Pana-Whirlwind Tour

The Obligatory First Atlas Beer of the Trip

Okay, I’m back and I apologize that you are once again victimized by my less than artistic prose. It seems like a lot longer than three days ago I was sitting at this same computer. That’s what two days spent mainly sitting in airplanes but liberally sprinkled with fantastic times with my wife’s family, a trip down lieutenancy memory lane, and the odd governmental interview will do to a timeline. I’ve included plenty of pictures to augment my compromised abilities.

Driving into Panama City Before we hit Traffic

The trip down to Panama on Thursday went flawlessly although Copa should really think about investing in some sort of heating system. I had a window seat and felt  a good bit of the artic cold at 35,000 feet seeping in. It really helped that was attired for Panamanian heat. Luckily I had my Favorite Panamanian at my side seeking warmth of her own. My wife’s uncle was waiting for us when we arrived and we drove into Panamá City in the midst of the typical rainy season deluge.

Three Generations of PanaGals

My Wife's 93 year old Aunt - Still Spry

Deluge would be an interesting description of Panama City traffic. I was offered the opportunity to work in Panama City last year by my company which now has the contract for the bus system down there. Much to my wife’s chagrin I turned it down because I knew the traffic was like this. The same reason I’m not living in Northern Virginia right now, can’t abide it. We wound our way through the traffic with its interesting set of very loosely held rules.

View from our Hotel Room

I really liked the hotel we stayed at which had a pool inside although it rained almost the entire time we were there which precluded swimming. The attached TGI Friday bar which was attached to the hotel had no such restriction. We grabbed lunch there after I figured out how to actually use the hotel card to open the door from the hotel. After forty five minutes fighting our way through the traffic to reach the hotel the last thing I wanted to do was re-enter that fray but my wife had other intentions.

Pizza Party

She wanted to see an aged aunt, sister to her ailing father, who lived on the other side of Panama City. Joined by my wife’s sister we were once again creeping through the maelstrom of third world rush hour. We used a GPS tool on my wife’s uncle’s phone which had us zig zagging through some back streets to avoid the worst of the traffic crunch. While we were doing this we passed a building that looked very familiar. It was the apartment building where a fellow lieutenant lived during our time there in the early 1980s. There were some good memories and it helped orient me to the city again, since Panama City has morphed into a huge megalopolis since those days. I was soon pointing out landmarks, such as where I used to take her for some of our first dates (it was a movie theater – of course) to my very impressed wife.

There May Have Been an Atlas Involved

We passed a very nice time in the aunt’s condo and then picked up some more relatives from that side of the city for an impromptu pizza party. I’ve said this many times but when you’re with my wife’s family you end up laughing a lot. We ate enough pizza and drank enough beer/sangria that traffic died down to manageable levels. A long day of travels and traffic but the time with my wife’s family more than made up for it.

Wife and Uncle at immigration Office With Line in Background

Early the next morning we had the appointment that constituted the entire reason for the trip to Panama, our interview with the Ministry of Immigration to convince them we are in fact married to each other. My wife’s uncle had us at the ministry right at 7am even though the offices don’t start business until 8. Despite that there was still a long line that descended down a set of stairs and wound around several pillars in the basement location. Think about your worst nightmares at the security checkpoints at the airport to get an idea. Panama, however, has a very interesting set of rules for retirees and the elderly. In Panama I’m considered elderly and my wife has a retiree card. That allowed her to go to the front of the line – I was almost (but not quite) embarrassing.

Driving onto Former Howard Air Force Base

We were the first ones to be seen when the offices did open. When the interviewed asked whether I wanted the interview in Spanish or English my wife helpfully piped up that it could be in Spanish. She has a lot more confidence in my Spanish than I do, especially when I don’t have a few beers to loosen my inhibitions. My wife was sent form the room and we went through a twenty minute interview where I surprised even myself by understanding and answering every question. I think she took it easy on me and spoke more slowly than usual. There were a bunch of seemingly nonsensical questions but these were the ones designed to trip up people trying to fake it. One of the key questions I was able to answer was knowing the color of my wife’s slippers. I thought I’d screwed up when I couldn’t remember the name of her perfume. I answered that she had so many and that I’d just spent a lot of time tracking down and buying one that she’d seen in New York. When my wife followed me with the interviewed she answered the question the exactly same way, sometimes the 34 years are evident.

