edwards block

Downtown Panama City is a cacaphony of car and bus horns most of the time, but particularly during the afternoon rush hour. Taxi drivers all honk whenever they pass pedestrians, to try to generate business. Car drivers are constantly honking, to get people out of their way, to speed traffic flow, or just for the hell of it.

The worst, however, are the private buses. These are old, smoke-belching school buses that have been painted white, over which there has usually been added decoration such as multi-coloured patterns, vanity emblems and logos, beads and baubles, neon lighting, and/or murals that would not look out of place on a ´75 Chevy van.

Each bus has a driver and a “conductor”. The conductor stands in the open doorway and shouts at pedestrians to encourage them to choose his bus. The driver steers (often without an apparently intended direction) and blasts the horn liberally. It would seem that each bus owner has sought out the loudest possible air horn, of the type used my semi-trailers. They blast them continuously if the traffic jams, if a competitor ahead is not departing quickly enough (ie: immediately), or just to get the attention of prospective passengers.

The worst spot I´ve seen is on Via Espana, near Calle 50, where there is a major pickup location. Via Espana is a large thoroughfare that is constantly full of cars. The “Let´s Go” tourist guide´s recommendation for crossing the street in Panama is to “look both ways, then run like hell”. I thought this an exaggeration until I tried to cross Via Espana yesterday to reach the bank. Controlled intersections are rare, so I waited for a break in traffic. I waited for about five minutes before I spotted a small gap caused by a bus changing lanes. I ran like hell and just made it across before the homicidal pack raced by trying to fill the gap.
Imagine trying to run across Interstate 5 in downtown Seattle, and you´ll have a good pictue of the experience. On the way back I walked six blocks to an overpass, crossed, and walked the six blocks back.

I certainly won´t be renting a car here.

Despite the traffic anarchy, Panama City doesn´t seem so bad, for a city. It´s big and noisy and smelly, but still OK somehow. Think of Los Angeles, except with character. On the other hand, the poor neighbourhoods verge on the aesthetic style of Soweto.