What the buses have to say about the Canal

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In the beginning of February, Marco Rubio visited Panama.  This apparently consumed much embassy time (one of my embassy contacts, who'd hoped to help set up meetings for me with other Fulbright people in Chiriquí while I was there, had to bug out to work on getting ready for the visit).


In the meanwhile, certain streets here in the city started looking like it was November again.  (As a reminder, November is a month full of national holiday after holiday, and Panamanian flags sprout up like Kansas corn in August).  So it felt a little out of season, here in February, to see the route from the airport to the U.S. Embassy with Panamanian flags on every lamppost, and also hanging on the fences in between posts.


The bus I take to the Ciudad del Saber goes past the embassy, and so I wasn't surprised to see flags on every bus shelter, too. It's a message to Rubio and to anyone listening in the U.S.


The buses have displays on the front that alternate flashing the route and some other timely thing.  Back in December, my bus alternately said "820 Ciudad del Saber" and "Felices Fiestas" ("Happy holidays").

For the past month or more, the alternative words on the buses has been this:
EL CANAL ES NUESTRO
(The canal is ours)

So, yeah, there's a lot of patriot pride in the Canal, and no desire here for the U.S. to wrest it out of local control.

Bonus photo

A placard on the fence of the University of Panama.
Translated, it says:
"The Canal is Panamanian,
and nobody will take it from us,
glory to the Martyrs of January 9, 1964." 


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