Margarita was waiting for me in Panama
The last time Margarita & I met was many years ago in the tropics, she was cool, uncompromising yet sophisticated and she left me with a lingering salty taste on my lips. I hope she was waiting for me in Panama.
Let me put it this way, I got more than I bargained for on this leg of the trip in Central America. When travelling in this area one hopes to get adventure, that is until it comes along.
The previous day Brielle, my 23 year old Spanish speaking daughter and I spent seven hours in San Jose fixing up our bungled reservations, which had a sector San Jose to Panama City that was not required. No my office did not issue the tickets. By the way I’m in San Jose, capital of Costa Rica and dealing with Panama’s national airline “Copa”. Well nobody was coping in Copa but we eventually sorted both itineraries for U$500.00. Have you ever noted that it’s just a matter of money and problems get sorted? So this was a day wasted except we did get visit my colleague, Marcos’s house of which all five hectares overlook the city with a breathtaking view. His four dogs, one a Great Dane, a horse, goat and a security guard also enjoyed the view. The house, swimming pool, stables, garden. Stunning!
This day we woke early and were at breakfast in time to catch our traditional Costa Rican breakfast of rice & black beans again. Our Air Panama flight was scheduled to depart at 11:00 a.m. and check in is three hours prior. It just is three hours prior so don’t ask me why so early. All checked in and all in order. Our 35 seater Dash 8 was on time but I noticed it hadn’t actually arrived yet.
11:00 a.m. was approaching fast and no sign of us boarding. Ah! A delay, thought as much. Now a 12.30 departure. Hmmm 1 O’clock departure but rumours that 2:30 p.m. is more likely. Well at 2:30 you will be pleased to know that Brielle and I were tucking into our Air Panama in-flight sandwich and juice served directly from the trolley by the delightful staff. Only problem it was all done minus the aircraft. No point on leaving the trolley on the tarmac and the food get spoilt by the heat.
At 3:30 p.m. we are officially told that there will be no flight today and that they would reschedule for the same time tomorrow. We were going to visit a friend in Boquete, Panama which is located close to the Costa Rican boarder and we would only be there for two nights. Bother! Well I said a bit worse than that. You might recall I had just spent U$500.00 changing a ticket I could now possibly use. An announcement that non Costa Rican nationals would be put up in a hotel but Costa Ricans would have to go home and come back tomorrow regardless of whether you lived in San Jose or not. After quite a bit of confusion a lifeline was offered in the form of “Good news, bad news” to get to Panama tonight. You have to imagine all this in Spanish. The good news is that a charter of an aircraft from Nature Air could be organised, the bad news is that it only has 17 seats and we have 25 passengers. So here is the offer. If 8 passengers volunteer to stay behind Air Panama will pay for two night’s accommodation (as the next scheduled flight is in two days) and supply a free return ticket for future use.
I said to Brielle we have got Buckley’s hope of this happening, however a few people stepped forward but not enough. There were a lot of murmurs and some blank faces. Brielle then came to the rescue. She jumps in the mix and tells the Air Panama staff that they have not communicated this in English. On doing so an American women living in Panama said she was in no hurry, so she would stay along with the six others who already volunteered. Only one short! Just before the deal was aborted a guy steps forward, he and his wife had been in the USA and as they had a young child at home he wanted his wife to get back home that night.
So ready to go but we get more delays as Immigration have said that all the passengers’ forms were incorrect as the flight number was now wrong. I said to Brielle “You wait I bet the weather deteriorates and we can’t fly”. Eventually at 5:30 p.m. we are put on an airport bus and we were moving at last. Past all those new Boeing’s and Airbus aircraft, past the private jets and maintenance hangers to our very experienced “De Havilland Twin Otter” aircraft which would have only taken up two spaces of the airport car park.
Brielle’s face lit up as she had never been on such a small aircraft with panoramic windows. Funny thing happened in that we ended up with three empty seats. And where was the disabled man in the wheelchair? I have no idea how they were going to get him onboard so maybe he decided not to come. That then says that the husband who magnanimously gave up his seat could have come along.
Those of you not familiar with this type of aircraft should be aware that there is no toilet, no legroom and no door to the cockpit, so you can see straight out the front. It is also not able to fly at high altitude. Got it? “Roger. Over”. The propellers start to rotate with a small cough and a puff of smoke from the engines. Then we taxi out to the runway under the feet of the big jets. ‘Excuse me just trying to find the end of the runway’. Hmmm it’s starting to rain; after all it is the ‘Green’ season. I call it the wet season.
