Panama's second city

A parade was due to take place on Sunday in Colón, Panama's second city.  A parade to celebrate the African heritage of the people of that region.  I was interested in going but had no further details of the day.  I then made the mistake of asking a colleague.  Well, she is from Colón so I thought she might know.

She came back to me with a rough idea of the route and the information that it was to take place in the afternoon.  So, Colón being a very dangerous place, where one wouldn't want to hang around unnecessarily, I changed my plan of going there late morning and aimed to arrive in the early afternoon.  Second mistake - I asked at the information desk in the bus station how long it takes to get from Panama City to Colón.  An hour, she said.

I got a bus leaving Panama City at 12:50.  It arrived in Colón at 15:00 - not bad traffic, or anything, it just takes that long apparently.  Not that it mattered to be honest as I discovered that the parade was at lunchtime and had ended at 13:30.  Oh well.

I didn't really mind as I had long wanted to visit Colón.  When I first arrived here, the security rep at work told me it was a place I should never go because it is so dangerous - little did he know that this was like a red rag to a bull, and whilst I resisted the trip for three years, I always knew I'd find an excuse to go there one day.  So quickly forgetting about the parade, I wandered the streets of oh-so-dangerous Colón.  & I must say it was the most threatening-feeling place I have ever been.

Everything was dilapidated, broken down, dirty, and unkempt.  Apparently due to neglect, drug trafficking, and gangs - and the attitude of the people who live there, according to another colleague.  What really struck me was the appalling amount of rubbish around the place:

This was the inside of a church:

& this the view of one of many half-destroyed buildings:

I love places like this - they have so much atmosphere - and I was so glad I had finally got to see the place.  Although I must say I was very careful where and when I got my camera out.  Several times I saw a convoy of police driving around, some eight motorbikes, I think, each with two heavily armed officers on board.  They must have wondered what this middle-aged blonde woman, in an African outfit, was doing wandering around the streets!!  I didn't at any point feel any hostility from anyone there, but I wasn't going to hang around to talk to anyone either.

It means that within the space of just four days I saw what to me are the three different sides of Panama's human environment: the glass and steel skyscrapers of parts of the capital (where I live - and they're not as glamorous inside as they appear from the street); the traditional interior village where old traditions and introduced Catholicism mix; and the poverty and dirt of the neglected corner where the drugs slip through the country.  An interesting place, for sure!