Driving in Panama


Driving in Panama

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Written by Susana Lezcano

Saturday, April 22 2006

I have a confession to make: I'm 21 and have a drivers license, but I don't use it. It's not that I can't drive, just that circumstances have made it difficult for me to have a car available.

I got my license at age 18 without the usual hassle (read: knowing someone who knows someone at the transit department); however, a few months later I moved away to college and good-bye wheels. It's easy to get around in the Southern US town where I attend school—I either walk or get rides from friends—but the scenario changes when I come home to PTY for vacations. My mom will rarely let me use her car unless she wants yet another scratch on her door courtesy of yours truly, so that forces me to use taxis (or buses if I'm really desperate). Yet she agreed to let me drive today.

It's Sunday, and not much traffic should be expected. Nevertheless, even on Sunday afternoons Panama City traffic is relentless. Not because the volume of traffic, but because the few drivers around take the streets as their own Indy speedway... now I understand why a friend whose sister lives in Panama asked me if it was true that we don't have traffic signals in this city.

So there I was, young and inexperienced against what should the slowest traffic day in the city, muscles so clenched I couldn't even move the steering wheel.Panama City Panama Information It wasn't enough that I was freaking out about being the first time behind the wheel in months, but my mom and my uncle came along for the ride, both about to have a heart attack.

“Watch out!” my mother yelled when a taxi honked at me. “Cabbies won't have mercy on you.” It's true. They won't. Cab drivers, or any other driver for that matter, are more likely to curse and yell at you than yielding the way. I wonder how with crazy traffic and relatives on the edge of hysteria I still survive. Then again, the question asked by my friends who have visited Panama comes back to haunt me: “Do you drive in Panama?”

“Hell no! I cherish my life,” I reply. Of course, they're unaware they would need to write a will before riding with me.

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