Between Bureaucracy, Graffiti, and Canal Anticipation

Our visit to the immigration office in Colón was, to say the least, a unique experience. We waited for about 45 minutes to be seen, and when it was finally our turn, we realized that the official didn’t speak a word of English. Our Spanish is about the same level. And so… time passed, and we just sat there looking at each other. The atmosphere was very “local”: a radio was playing, with a wire pulled out and tied to a nail in the wall. A gentleman in a white shirt, navy blue trousers, and holey black socks was tapping his foot to the rhythm – he had taken his shoes off without any hesitation. He tried to communicate with us, but it was very difficult. After some time, a woman appeared, stamped our passports, and told us we had four days (including that day) to leave the country. If we didn’t leave within that time, we would need to apply for a visa.

We rented a car to do some shopping and take care of other things in the city so we could be ready to leave as soon as possible. The rental agency was located near the ferry terminal in a part of the city called Colón 2000. It seems that this part of the city was built around that time, but due to humidity and lack of maintenance, it’s quite run-down and dilapidated. Time has taken its toll. The same is true for Fort Sherman, which has been swallowed by the jungle, which is probably the main reason why Colón 2000 is in such a state.

Now that we have a car, we can explore Colón without having to rush back for the bus.

We informed our agent that we had completed the immigration formalities and that we only had four days of stay. He smiled and told us not to worry. The bad news was that there’s a huge backlog for canal transits, partly due to the large number of boats and partly because the ARC participants have priority as a group. It will take us at least 15-16 days for the paperwork to be processed, for the boat inspection to be carried out to determine if everything is up to standard for the canal transit, and so on.

We used the day to explore Colón a bit more. Colón itself is a much more serious city than any Caribbean city we’ve seen so far, except for Havana. You can see that it’s a bit neglected; the people seem okay, but the atmosphere isn’t exactly pleasant; there’s a strange vibe, but we can’t say we’ve had any unpleasant experiences. The police here patrol fully armed, with long guns. No messing around.

Graffiti is everywhere, the streets are, how can I say, a bit run-down, in worse condition than back home. Public transport consists of a huge number of American school buses, all painted with graffiti. Everything is kind of colorful and cheerful, but with a certain distance, that’s the strange vibe. We probably have prejudices because of the warnings from the marina that it’s not safe. We asked the agent, and he told us it’s okay, but that we shouldn’t test the situation too much, but rather mind our own business and be careful.

This will be a long stay in Panama, so we need to make the most of it. The next two weeks are ours, so let’s see what Panama has to offer, and by God, there’s a lot here…

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