So this has sort of happened to me once or twice before, but I don’t think I had the blog at the time.

This is just one more example of how RUDE & IMMATURE some Panamanians are.

I had to take my CPU in because I was pretty sure the motherboard was dead.

Getting a heavy computer case into Panama city without a car is definitely stressful. Even when I had a car back home, when you don’t have a computer & that’s your livelihood, for me it’s a nightmare unless it’s a simple problem.

So after calling many different parata taxi drivers to pick me up from my house (casa) & getting nowhere, I had to walk to the main road which is a good 15 minute walk. Then I had to try & get a taxi to go back to my house, let me load up what I needed, drive me to a place I could stand with NO dust & dirt & wait for a parata taxi to take me into the city. Then I have to get ANOTHER taxi to take me to the computer store. ALL with this heavy CPU & other bags.

It’s not just that it’s heavy, if I’m dropped off on at in the wrong direction, crossing streets so I can face the right direction is a nightmare with something this heavy.

The first taxi driver I encountered had “Panama” written on his taxi. They aren’t allowed to pick up fairs in Arraijan (I don’t think so) & so I thought maybe he was going into Panama city, would be a parata taxi & I’d ONLY need one taxi for the entire trip.

WISHFUL THINKING!!!

I did ask say Panama? (Here they don’t say Panama City, they say Panama) He said, “yes.”

My mistake was I didn’t ask if he was a parata taxi. I was VERY hot & tired already & stressed.

I got Marie on the phone to talk to him to get pricing & that’s when he tells her $18. She tries to talk him down & either she or I must have mentioned parata taxi because the next thing I knew, he’s telling me (even though I didn’t understand him) to get out of the taxi. As soon as I realized he wasn’t going to work for Panama city, I asked how much to Neuvo Choreo & he said $2, but then he REFUSED to take me & forced me out of the taxi.

Since he had driven almost all the way back to my house, I NOW had to walk all the way back to the main road AGAIN.

Obviously I was furious, the computer store closed at 5 pm & I was already late as it had taken a long time to find a computer store I thought I could trust.

Again, NO LOGIC with his behavior & to throw someone out onto the streets is beyond RUDE.

Thank gawd the rest of my trip was easy. I got a nice taxi driver for the price I wanted, I got a parata taxi within 5-7 minutes after being dropped off & I got a taxi the minute I was dropped off in Calidonia.

Thank you Universe for looking out for me in the end.

Michelle