I'm trying a different setting in hopes of fixing my formatting problems.  If it doesn't work, you do't have to bother reading this blog but I won't be reposting it either because it's really not all that important or informative.  It's just for me.

Cali, Colombia to Bocas, Panama the hard way – April 16-18, 2011

I was to leave Cali, Colombia at 6 p.m. on the 16^th, arrive in Panama city at 7:30 p.m., spend one more night there and then fly to Bocas early in the morning arriving at the condo around 9 a.m.   Instead, I arrived about 7 a.m. the following day and I do want a record of the trip so here goes.  It will probably be very uninteresting reading (unlike my other very exciting blogs!) and it won’t have any useful information in it about great sights to see (unlike my other very informative blogs!) so please feel free to stop reading now if you wish.

I left the hotel in Cali at 4 p.m. to catch a 6 p.m. flight.  I thought that was a bit late but the hotel, which arranged the transfer, said the airport was small and you didn’t need to check in more than 90 minutes in advance and the airport was less than 30 minutes away so everything was fine.  Traffic was a bit heavy but we still got to the airport in about 40 minutes.  The lineups weren’t bad for the airline so I got in line with everyone else flying to Panama City and assumed all would be fine.  The line moved quite slowly but we were working our way through and eventually I made it to the front.  The girl took my passport and other details and went about her business.  She asked me for information on my flight out of Panama to Canada and I said I didn’t have it.  She worked some more.  She asked again about the flight out and I explained I was on an extended holiday and didn’t have everything planned in advance.  She worked some more and talked to some others and then came back a third time asking about my flight from Panama to Canada.  I explained the situation again and she finally said, “You can’t enter Panama from Colombia without providing the details on your flight out of Panama.  Without the information you can’t get on the flight.”

Now it’s getting closer to departure time and I’m finally starting to worry.  I explained I had just come from Panama and there was no problem with my getting into the country.  She pointed out that I hadn’t entered from Colombia and this was the rule for Colombia.  She read me part of the regulation and it included hotel accommodation and I said I could provide her with details on hotels for later dates after Panama.  I then turned on my laptop and opened one up for her to see.  She agreed that proved I was out of Panama but said she still needed the airline ticket.  I don’t know how anyone ever does this if they are travelling by land!!!  Anyway, we did have a flight booked but my travelling companion had purchased the tickets and the e-mail confirmation went to him and I did not have a copy of it.  The chance of reaching him and getting him to forward the e-mail before the flight left was slim so I asked to talk to the manager.  She didn’t speak English so my attendant had to translate everything for us.  I said I was willing to take the risk of not getting into Panama (because I was certain I would get in) and sign something to that affect for the airline.  I had actually done this on an earlier trip in some other location at the airline’s suggestion so I knew it could work.  I explained the whole situation to her and said I would have the information before I had to clear customs in Panama but she just kept saying no, I needed a ticket out of Panama before I could get on their flight.  If I got the information by tomorrow, then I could go on standby for a flight out tomorrow but it would cost me $104 US.   Since it’s Easer week down here, the schools are all on holiday and all flights and hotels are booked.    She said the airline would accept no blame despite the fact that nowhere on their ticket did it ever mention the fact that you needed proof of a flight out of Panama. 

The manager left and I then asked the attendant what the cheapest flight would be from Panama City to anywhere COPA flew on any date in the future.  I had no intention of using the flight anyway so the date didn’t matter so if there was something cheap I would just buy a ticket.  $150 or $200 would have been quite an acceptable price considering the other alternative was $104 plus perhaps days sitting in an airport on standby.  She went back to work on her computer and I stood there for many more minutes.  I packed my laptop and got everything ready to go so I could run to the gate.  Eventually she said something about not being able to get on the flight.  When I asked her if she didn’t have any flights available anywhere out of Panama City, she just looked at me and said it’s too late to get on the flight anyway.  I pointed to my bag and said I was all ready to go but she just said no.  I have a feeling the manager told her just to stall and left her to deliver the message that there was no way I was going to get on this flight or any other flight until I provided them with a airline ticket out of Panama, and they weren’t about to sell me one at that moment.

Eventually I left the counter and went to the airport information desk and asked about WiFi at the airport.    I then went to the Dunkin’ Donuts shop and sat at a dirty table, so they thought I’d actually bought something and wouldn’t bother me, and sent some panic e-mails telling my travelling companion that I had missed my flight and would not be making it to Panama City that night and would not be there in time to catch the flight to Bocas in the morning as the earliest flight out of Cali did not get me there in time.  I also spent some time checking online for flights to Panama City or to Bocas.  I also went to the desks of some of the other airlines at the airport.   All of them had the same problem in that they were booked solid.  I went back to airport information and confirmed that the airport would be open all night and that at least some food services would be available as well.  It helped to know that I wouldn’t suddenly be booted out into the street in the middle of the night.

The internet connection was very weak and I spent a long time wandering around the terminal trying to keep a signal.  Eventually a security guide told me the best place was upstairs in the corner so that’s where I went and stood for the next hour or so as it did seem to work up there.  Eventually I got the e-mail I was waiting for and went back to show the COPA folks that I did indeed have a flight out of Panama.  They took all the information again and said to be back the next morning for standby but that was all they could do for me. 

The good news at the point I went up to the counter, was that security was there and told me there was a hotel in the airport.  Who knew?  Anyway, after finishing with COPA and having some real dinner I went up to the hotel.  This is not a hotel like the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel but it is indeed right at the airport.  They only had one room left and it had no air conditioning and no hot water but it looked okay so I took it.  By the time I got in and settled down and organized for the next morning it was well after midnight.  I had to get up shortly after 4 p.m. and of course I couldn’t get to sleep.  That would have been too easy.  I think I did finally sleep sometime after 2 a.m. and the night seemed very short.

I was up, ready, checked out of the hotel and at the ticket counter just before 5 a.m. and again there was quite a line so I stood around some more.  However, when I got to the line and they finally pieced everything together and I paid the $104 dollar change fee, I did get a seat on the flight.  It would arrive in Panama City at 7:40 a.m. while my flight from there to Bocas left at 7:30 a.m. from a different airport.  I had to immediately board the plane so had no time to check on other flights to Bocas but I assumed they were all full anyway.  Once in Panama City I took a taxi from the international airport to the domestic airport and was told everything was full and the next flight wasn’t until 3:30 p.m. so I should come back at 2:00 if I wanted to try standby.  It was still not even 9 a.m. so I had a bit of time to kill.  

The people at the tourism information desk suggested taking a bus and since the bus station was in the same area I took a taxi to the bus station.  They tried to call over to the station but no one was answering the phones so they assumed they were busy and I would have better luck in person.  This was not the case.  The Bocas window had a sign on it that they would open again at 1 p.m. and no one else could answer any questions about Bocas.  They just pointed to that window.  There is an internet café in the bus station so the tourism information people had also suggested that I go there and check out things online.  Well, of course it wasn’t open either.  By this time, after little or no sleep and hauling all of my luggage around with me I was getting very weary.   That’s when some helpful person suggested going across the street to the mall and said there was WiFi there and an internet café.  So I head across the street and find out the mall isn’t open yet but it does open at 10 according to the window so I stand in the shade with dozens of others waiting to get in.  About 10:15 a security guard does come and open one of the doors and the now much larger crowd surges forward only to be turned back.  The door is just open for store employees to enter so we wait even longer.  Probably about 10:40 the mall actually opened for shoppers.

A kind young man told me where to go to find the WiFi and described it as upstairs and to the left around the carousel.  Someone a bit later on confirmed the same thing.  Well, let me tell you that those directions were exact but rather misleading in that the mall is huge so I probably walked a mile before I got near the carousel.  Okay, so I’m exaggerating a bit but I am carrying all my luggage!  The mall is only two storeys high, I think, but it seems to go forever.  It is a beautiful mall with all the modern stores you would expect to see in North America and a lot of others.  The food court probably had over 30 outlets and the entire place was packed with people.  Obviously Panamanians really like to shop on their holiday weeks, and there were kids everywhere so lots of noise and commotion.

I sat down at the Food Court to use the WiFi and discovered that there was no free service.  I then, very suddenly, discovered that I had to go to the bathroom and for 25 cents they were probably some of the nicest public bathrooms I have ever seen.  Don’t you just love all the important information that gets thrown into these blogs?   It gets worse as there is probably “tmi” (too much information) coming up.  Let’s just say I couldn’t get too far from a bathroom so I was glad to see that the internet place was in the area of the food court.   I tried booking flights and buses but all to no avail so I finally just gave up.

I walked back to the bus station but the Bocas window was still closed and someone said there were no buses until the evening.  I later found out there was one at 3 p.m.  I took a taxi back to the airport and talked both airlines into putting me on standby for their afternoon flights.  I then sat down in a chair and read for several hours.  I did stay in touch with the tourism information folks because they were just appalled that the bus station was not answering its phone and no one had any answers on Bocas.  At one point one of the gentlemen came to get me and they then had the bus schedule.  Now I had a plan.  Wait for the afternoon flights and see if I could get on one of them.  If not, head to the bus station again and take the night bus to Bocas.   Well, four hours later after much sitting I was heading back to the bus station.  The Bocas ticket window was open so I bought a ticket for the 8:30 p.m. bus and then walked back over to the mall and down to the internet café to send e-mails informing folks when I would be arriving.  I tried to eat something in the food court but just the smell was bad enough so I walked back to the bus station and had an ice cream cone while I waited another two hours for my bus.  And have I noted lately that while doing all this I’m carrying all my luggage around with me?

I was worn out and tired by the time I got on the bus at 8:30 p.m. and I had taken a Gravol to get me through the trip.  The result was that I was asleep before we ever got out of Panama City and I think I slept the whole way to Almirante where we arrived at 6 a.m.   I was awake many times when the bus made stops and people got on or off but basically I just slept the whole way.  Once in Almirante, which is the last city on the coast, about six of us piled into a taxi (a truck) and went to the ferry.  From there we piled into a boat and had about a thirty minute ride as the sun came up over perfectly calm water and we made our way between small islands on our way to Bocas Town on Isla Colon.  Once there I caught another taxi (truck) to La Bomba Gasolina because the condo we had rented was just three doors down from that.  It’s a small town so the driver had no problem taking me to the right gas station.  In fact he even dropped me in front of the condo, which was really nice because I was still feeling pretty groggy.  

So instead of Cali to Bocas in 17 hours with a good night’s sleep in the middle, I arrived in about 40 hours with not much of sleep at all.  However, I did make it and the Bocas story will be in another blog. 

The end.