vylet do panamy / a trip to panama

Tak me Duro predbehl s oznamenim meho vyletu, ale co se da delat.. Ano, tento tyden se nachazim v Paname a zucastnim se tady regionalni konference AIESEC jako organizator, coz ma svou vyhodu v tom, ze muzu stravit v Paname vic dni, trochu se podivat po okoli (snad 🙂 a snazit se zazit atmosferu dalsi zeme.

Prvni dojmy: i kdyz to jsou sousedni zeme, historie a mentalita je uplne jina nez v Kostarice. Po ziskani nezavislosti od Spanelska totiz Panama nepatrila ke zbytku stredni Ameriky, ale stala se soucasti Kolumbie, od ktere se odtrhli o dalsich asi 50 let pozdeji. Takze tady v listopadu slavi dva dny nezavislosti 🙂 i kdyz realne to netrvalo dlouho a prisli Americani, aby postavili pruplav. Do toho si jeste primyslete fakt, ze Panama je treti zeme na svete podle pomeru cinskych pristehovalcu na osobu (pry nejakych 90-95% takovych tech malych obchudku se smisenym zbozim typu “vecerka” je vlastnenych cinany), a vyleze vam z toho sileny mix vsemoznych kultur..

Prostredi: po cely rok vicemene stejna teplota (kolem 28C) s vykyvy plus minus 5 stupnu. Obdobi destu je skutecne obdobi destu, takze tu nekdy prsi s drobnymi prestavkami nekolik dni v kuse (doufam, ze tohle nepocitim 🙂 Doprava – maji tady cesty v nadprumernem stavu, dalnice na sever je skutecne kvalitou srovnatelna s D1, existuji ukazatele smeru do mestskych casti a auta na cervenou skutecne zastavi 🙂 Trochu zvlastni je troubeni pri jakekoli prilezitosti (kdyz mate i treba jen malinkou predtuchu, ze tamto stojici auto davajici prednost hodla vyrazit a narazit do vas..) a nejsilenejsi ridici jsou v takovych tech silene pomalovanych a okolo 50 let starych autobusech, kterym je uplne jedno, jak rychle a z jake strany vas predjedou. Neni divu, ze se jim tu rika “diablos rojos” (=cerveni dabli).

Ale jinak se mi Panama City vazne libi, zase si na chvili pripadam nostalgicky a vzpominam na OV a to druhe velke mesto v CZ, kde studuju 🙂 I kdyz pravda, tolik mrakodrapu v Cesku nemame, takze jsou mozna i o krok dal..

Musim koncit, za chvili odjizdim pripravovat misto urceni.. Zpatky v Panama City bych mel byt v pondeli vecer a v kanclu ve stredu dopoledne (oboje mistniho casu)..

Well, Duro was quicker with announcing my arrival, but what one can do.. Yes, this week my location is Panama and I will take part in a regional AIESEC conference as a member of organizing team. Its advantage is that I’m supposed to spend more time in Panama City (and hopefully also its surroundings) and feel the atmosphere of another country.

First feelings: even though they are neighbouring countries, the history, mentality and life is completely different than in Costa Rica. After gaining independence from Spain they didn’t become a part of central America but a part of Colombia, from which they separated som 50 years later. That results in celebrating two “independence days” in November 🙂 although in reality it didn’t take long time until the Americans came and started building the canal. To this you can add also the fact, that Panama is country with 3rd highest ratio of Chinese per capita (it’s said that some 90-95% of those tiny little shops with various articles is owned by Chinese) a nd you have a completely crazy mixture of cultures..

The place and environment: more or less the same temperature through the whole year (around 28C) +- 5C. The rainy season is really rainy which means sometimes several days with rain (I just hope I will not be there during this period 🙂 Traffic – they have roads in above-average condition, the highway in direction north is comparable with Czech D1, there are direction signs and cars really stop on red lights 🙂 A little bit weird is using honks anytime (if you think that a car over there standing and letting you go wants to hit you) and the most crazy drivers are in those colorful and about 50 years old buses that don’t really care how fast and which way they overtake you. No wonder they are called “diablos rojos” (= red devils).

But to be honest, I like Panama City, I feel nostalgy a little reminding of Ostrava and the other big city I’m studying in 🙂 I also have to admit we don’t have such skyscrapers (not even the ocean) so they may be one step ahead..

I have to finish now, I’m leaving in a while to start preparation of the place.. I should be back in Panama City by Monday evening and back in my school by Wednesday morning (both local time)..