Didn’t need much runway and we were flying, 1hr 15 minutes to David, Panama. David is Welsh but pronounced the Spanish way it is ‘Darvid’. And is the 3rdlargest city in Panama with 145,000 residents. It’s now getting dark and much darker ahead as I could see big grey, blackish clouds that lay directly ahead. Remembering that this type of aircraft cannot fly at high altitude also means it can’t fly over the big clouds. In fact it was these types of tropical storm clouds that they have to go straight through the middle of.
It wasn’t long before the rain hits the windscreen with incredibly velocity. The noise makes it seems as if the windscreen is going to implode with the force of the smashing rain. In amongst all the gloomy matter and rain I say to myself “Please no lightening, please no lightening”. A God almighty flash and my worst fears were a reality. We were thrown around like a pair of knickers in a tumble dryer. I wasn’t sure if to hold on to the seat or myself. Eventually we come out the other side of the tumble dryer into daylight. Small breaks in the cloud show a hostile jungle below and crocodile infested rivers. I wish I had taken more notice of “Man vs Wild” and what Bear Grillis would do down there?
Another storm and straight through we go. Lightening all around and driving rain. More tumble dryer action. I’m sure I could hear the thunder over the engines. Brielle yells to me from two rows back “Dad what happens to the plane if it’s hit by lightening?” She was not smiling as she was when we first boarded. “Don’t ask, but I think we may get tingles for a week and glow in the dark”. This is now like a scene straight out of an Indiana Jones movie.
I bet none of you have worked out that the town of David is not a scheduled port of Nature Air, which could be why one of our pilots keeps referring to navigation charts. “Please no more storms?” I keep saying to myself. Just as I see lights below I see another flash of lightening in the direction we are heading. Will we get to the airport before the next storm? The other thing to note is that Twin Otter aircraft have limited instruments and the pilots have to make a visual landing. So what do we do if the airport closes due to bad weather? I don’t know of another airport close by and I sure as hell don’t want to go back through all that weather to San Jose. It’s at this point that you look at all the passengers and hope that one is a Priest or a Nun.
Meanwhile two rows back, Brielle has been going through photographs of the love of her life, Willem. She was thinking how much she loves him and that it was good while it lasted, she also decided never to watch “Air Crash Investigations” again.
Relax, relax, and breathe!
We sight the runway with a flyover and then head straight out over the Pacific Ocean. We eventually make a 180 degree turn and line up the runway. All vision disappears once again as it was well and truly night and coupled with the driving rain. At this point I recall the words of my ex-wife, who was once a flight attendant. “Never panic until the crew panic”. Well our pilots were not fazed by lots of weather and we landed in the pelting rain nine hours late. As we taxied to the terminal (shed) all the passengers gave huge applause to our two heroes’ at the helm.
Umbrella’s at the ready and off to Immigration in the terminal. Brielle & I were tenth & eleventh in line and you would not believe it, but we couldn’t fit in the terminal as it was full with the nine fellow passengers in front of us. What’s more we were the only flight in. More delays as we have to fill out Immigration & Customs forms as we stand and wait in line. The military were also on hand to keep us in order? It goes through my mind that it was only 20 years since President Noriago’s regime of terror here. After much scrutiny and baggage searching we were eventually let in the country.
Our Australian friend Mark was there to meet us. Having not seen him for nearly 10 years his first words were. “You flew in that thing?” His second comment was “Gee we’ve had a lot of rain here today”. “No shit Sherlock!” On trying to speak I find my tongue just dragged around my mouth as all my saliva had dried up through fear.
So off we go up the mountains in Mark’s aging two door Honda with headlights that moth’s would laugh at. This makes the dark, wet twisty bits of road very interesting as there are no posts with reflectors, any lines painted on the roads or guard rails and lots of on-coming traffic with lights on high beam. And I thought the adrenaline was over when we landed.
As is evident in the writing of this script we did make it to Boquete. On approaching the town our host says “We should celebrate” and pulls into a restaurant with an outside dining area made with a thatched roof. On walking in a number of expats instantly recognise Mark and welcome us to their paradise. They immediately surround us with conversation. “Sorry I need a drink, I simply cannot talk until I have a drink”. Three beers of local origin were delivered and served at 1 degree above freezing. OMG what beauty there is in a beer? I was so dry that it just soaked into my tongue.
The barman said “I have a Margarita waiting for you. With salt, Señor?”
“Absolutely, Cheers!”
Trevor
07 June 11
