I decided to make use of my time here and check out one of the two caribbean coast locations. Headed to Colón early this morning. That area is soooo depresing! So much blight, desolation, and garbage everywhere - it seems they don't have a decent garbage collection system.
Headed back on the Transistmico Careterra towards Sabanitas, and then turned eastwards along the coast.
There is only one road from Sabanitas to Puerto Pilón - and it is a mess. Heading towards Maria Chiquita I am looking at the traffic in the other direction being at an absolute standstill - and the line is all the way from Sabanitas to Puerto Pilón - about 3 km!
Sabanitas is just a continuation of Colón - same desolation and blight. And Puerto Pilón, appearing like one town with Sabanitas, fits right in!
There is not much going on on this coastal road. Mostly just poor shacks, several failed touristic investments (elcastillo being the most noticable one). Maria Chiquita has nothing that holds any attraction to a foreigner, I'd say. Basically a poor fishing town, grown to a size where there are many people, but not enough money in the area to allow for growth and beautifications. My experience was rather depressing, again lots of garbage everywhere - an indication that people are still on the food, shelter, clothing level, and do not yet care about their environment - homes are patched together, "stuff" everywhere, no yard maintenance noticable.
I head on towards the next town - past playa la Angosta to Mechi. Playa La Angosta seems a communal beach, with facilities, a restaurant, and such. They even take credit-cards there. Mechi is just a handfull of buildings, most of them right on the beach; half of them broken and abandoned shacks of locals, the other half obviously walled in and fenced off villas of foreigners - even of them half seem to be abandoned.
So, all in all not an area where one would want to relocate to. You get the disadvantage of a rural place (have to drive far to get to any store and no restaurants or anything else of interest outside of your house) with the disadvantage of it being right on the main-road along the coast (not much traffic, but enough to have to always keep your gate locked, and the fence-wall secured with barb- or better even razor wire...
After a short rest on the beach I turn around and head back towards Sabanitas. As I was afraid of, I now was one of these poor souls that are stuck in a stop and almost no go traffic. I checked google maps - there is no way to avoid this road! One time, I take a detour off that road into the village. It didn't look that bad there - just poor, and dirty, but at least not appalling! This traffic jam seems to be an every-day situation. These poor souls that life there have this pollution and noise going on every day! And even worse, any time they need anything from the store, they are stuck in that mess!
It took me a whole hour to get only 2 km down the road. about 600m before the intersection with the Transistmico highway, There's finally a side-road that also heads towards that highway. I take it. It leads through a residential area. By now I am used to the poverty and desolation, so it doesn't even look that bad anymore...
I take a left on the TransIstmico Hwy and head back towards Panama City - intending to stay on this highway instead of taking the Autopista again.
Every little town we hit, there's a traffic jam! And in between the towns, there are sections of the road that are so bad, that cars can only ease their way over the potholes at walking speed!
By now it is noon-time, and I am hungry. In Kerala, you can stop at any hole in the wall restaurant and get delicious meals - vegetarian, if you want! In Panama you have a choice between foreigner restaurants - where a meal that's nothing to write home about can be had for 15 - 20$; or an american fastfood joint (like McDonalds, KFC, and such); or a fonda with panamanian comida (fried chicken, fried fish, fried pork, soggy tasteless rice, beans that also don't taste of much); or a fonda with comida creola (fried chicken, fried fish, fried pork, soggy tasteless rice, beans that also don't taste of much). If you're lucky and ask for it, you might get two tiny slices of plantana madura, or patagones. These things are really quite nice, but it's a real struggle to get them, and always in small quantities. People here eat mostly meat... Another indication that most people here seem to still be on the food, shelter, clothing level.
So, one thing is clear: when you live here you're going to be dependent on your own cooking!
This is fine with me - just, when travelling to checkout places, it would really be nice to be abe to find something decent to eat...
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