Panama is a good place for getting spares for the
boat. Quite a few are available locally
and others can be shipped in. The trick
is knowing which delivery company to use.
Fedex and DHL are reliable and deliver to your door, the rest – good
luck. The company supplying our new
windlass motor (the motor that brings the anchor chain on board) had already
shipped via TNT before we had a chance to warn them.
Stories of other cruisers attempts to get their goods
released from some of these shippers had kept us entertained in the bar at
Shelter Bay Marina on many an evening.
How were we going to avoid falling into the same trap? Our calls to TNT were answered and then put
through to a recorded message never to be understood. Eventually we enlisted the support of the guys
in the marina office who said the shipment was in Panama (we knew that) and
would be delivered in the next few days.
All very good. I even got very
excited one night when I saw a TNT van outside the office – no it was a package
for someone else. But the office was encouraged;
it was the first time a TNT van had ever made it as far as the marina.
However, we had a slot booked to cross the Panama Canal
for the 4th of Jan and Christmas was approaching. Mark was worried if we didn’t take the
initiative we would not get the package in time for him to fit the motor and
load the new chain which was laying on the dock. So the Friday before Christmas we decided we
had to act. We went to the local TNT
office in Colon who we had been told had the paperwork, but no, Panama City had
it. Early the following day we got the
bus through to Panama City. Our package
was at the airport but we first had to go to a city office to get the paperwork.
We managed to find a taxi to take us to both these places
and return us to the bus terminal for $30 which was on the expensive side but
ok. On the back seat next to me was a
large box which he had to deliver on the way to airport. First we needed the paperwork. Inside the office there was an English
speaking lady who turned out to be a freight forwarder trying to get something
for one of her clients. She established
that our package was there and the paperwork was being produced but we had to
be at the airport by 1300 when the airport closed. She also said that $30 was a good price for
the taxi which unfortunately the taxi driver overheard (they claim not to speak
English ...) and he then demanded an extra $10.
It’s 1100 now so although we have a deadline nothing too
drastic given the size of Panama City.
The box on the back seat contained a turkey which had to be delivered to
a residential area close to a major shopping centre. It was the Saturday before Christmas and had
the traffic to go with it. Even with all
his back doubles, the taxi driver couldn’t fight is way out of this suburb until
around 1200. The cargo airport is
further away than we thought and the TNT office was tucked away in an obscure
compound down a dirt track. We were
just glad to see it and the security guard at the entrance – even if they
wouldn’t let the taxi in. Fortunately
Mark had taken his passport which the guard needed to let him in on foot. I didn’t have mine on me so waited at the
gate. Our taxi driver and the security
guard then started to berate me for not having my passport. I shrugged it off, showed them my driving
licence, and thought no more of it. They
kept clamping their wrists to suggest in future if I didn’t have my passport I
would be arrested. Fine.
Time is ticking away and Mark returns with a document he
needs stamped by customs which is in another area. We go to leave, but the guard and now the
army guy with a Kalashnikov (found at every check point) say no – I’m under
arrest. None of them can believe it when
Mark says to the taxi driver, ‘OK leave her, we’ll go alone to customs’. Off they go and I get on my mobile to the
marina hoping they can talk to these guys and find out what is going on. I am a bit concerned as they are quite
agitated. The marina are great and come
back on to me saying everything is ok and the guards will release me but I
might want to give them a small Christmas gift as a token of my
appreciation. No way, being the true
Brit that I am and having had a father who refused to get involved with any
corruption or extortion despite living in Nigeria for 20 years.
Waiting for Mark to return is an age as I exchange
pleasantries with my ex gaolers and nervously eye the time approaching
1300. Mark gets back just in time and
runs to the office (not something you see very often) returning triumphantly
with the heavy boxed motor. Not sure
what you would do if you couldn’t carry your package. Mark was delighted and couldn’t extol the
helpfulness of the driver enough. As we
walked back to the car, the taxi driver said had I paid the guards - how did he
know? I said no and got in. He was apoplectic saying he would take me
straight to Immigration. Ok I said which
floored him. He wasn’t going to move
until we had paid something to the guards.
I handed over $5 which he looked at pitifully, then $10 which was pretty
much all we had as we had asked him to stop at a bank on the way which hadn’t
happened. He took the $10 then added $4
of his own before going back to the guards and we were off home.
But not before going through the main checkpoint for the
cargo airport. Here it seems you need a
certain document before you can leave.
We think this document should have been given to us at Customs which the
taxi driver had helped Mark to negotiate due to his limited Spanish. In retrospect it’s likely he either didn’t
get the document or kept it for himself.
It’s now passed 1300 and the Customs office is shut until the following
Wednesday after Christmas. The taxi
driver suggests Mark pay the lady at the gate something to let us go
through. But she is a god fearing salt
of the earth type and won’t have anything to do with it.
I am still in the taxi and notice our driver talking to
someone outside the office. Mark is then
offered a deal. This van driver will
take our package out for the small consideration of $100 which quickly reduces
to $50 when Mark laughs. Again we are
having nothing to do with this. We are
not sure what is really going on until a black guy is called over to
interpret. Whenever in need of a
translator in Panama, everyone looks around for the nearest black person as
they are all bi-lingual. He explains the
customs issue and says that the van driver is willing to not only get the
package out but also drive us back to Colon which is where he is going to. We are in limbo. We can’t get the package out until Wednesday
and we have nowhere to leave it until then as the TNT office is closed. Reluctantly we agree.
Before heading for Colon we have to stop to get money to
pay the taxi driver who by now I have taken a real dislike to. He has been very dismissive of me from the
start, like many of the Panamanian me who find it odd that I do all the Spanish
talking whilst Mark stands by. I see him
having a good laugh with our van driver as I’m waiting in the Christmas line to
get money out of the ATM. As I hand over
the money to him I scream at him ‘Malo Hombre! Malo Hombre!’ I just wish I had had a few more choice
words to get the shoppers attention. He
strides off anyway.
Once in the van, Mark and I start to compare stories for
the first time and realise that the taxi driver has been the main scammer. The van driver is a nice chap with his rosary
dangling from his mirror. I play on his
conscience saying how bad the taxi driver was and that ‘God sees
everything’. He keeps saying it is the
Panamanian way and we should just relax.
So we do but we hatch a plan for our arrival in Colon.
Mark gets out of the van with him and he breaks the
customs seal and passes out our package.
At this point I reach over and go for the van keys. Of course it’s not easy nowadays to get keys
out and it took me a while. The driver
looks in the door but assumes I am being safety conscience and am stopping the
engine. My heart pounding, I finally get
the keys out. Then leap out of the
van. The van driver is keen to get his
money and get on with his Christmas shopping.
Instead I pull out the keys and say I want $100 for them. Mark says ‘She learns quickly – the Panama
way’. We settle on paying him $30. He is
a nice chap. He also told us he had to
give the taxi driver $20 for setting up the scam. If nothing else, maybe he will think twice
before getting involved again – but I suspect not. We also realise what happened with the guards
– the taxi driver kept our $10 and gave the guards $2 each.
So with our introduction to Panamanian extortion
completed we got into the swing of it.
Money simply exchanged hands in future if we found ourselves needing
something that wasn’t quite right. We
also started doing some reverse extortion where we would simply pay people when
they didn’t try to clobber us or provided some useful service. Tipping I think it’s called.
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