Panama Scouting - Day 26 - Miami; trip home
Hola from the Miami airport where I have decent Wi-Fi and an 8-hour layover. I thought it would be a good time to pass on some observations about returning to the USA, even though we still are 5 hours away from home in Seattle.
Today’s email is sponsored by the color Purple; A passion for purples is present in Panama, every day!
And now we return to our regularly scheduled email, already in progress!
A list of thoughts on the transition from Panama to Miami, USA:
Toilet paper: Nothing says “You’re in the USA” faster than the presence and quality of toilet paper. We are spoiled in the USA - not only do even the crappiest bathrooms have toilet paper, but the crappiest toilet paper we have in those bathrooms is better than what you can expect to find in other countries. Double ply. Don’t hold your breath. Soft versus strong? Just words in other countries, not options, and not expectations. We not only get toilet paper in our public restrooms, but we expect it to flush!!! Not so in other countries. The idea of walking into a public restroom and having to bring your own toilet paper is alien to us, as well as NOT finding paper towels or one of those noisy air driers. And soap in a dispenser? Don’t get your hopes up! Not only does the Miami airport have decent bathrooms, but the toilet paper is the quality of the best hotels in Panama, AND we get to flush it here rather than contributing our used toilet paper to the bucket by the toilet that has contributions from the past 100 users of that stall; you DON’T want to be the one to clog the toilet and cause the backup that spills all over the floor of the restaurant bathroom! So, go, right now, and pet your two-ply extra soft, or extra strong, and tell it how much you appreciate it, as well as sigh a grateful sigh for a sewer system that can handle flushed toilet paper. I’ll wait!
Mask rules: It seems odd that I felt safer from Covid in Panama than in the USA. In Panama, Panamanians wear their masks over both nose and mouth, outdoors, indoors, and in the Lady’s chamber. It is the law, and you can be fined $100 for failing to wear a mask in public, or for wearing it improperly (ex: not masking your nose). For the average Panamanian, where $3.00 per hour is the minimum wage, $100 is a significant risk, and the law is enforced. Masks are subsidized by the government, and even free if you are low-wage or low household income.
Panamanians also accept sprays of hand sanitizer or alcohol upon entry to most every building and business. The only people I saw who flouted the rules were ex-pats who didn’t like their noses covered, and probably could better afford a fine. One of the first things I noticed upon landing in Miami is how many people push their mask below their chin as soon as they leave Security, or as soon as they sit down, or just walk around with their mouths covered, but leave their noses out to breathe free. Even airport employees don’t cover their noses. Makes me think that a requirement for government ID should include a series of questions on defining the term “respiratory infection” and giving three examples of respiratory transmission. I am sitting at gate 36 with 16 other people, of which 5 have either partially or completely removed their masks, and none of whom have the excuse of eating. Message: “I don’t feel compelled to protect myself, and so I am not protecting you, either!” Coming from Panama, this strikes me as self-centered and willfully ignorant; perpetuation of the Ugly American stereotype. It seems very odd to have felt safer in another country than I do at home.
USA politics and escaping to Panama: One of the things I enjoyed about this trip was escaping the constant USA news’s news politics of divisiveness. I am much too analytical to do the constant news without the constant threat of deep depression. I went off the news grid for a month with great relief and peace of mind - and Miguel on notice that I didn’t want to hear any news at all! Apparently, that is not an uncommon goal of ex-pats in Panama, and probably other countries, as well. I overheard a conversation between a woman who has been in Panama for 6 years after marrying a Boqueteno (which marriage didn’t change her residency requirements or timing- we were warned and reminded), and a soon-to-be ex-pat who went on a later tour than ours. The woman was saying that people may say that they don’t want the USA’s politics to follow them, but your politics are part of you, and it comes with you anyway. Her example was a trip to the Sugar and Spice bakery on Monday, just to hang out where ex-pats from USA and Canada meet to chat in English. She met a group of 3 US men who had gathered to fill out requests for Russian visas, because they are thinking to emigrate there since that Putin is doing a great job of showing strength and not being pushed around, and they like that attitude and want to be a part. They also debated different locations for their emigration, including Siberia (after Panama!?!). A great reminder that I’ll take the goal of ignoring the politics with me, but that doesn’t mean I am a-political.
USA sports: I would have thought I could divorce myself from US sports by going abroad, also, but it is not as easy as I would have hoped. I don’t like any sport, real or fantasy. In restaurants, bars, electronics stores, hotel lobbies, and ALL over the place, US sports were on display. Baseball, basketball, US football, soccer, car racing (including a racetrack of ice), hockey, track and field, golf, it is all here, and not the multi-national displays I would have expected - a surprising US focus. I found USA sports t-shirts and hats in stores and stalls, and while Panama has teams for many of those sports( but not hockey or ice-racing), they were seldom the featured displays. It will be difficult to be a-political AND it will be difficult to be a-sportical! What reminded me of this? Sitting at this gate in Miami and hearing sports fans yelling at the TV in a nearby restaurant - much as happened at the Panamanian restaurant we ate in on Monday night!
Smoking: About 50 feet from this gate is a TGIF “Open Air” smoking bar - they use a bunch of air-moving fans to suck the smoke up and out of the courtyard-kind of space, but they have a system of covers that protect the patrons from rain, so it is not really open air. The walls are dingy from the smoke, and the smell of smoke leaks out the door as people come and go. Panama has laws that you cannot smoke in any building, nor can you smoke outside in public, and that includes your yard where the smoke might move next door. You may smoke in your own home, but not in a rented home. If you smoke in your home, you must declare that when you sell that home, no matter the efforts you took to remove all traces, and you can expect to have to wait for a buyer who is a smoker, which is getting rarer and rarer in Panama. Marijuana is illegal, so don’t try that either (so is CBD). You can buy cigarettes and cigars, but only at specialty shops, and they are few and far between because the business just isn’t enough to make it profitable since it is so difficult to be a user. It is paying off in public health, lung cancer is getting less common, and given the public health system, those expenses are way down, to the point that the government is considering requiring smokers have special cancer policies because they don’t want to cover smoking diseases as part of the public health system. So, it was a bit surprising to me in Miami to walk past a building entrance and smell the smoke wafting in from travelers and employees stepping just outside to smoke, and to discover this TGIF smoker’s lounge and bar just 50 feet from our gate!
Our flight just changed gates, so we have to run to a new location; talk to you tomorrow!
Mary Bea y Miguel