The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Even the best laid plans can go astray. Since we had just one day in the city, we signed up for a full day tour to make the most of it. However we found out last minute that we needed exit stamps on our passports and we had to pick up stamped passports of the other crew members who had already sailed to Las Perlas islands. Without the stamp we may not be able to reenter Panama and/or be allowed entry to Galapagos. The plan was to meet up with an Agent at La Playita Marina at 9 am, hand him our passports and then go on tour at 9:15am. The Agent would take care of the needful at the consulate and bring us back our stamped passports in a few hours.

We arrive at the marina at 8:55 am. The Agent is not there. Another ARC sailor lets us know that he is expected in an hour, maybe two or at 3:30 pm if things go like yesterday! We have exactly one day to get this done before we fly to Contadora and I am not liking the sound of this. So I call the agent who assured me that he would be there in a hour or two!

Our tour guide JC, not Jesus Christ (those are his own words) arrived at the marina to pick us up. At this point, we have no firm time from the Agent as to when he will show up and a tour guide ready to show us his city. I begin to realize that sailing around the world through many different countries and their immigration formalities requires more than just sailing ability. One needs to be able to deal with all sorts of unanticipated situations.

Thanks to the resourcefulness of our guide, we decided to go ahead with the tour and circle back in a hour or so once the Agent shows up. Long story short, all’s well that ends well etc.. we had all passports back by mid afternoon. There is an underlying efficiency in Panamanians that is belied by a laid back no hurry don’t worry attitude. We saw it in the agent as well as JC who has to be the world’s most accommodating guide.

Panama City cannot be described in a short blog. That’s for another day. It’s surprising, modern, historic, dynamic, slow, and wonderful. A visit to Casco Antigua (Viejo) the old town showed how modernity can coexist with the old. Of course the highlight of the day was a visit to the Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal.