Panama 2012: Los Diablos Rojos

    Perhaps the best solution would be to tame the Diablo Rojo bus owners' driving habits. But after a week in Panama riding in taxis, whose condition ranges from rickety what-are-we-doing-in-this-car-and-is-that-gas-I-smell to relatively new, and of taxis, buses, trucks, cars, and Red Devil buses diving between vehicles and announcing their intentions, success, frustration, spite, or humor with horns, whistles, and shouts, I doubt there is an iota of a chance of retraining Red Devil drivers. 

Un Diablo Rojo (TVN Noticias). 

    It's easy for me to say it would be sad to see this cultural icon slip into oblivion, for I only observed did not partake in riding the Diablos Rojos. The stories in tour books and of our tour guide were enough to keep me risking only taxis.

    Red Devils are privately-owned old school buses purchased from the United States. They are customized with paint, roof domes, flashing lights, and music. The graffiti-like art includes movie scenes, super heroes, political statements, sayings, religious symbols, and political and religious figures. 

Red Devil bus in Colón.

    There are bus stops, but no time schedule. Red Devil drivers race from stop to stop, trying to beat each other, in nothing short of extreme daredevil fashion. They are not only fearless of potentially crashing, but seemingly relish the possibility, as they cut each other off to get to the bus stop first and claim the most fares.
    Red Devils cost next to nothing to ride—by our standards—around $0.25, but since there is no posted route, no time schedule, and no bell cord to pull to get off, only the most adventuresome tourists or those who live by adrenalin rushes join Panamians to ride. 

    Panama City has been in the process for some time of creating a municipal bus system with a schedule. It's attempting to lure Red Devil drivers with a buyout of $25,000 to leave behind their works of art and retire or perhaps become municipal drivers.

     A 2011 New York Times article states that the new white muni buses are slow, and fares are expected to nearly double over the Diablos Rojos. As a result, people have begun calling the muni buses the Diablos Blancos–the white devils. The Times quotes Panamanian officials as saying the Red Devils would be gone by the end of 2011, but as the 2011 edition of Frommer's Panama notes, "these plans have been in the works for years without any visible progress."

    Indeed, during our 2012 visit, the Diablos Rojos were very alive and well, careening around Panama City and the Canal Zone. We did see the modern buses, and they looked quite comfortable, but as our tour guide, Chris Gernez, said, Why travel in such sedate style when you can risk all on a Diablo Rojo?
    Co-owner of Sendero Panama, the company we chose to guide us, Chris Gernez is a native Panamanian. He recounted with glee his high school days in the 1980s, when his group wanted to distinguish themselves. How did they do it?

    1)  They let other buses go by, waiting for their preferred Diablo Rojo. They chose for its music. 

    2) In the sea of school uniforms, they stood out by spit-shining their shoes and pressing their white shirts to perfection. 

    3) Another part of their cool was to ride. This presented a challenge to their shoes and shirt, as getting to the back required negotiating a crushing crowd. 

    4) They had to negotiate the aisle again to reach the front in time to tap the driver on the shoulder to alert him to their stop—no one could hear over the loud music. 

    Somehow their polished shoes and pressed white shirts remained so. Chris smiled and his eyes twinkled as he recalled the moments of light-heartedness—when every day was passed under the watchful eyes of Noriega and his police.
    One wonders, too, about the lifespan of the new Diablos Blancos if Panama's streets are not repaired. New freeways skirt the city and cross the 50 miles of the continent, and a combination subway/elevated train is under construction, but existing streets are neglected. I'm from Pittsburgh, where we have pothole season between winter and spring, but Panama's potholes put Pittsburgh to shame. My upper back and neck were sore the entire week, from riding in vehicles that fell into potholes or slammed on the brakes and swerved around the gaping holes, then accelerated rapidly.

Diablo Rojo. Calle 50, Panama City (Transitions Abroad). 

    Red Devil drivers say the payout to take their means of livelihood off the streets is insufficient. Some cannot get jobs driving muni buses because of their driving records. Indeed, apparently one cause of the slowdown in completing the muni system is the unavailability of qualified drivers. It seems the entire country needs to revamp its driving style, and if that happens, there goes another quirk of Panamanian culture.
    Then there are the others who depend on the Diablos Rojos for income: the artists who paint the buses. There may be hope for the latter: the Diablo Rosso Gallery in Casco Antiguo has Red Devil bus doors for sale.



Sources:
• Randal C. Archibold, "In Panama City, Colorful Red Devil Buses Yielding to Paler, Safer Kind," New York Times, December 29, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/ 2011/12/30/world/americas/in-panama-city-red-devil-buses-yield-to-paler-safer-kind.html. June 12, 2012.
• Jisel Perilla, Frommer's Panama, 3rd. ed. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc: 2011).