Still Learning

Preface: 

We planned to rent a car for two brief back-to-back day trips.   We thought we might drive on Friday to Portobelo, a historic beach village just west of Colon.  We hoped to leave early so we’d have the full day to explore.  In addition to beaches and remaining Congo cultu.re, relics of four forts built by the Spaniards in the 17th and 18th centuries still stand.  The Spanish forts were strategically located to fend off pirates and to protect their trade route through which gold absconded from Peru back was ported back to the mother country.  The ruins of those four forts as well as the city are now protected under UNESCO.

The next day, on Saturday, we planned to drive in the opposite direction to return to Valle de Anton to tour the zoo and butterfly conservatory.  We missed both on our last trip there.

The evening was very pleasant last night. We walked together to the car agency.  We wanted to have the car ready so that first thing in the morning we could simply load up and go.

Too bad, another lesson learned, No car for us today!

Okay, we added this finding to our list of important things to know before traveling to Panama:

1. Non-Panama residents are required to present their valid driver’s license and passport to rent a car here. We did not know but learned last night at the rental agency desk, US government issue driver’s licenses are valid in Panama only 90 days from the date of entry stamped on the passport. Our eligibility expired on January 16. We now cannot rent a car. Period. We did some quick research to learn how we might get an extension but there is no option for that. After 90 days, it is assumed that a visitor is becoming a resident and therefore must obtain a Panamanian driver’s license. This takes several hundred dollars and literally jumping through hoops. “Drivers must visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complete the process, after obtaining an affidavit to have the license issued, from the U.S. Embassy. Drivers must submit blood type documentation, either from a certified lab or from a U.S. driver’s license, residency documentation, a valid passport, and driver’s license in addition to the affidavit to obtain a Panamanian license.” This can consume weeks.
   There are buses to Portobello and Valle Anton. We will give it a try again next week.
   
2. Here’s another tidbit about renting a car in Panama that we learned in our previous times renting here. Unless you make a $10,000 deposit on your credit card, purchasing the company’s insurance is a requirement. The charge per day for insurance is often more than the price to rent the car. We rented a car for $18/day then added $33/day for insurance and miscellaneous fees. This is not negotiable. It’s the law.
   
3. And as a further note, travelers cannot fly into Panama without having a reservation in place showing a valid departure date.

Even though Panama is a very friendly place and is certainly a welcoming place to ex-pats who wish to become citizens, make no mistake visitors like us are foreigners. It is as if they say, “You either come here to stay or do your visit and go home. Don’t wear out your welcome.“ 🙂