Masked Men

My trips to the supermarket here in Panama are never without some excitement.  Although the roads are horrible bumpy, there are always interesting things to look for in the surrounding jungle as we pass through, like monkeys, sloths, toucans, far too many creatures to name.  This morning as usual  the bus was full to bursting, with standing room only, but luckily the locks were open so we were able to cross without the usual delay.  As we approached Colon the traffic slowed to a stop,  and I could see clouds of black smoke rising ahead of us, as the line of traffic slowly crawled forward I could see crowds of people, and I wondered if there had been an accident.  Everyone on the bus started to speculate what it could be.  

I could see men running around and waving red flags, fortunately I couldn't see any guns, but then I noticed that the men all had full masks and dark glasses.  They were stopping all the vehicles one  by one, and I have to say I became just a little anxious, I had flashbacks of the movie "Proof of Life" with Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe.  (note to self: watch less violent movies)

As we approached the crowd a large group of men suddenly surrounded our bus, they were shouting, banging on the bus windows and waving their flags, a large fire was burning in the middle of the road sending up a stream of black smoke.  Everyone on the bus was silent for a brief moment, a couple of people tried to take photographs, but the men became very angry and shouted to us "no cameras, gringo's" The driver was talking to one of the men and eventually we were waved on.  We crawled past hundreds of protesters, I was so relieved when they were far behind us.

On the return journey, the protesters had dispersed a little, as the military had moved in to break up the mobs, now there was a large presence of guns and other weapons, I don't know who scared me the most, the masked men or the military with all the weapons.  When we got back and passed through the armed security gates, I saw lines of armed men in uniforms marching along the road towards the docks.  My friend Lynn told me that they frequently used the marina grounds for training... I breathed a sigh of relief, you never know what's going to happen next in Panama.

Shopping excursions here are always an adventure.