Flying to Chiriquí and back

So far, I've spent all of my time in Panama here in the city (Panama City, that is).  But I had the opportunity to visit Chiriquí for two days for math reasons, and took the opportunity to explore within-Panama transportation beyond the city limits.  I was told that this particular trip takes one hour by plane, six hours by car, and nine hours by bus.  Since I don't drive here in Panama, the six-hour option was out; faced with a choice between one and nine hours then, I opted for the airplane.  

The round-trip flight cost $125, which seems reasonable to me.  Being the kind of eco-nut that I am, I do feel qualms about the environmental cost of air travel (but I don't know enough to say if the bus travel would be significantly better; figuring out all of this is so complicated).  

So, with the decision to take a short trip via Air Panama, I got the chance to see not only a new province, but also two new airports.  Here's what that experience was like:

The local airport is so close to our AirBnB, we can walk there (at a very comfy, don't-get-too-sweaty pace, it took us about 15 minutes).  The Albrook airport is small; there were 4 people in line at the ticket counter when I showed up, but then the attendant opened up a new line. 

The crowds at the check-in counter at Albrook Airport. 

At the counter, I gave the clerk my passport.  I was bringing my planner bag and one backpack.  This latter was limited by my ticket to 4kg, but it weighed in at 7 kg--I guess that's what happens when you carry two big math books, a bunch of handouts, and rulers, in addition to the usual clothes & toiletries!  The clerk had me move the books to my planner bag, at which point my backpack was under 4kg, so I didn't have to pay an extra $25.  What a nice clerk! The clerk told me they'd call us for the security line an hour before the flight.

We moved over to a temporary waiting room.  Again, it was not super crowded and relatively pleasant.  An hour or so before my flight, there was a totally incomprehensible announcement (even the native Spanish speakers couldn't understand it; so many echoes).  But the counter clerk had told me that they'd call my flight about then, so I figured it was time to go through the next gate.  

And I was right: that call was the call to go through Security.  The person checking us in had a few questions about the status of my passport because I have a stamp that says my immigration paperwork is in process, but I answered her questions and she waved me through.

The security line took only a few minutes to get through: from the time of the incomprehensible announcement to the time I was putting my laptop back into my planner bag was only 6 minutes.  Then we got to wait in a new, airy, and spacious room.  There were hundreds of seats and only 9 people at first (growing to 25 eventually).  It was clean and lovely.

I checked out the bathrooms, because [research].  There are many places in Panama where toilets are lacking toilet paper (the universities I've visited, for example), and people know to just carry their own.  In some places (especially outside of the the Canal Zone), there's not an active sewage system, so toilet paper goes in the trash can, not the toilet.  The airport toilets were dirty and unflushed (yuck); I didn't use them or check the toilet paper supply.  (On the way back, I visited the restrooms in Chiriquí Airport; A+ for them).  Research over.  

Fifteen minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave, the attendants started quietly boarding people with canes and wheelchairs, as well as two young people who might have been unaccompanied minors.  Two minutes later, they announced our flight -- in this room, I could understand the announcements much better.  I got into line, showed them my boarding pass, and walked across the tarmac to the plane.  (I was very glad it wasn't raining; I don't know what it would be like getting to the airplane with some of the amazingly intense rain that Panama has!).  I buckled in, and the doors to the plane closed two minute later.

The flight attendants gave all their announcements in both Spanish and English, but it was clear which language was easier for them: I could understand the Spanish announcements much better than the English ones!  And despite getting the boarding announcements only 13 minutes before departure time, we were wheels up exactly when they said we'd be.

The flight was one hour, and very smooth.  Even when we descended through clouds (which I've come to associate with a lot of bumpiness), there was very little turbulence.  We arrived in Chiriquí a few minutes ahead of schedule.  

The airport in Chiriquí was slightly larger than the Albrook one; on the way back to Panama, two days later, I got to wait with a bunch of young people dressed in their pollera clothing (so beautiful!)

The Chiriquí airport, with youth in their pollera clothing to my right.

They looked so lovely!

Why was I in Chiriquí?  Math, of course.  I felt so very much welcomed there, for a bunch of reasons.  I'll have to write a bit more about the visit elsewhere, but here's just one example of feeling like I've found my tribe:  a pyramid made of three Sierpinski triangles, which are made of rescued aluminum cans glued together.

Decorated with lights like a Christmas tree!

This was my first trip out of Panama City into the interior, and so taking such a short plane trip was an experiment and an adventure for me.  I have to say, I'm very pleased with how easy and comfortable it was, and I'm looking forward to trying this again in February, when my husband and I will both visit Chiriquí for an even longer stay there.