Riding The Bus With Jesus

When heading out of the country, most people cab it to the Panama City airport. A cab ride costs something around $40, depending, and takes you on a 30 minute highway tour. Boring.

So, with more than a four hour layover and more idle time ahead, plus a fidgety kid and luggage too, we decided to kill some time and travel the slow bus through town.

The buses here are tricked out beyond the stretches of kistch, and clearly, Uncle Jesus is taking the wheel!

With Hey-Seus being so prominently displayed, including a full center fold type spread on the cieling (see left), I wondered if this might not be Panama's cheaper and improved answer to Allstate.

As the rest of traffic whizzed by at a fair clip, our driver traveled at a trickle, stopping frequently not only to let new riders board, but to allow vendors step on briefly to sell candies, sodas and the like.


Unlike the more glamorous view of Panama City's white and distant skyline, the scenes from a local bus reveal a seedier, dirtier and truer side of the city.'

After about 90 minutes, we were deposited at a stop, a quick walk to the airport, luggage in tow. Hooray for wheels, right? Total cost of our trip for the three of us? About $2.00!
Additional photos of our tour are posted at left.