Carnival Time In Panama
Feb 14th, 2007 by Don Ray
Once again Carnival time in Panama is approaching. Officially I think it begins this Saturday and runs through the following Tuesday. Many businesses will be closed. Some will be closed the entire week. This is not a good time to need your local doctor or vet or have other emergencies. Many people leave their home location for a short vacation.
This is not one of my more favorite holidays. Traffic between David and Boquete will have huge snarls around Dolega. In this part of Panama it s not going to be worth seeing from my part of view unless you want to mingle with the drunks that will be dousing everyone with water in Dolega.
I think it was in Carnival of 2005, I was driving from Boquete to David and I was in the snarl in Dolega. The traffic was stop and go. It took me an hour to get through that part of the drive. While I was stopped waiting on the traffic to move again, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the driver of the car behind me get out of the car and come up to my car and take a leak on my car. He was smiling real big as he could see me watching in the mirror. I felt like a welcome gringo.
If you plan on going to any of the festivities and plan on taking photos, I recommend you keeping your camera protected from the water.
Dear Mr. Williams,
Thank you for your kindness of giving orientation to foreigners living in the area. In case of a problem, I am sure there are emergency services 24/7. Mae Lewis Medical Center as well as Chiriqui Hospital (775-4616 and 774-0128, respectively) have a resident who is authorized to call the specialist you require immediately. They both have ambulance services. Also, the public “Hospital Regional” has an ambulance service (775-7019). Of course, I would advice that those who have a private insurance be taken to a private hospital. I should also say that the ICU at the Regional Hospital has some equipments not available in private hospitals. The doctors are mostly the same.
Another advice is to refrain from mixing drinking and driving.
For those instances when your own doctor is not available, my suggestion is to ask in advance who replaces him, and to have a personal file with all your lab tests, or exam results.
Best regards,
Hilda
Hi Hilda. Thanks for your comment. You are correct in all that you said. When it comes to health care it is wise to know Panama’s limitations and have a plan for unplanned needs.
The health care in David is good. Most things can be taken care of here in a very good manner. There are some limitations that people should know about and have a plan for going to PC in the event they occur.
Re: drinking and driving, all the traffic fines went up 2 to 3 times this year, having alcohol on your breath is $150 (no breathalyzer needed). I couldn’t find a fine for whizzing on someone’s car though.
Make sure your passenger is wearing their seatbelt $75 now, more than in California. This is draconian I think.
Yes, but the seatbelt fine is causing the Panamanians to buckle up which they have never done before. I am all for the seatbelt enforcement.
And as many people that are killed because of drunk drivers in Panama, i can understand the other as well.
Hi Don,
Yes the Dolega traffic jam at night is really the pits. Last year we didn’t know about it and as you said, it took about an hour to get through that section going to Boquete. But at least I didn’t have anyone urinate on my car! I was invited to PC by friends this week end but will op to stay close to the casita in Boquete. Let’s do lunch sometime.
I’m game.
Oh my, taking a leak, I assume means, “pissing” on your car? Well, that would be a mortal act here in most places. People would fly out of their car and either shoot, stab or strangle the person with the instrument out. We call it “Road Rage” and there have been some bizzare incidents reported in newspapers.
Hi Abe. Well being the only gringo that I could see, I thought it better to just remain in the car.