. We never saw something similar before! It was extremely impressive. I liked the idea that some people feel such a big enthusiasm for something so they do everything to reach their objectives. It doesn’t matter if this enthusiasm only means to watch and admire the harmony and grace of birds on their migrations. I loved to see that there are people who feel a great satisfaction about events which seem to be ordinary day life on the first view.