Panama Blog #8 Diablo Rojo's ( Red Devil's ) - Man what a ride! - Adios - My Experiences and Perspective here...
Over 10 years ago when I came to Panama Diablo Rojo's ( Red Devil's ) Buses where the only way to fly ( Literally ).
Rat racing each other all over town with a helper yelling their destinations out the window or door!
My first night trying 1 out with some Rainbow friends and pretty drunk, so just followed them and did my first trip to a party in the cinco de mayo district. I'm thinking ( The Who's Magic Bus ).
Climb in ( standing room only ) holding both overhead bars for balance and facing forward thank goodness, this bus starts grinding through the gears...Zoom, and a short way down the road, slams on the breaks ( I know not why ) But my fists & arms tightened on the rails and I must have lifted my feet a bit, because they flew up and hit the roof of the bus ( how cool is that ! ). Diabo Rojo's indeed. Just imagine me going through the front window if not holding on so tight LOL. But we got to our destination quick ( all for a Quarter, $0.25 USD ).
They were everywhere and never a long wait till a bus with someone screaming your destination, or you seeing a sign in the window came by ( lift your arm up ) and a screeching halt to pick you up happened.
A fun way to get around town cheap, you could ride different buses
all day just to sight see for next to nothing, and if you saw a reason to stop ( just yell Parada ! ) and a screeching stop to let you off at the next convenient location ( or on the spot ), depends on the driver.
Most, if not all are outdated American Shool buses, shipped to Panama. Then they are lovingly refurbished from the ground up by their new owners.
Beefed up suspensions and expensive chrome rims and exhaust pipes. All beautiful airbrushed ( painted ) in a certain way. Over the front window usually a city or country scape, the hood, front and sides are done in whatever the owner or artist chose. Along the back 1/3 the name of the bus, license info, and more art. The back door is a portrait of who the bus was named after or a family member, famous person etc..
Lots of colored lights both inside and out for night time and the interiors everything from elaborately to sparsely decorated with Kick ass stereo systems.
- Some would go to outlying districts, and cheaper usually than the highway busses, If you wanted to go on a distant trip, just listen for a Terminal Bus. to get to The Panama Terminal.
This is where you connect to buses going everywhere in Panama ( a busy place indeed. ).
The Terminal is a worthy Blog in itself so I'll move on.
Several years back, The President decided a more modern approch to busing was in order. So contracted the job out ( Metro Bus ) and cancelled the Diablo's licenses. ( another blog ).
And now you will only see these buses on out of town routes, private jobs or Pirating ( unlicensed ) runs.
most don't take the pride in their ride like days gone by, and are sparsely painted and decorated
So just the days of the Diablo Rojo's is coming to a close, so is this blog. If your appetite has been wetted to see and hear more about the Diabo Rojo's, there must me hundreds of blogs about them over the years ( you know what to do ).
Thanks for reading, Hope you enjoyed :-)
Nice pictures - up-voted and I also follow you.
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