Base has Really Changed

We were done by 930am although I am going to return to Panama at some time in November to get my next ID card once all the paperwork has been processed. Since we had the rest of the day off my wife’s uncle volunteered to drive us down memory lane. I hadn’t been back to Fort Kobbe, where I was stationed as a young lieutenant, since I left in 1984. I’d caught glimpses over the years from pictures posted by other people but this was the first time I actually returned. I was amazed at the transformation. Kobbe along with the attached Howard Air Force Base are being transformed into some sort of international business park. There were high rise apartment buildings and only vestiges of the remembered military posts. Fort Kobbe was almost eradicated. There was one set of former barracks, including my first company, that now serve as a French school which I found mildly disturbing. Anybody but the French! The other side of the battalion street which had the airborne company I was assigned to was completely gone, as was the nearby battalion headquarters building which set on a hill behind it. Even the bachelor officer quarters where I lived (and adventured pre-matrimonially) was gone. It was a little sad but I was also a little pleased they were gone. They were part of the cherished memories of my youth and that’s where they belonged. It was almost fitting that they were no longer there.

New Business Park on Howard

Where the Old Space A Terminal Was - First Spot I Touched Down in Panama in 1981

Entering Howard - This Part Was Almost Unchanged 

Where the Base Post Office and NCO Club Was

Fort Kobbe Battalion Street

Where the Airborne Company Stood - HQ Was on Hill to Rear

My Old Parking Spot

My First Company, Company C - Now a French School

Battalion Field

Panoramic View of Ft Kobbe

Looking Back Down Battalion Street Towards Howard

Where the BOQ Used to Be - So Many Memories There

The remains of Ft Kobbe from a Distance

Going Back to Howard

We completed the memory tour with a trip out on the Fort Amador Causeway, passing the museum that now marks the spot I proposed to my Favorite Panamanian and where so many Sunday afternoons were mis-spent. It’s in the middle of yet another transformation being expanded to four lanes with a complete set of restaurants and hotels on the two formerly barren islands. We stopped for lunch at one of the restaurants on the farthest island which afforded sweeping views of the city across the Bay of Panama. Since we were a full two miles out in the Pacific we had sunny views of yet another rainy season downpour pummeling the city. We were also fortunate the sewage truck finished its efforts before the food was served.

Wife and Uncle at end of Causeway

Fragrant Lunch

Obligatory Waiter Photo

Our Old Sunday Hangout Spot

Storm Hitting Panama City

The Driving Through It

We made our way back to the hotel through the inundation and soon set up shop out of the rain in TGI Fridays for a Panamanian version of First Friday. My wife and I were there at 5pm and the rest of the gang trickled in over the next three hours. This evening would have been worth making the entire trip. I got to hang out with my wife’s niece and nephew to catch up with these two great young people. We have a shared interests in movie geekdom and they like to practice their English on me, which is a lot better than my Spanish. It was a night of way too may beers but somehow not enough. It passed way too quickly which is always the case when you’re with all too distant family. The assorted PanaGals kept my wife in stiches for the entire evening.

First Friday - Panama Style

Wife and the Former Mrs Cantankerous Friend

With my Wife's Niece and Nephew

You can probably guess that Saturday morning arrived all too early and with very little fanfare. After a hurried hotel breakfast and the requisite fight through traffic to the airport my wife and her uncle departed to reunite with the PanaGals while I journeyed through the several layers of security to get the Boston bound flight. I’m beginning to think the IPad I got for Christmas was the best gift ever because I can now watch the movies I want to on these long flights. Two movies later I was in Boston.

Way Too Much Fun Hanging With These Guys

It was a lot lonelier drive home. I passed by Fenway Park where the Soxfather and Great Aunt were in attendance to watch the Sox demolish the world champs. The house was a welcome sight although decidedly desolate without either the Favorite Panamanian or the Wonder Pooch in residence. I get one of them back today. My daughter, upon learning I was home immediately set up a video call with the First Blog Reader who was enjoying a visit from her other grandmother. That helped fight the loneliness bug in a big way. So a quick trip that seemed a lot longer than three days, but worth it for the time I got to spend with my wife’s family.