So the pirate taxis going to Vacamonte Arrajian Panama used to be a 1-2-3 deal for me, but now it’s become a huge issue so much so that twice now I’ve had to say screw it & I took the bus.

First it used to be $2 to drive back home (ala casa which means right up to your house), but then they raised it to $2.50, then $3, now they are trying to rip everyone off at $4. So I tried to find a different area to stand to get one of the taxi paratas as they are called in Spanish for $2.50, but when I found that different area, I found out they are going to a different area then where I live. But the odd time I find someone there who’s going my way.

The problem is there are SWARMS of people waiting to get into the cars & because I have a huge cart full of groceries, I can’t just jump in the car.

So 3 times now I’ve had to wait for almost 2 hours to get a taxi or I gave up & took the bus. JUST NUTS.

I never had this problem before.

It takes 30 minutes to get me home via car unless it’s a wall of traffic which continues onto around 9-10 pm & then depending on how thick the traffic is, that run can take about an hour or a little longer.

The problem now is I can’t get a pirate taxi, so I end up wasting time (1-2 hours) & killing myself standing for hours going back & forth between the 2 spots trying to find someone. Then with the travel time & I’m losing 3-4 hours out of my day.

I guess part of the problem is before I used to do a lot more errands & go back later closer to 10 pm, but now if I come in earlier & try to get back earlier, it’s a nightmare. Even today I thought it would be okay because a lot of people have left the city already for the holidays & it was 5:30 pm, but I couldn’t get one & I didn’t get home until close to 10 pm. I started trying to make my way home starting at 5:30.

So yes I know I have to either go in very very early in the day or come back later in the night, but I’m just warning you that things are getting pretty bad. More & more people are going to live in Arraijan & the traffic is just getting worse & worse.

Also the road to Vacamonte is NUTS. It’s one lane & just the exit off the highway to get onto that one lane can take 30 minutes.

They probably won’t widen the road to 2 lanes because it’s a cheap area & they don’t care. Right now the government only cares about the subway system they are putting into place & from what I’ve heard, he still has to find the money for it. That’s why a couple of months ago that revolution happened out in Colon. He was trying to take land away or something so he could pay for the subway.

Yup, go ahead & build something with no plan as to how you are going to pay for it. LOL Sounds like Panama to me.