Terrified at minute 3:00

Panama Canal Railway Station (Thia)

I have been part of the Couchsurfing community since 2013. During this period of time, I, have been host to many travellers that choose to visit my country.

The Couchsurfing crew

Couchsurfing is a great opportunity to get to know people, its culture, the way of living. See things from the host perspective.

Whenever is possible, I like to take my guests around places. I try my best to share what I know about the place I am taking them to. However, not every time I am the one in control of where we go. In some instances, I am asked for a specific location and directions of how to get there.

On November 12th, 2018; I had the visit of three polish girls who contacted me through Couchsurfing. When they came; I had a friend picked them up at the bus terminal and drove them home. 

Upon arrival, we shared some food, music, memories from travels and so on.

The following day, we went to the river, walked in the rain and had plenty of laughing time.

Visited the Campana Park, in Chica to take some shots of the beautiful views at the top of the hill.

Los Cajones de Chame - Panama

Wednesday afternoon, they made comments about wanting to go on the train trip from Panama City to Colon. Since that was one of the things written on my bucket list; I asked if I could join them. Happily, they said: absolutely!

To ensure we were well prepared for the trip. I took the task of calling the train company. Made all inquiries regarding pricing, time of departure and documents needed if any. Found out that all you need is money for the ticket and be there before the train leaves.

We needed to be at the train station before 7:00 A.M. Knowing that traffic jams are pretty common during morning time, our adventure started really early. As early as 4:00 A.M when we woke up to get dressed and ready; because my friend was picking us up around 4:30 A.M.

He dropped us at the "4 de Julio" bus stop.

The girls were amazed at how many people were up that early. I explained, that all of them were headed to their various jobs. Pointed out that, since they rely on public transportation; it takes more than double the time to get to work and back home.

There were also several people selling typical food (corn tortillas, bollos, torrejitas, coffee and fruit salad). They tried a bit of everything; while waiting for our Uber ride.

At Panama Railway Station

We arrived earlier than expected to the train station. It was not open to the public yet. Having the time; we took as many pictures as possible. Even some that we were not supposed to, because, we were stepping on the ladder of the train without authorization. The security guard made sure we were aware that, after his warning, we couldn't go back on the train until the call for boarding time.

Considering we had quite a few pictures, we offered our apologies and decided to behave appropriately.

In a matter of minutes, everything changed. There were tourist buses lining up. The people getting out of the bus started to do a line that soon got pretty big. Since we were the first to arrive; we were offered to stand in the front. So we could be the firsts once the station opened.

After getting our tickets, we checked the souvenir shop. Karolina got herself a T-shirt.

We boarded the train. A lady offered us some snacks for the trip and coffee.

When the train started moving; we were so excited. I guess we can compare our faces like the ones kids have when they get a new toy, not any toy but one they have been expecting for a long time.

Selfie on the train

Going from Panama city in the Pacific, crossing through the jungle and all the story surrounding the construction of the Panama Canal railway, to end in the Atlantic side of Colon, was with no doubt an amazing feeling.

While the train started moving, I saw how the people on one side of my window were static in the traffic jam. Some passengers were just sleeping with their heads laying the car windows. For a moment I wondered what could be going through their heads.

Then turned my head to see the other side, the visitor centre of the Panama Canal. Seconds later the tunnel where everything went dark for a moment.

It was a series of changing sceneries. The city, the lake, the green vegetation, big ships crossing by the canal; and more vegetation. Huge palm trees and many more trees that for sure have seen better days.

Ship on its way to the Caribbean

Although the passenger compartment had a panoramic view with glass all over, we went to one of the open areas. Admiring the scenes and breathing the fresh air felt rewarding.

At Colon, the panorama changed as we started to get closer to our destination. There were piles of trash in open spaces. Lots of crows flying over the trash looking for food. Compared to all the previous views of the ride, this one saddened me. I thought, when will humans finally stop destroying its surroundings?  How much longer will we continue generating so much trash? I wish I had the answer to these questions.

As the train kept moving to its final destination. I saw buildings that seemed haunted. Someone said it was the jail. In the opposite side, some old containers were headed to a slow death,  rusting and becoming nothing but trash.

Then the message from the crew leader, stating we have arrived at the Colon train station. We were asked to abandon the train. The tourists were notified to wait for the buses. Soon they were going to be picked up and take back to Panama City.

Since we were doing the trip on our own, we needed to find a way to get to the bus station and head back to Panama City, using public transportation.

It started to rain. Seeing that we didn't have umbrellas to cover from the rain, we choose to wait until it was over. We had some oranges and a pocket knife served to peel those.

About half an hour later; the rain had ceased. There was no taxi on the premises. We noticed the entrance door was closed. Next to the entrance was a security checkpoint. We walked straight to the checkpoint. We asked the security guard where could we get a taxi and approximately how much will it cost to drive us to the bus terminal.

The guy laughs, then said there is no need for a taxi. Stated we were three to five minutes walk distance from the bus terminal. He pointed the direction and asked us to walk across the walking side, on the other side of the street. When we asked why across the street? He answered that didn't want any of the guys in the buildings saying disrespectful things to us. It seemed like a good reason so we did as instructed.

The instruction was to walk straight, then right and left. We were told once you turn left you will be able to see at the end of the road the bus station. Indeed it was true, it was just right there. As soon as we turned left we could see the terminal.

At the moment; the thought of a race crossed my mind. Let's see who gets first to the terminal. I was walking next to Magda. Behind us were Karolina and Zuza.

 Before I said anything about the race, Magda made a comment about something she has read and asked how true or false was the information she had seen online. Quoted words: "I read that Colon is the forgotten city. How true is it that government and entities have forgotten about this place?" To her question, I answered: "The people expect to get everything free. A lot of people do not want to work, or when given the opportunity they ended stealing from their employers. Not all of the people do that, but when you have set a negative image, it is hard to change it. I said that a lot of the people working in the Colon free zone were actually from Panama City. I said also, I have met some people from Colon that travelled all the way to Panama City to work there because they are not able to find a job in their own city"

As we were approaching the terminal, I noticed there was a lot of water and thought it was better to go around. I turned back to tell Karolina and Zuza and the next thing I do is scream Oh my God! Someone, please call the police! Please! Somebody, help!
Magda froze at what we were looking at. My head started spinning, going a thousand thoughts per second. What do I do?
Why am I here? We should have taken the taxi. How do I explain this? Every question came without an answer.
Then, I remembered the pocket knife of my bag. I started running tours what my eyes were witnessing. While running I kept yelling call the police! Call 911.

From the moment I turned back to tell the girls about the water, what I saw was two black guys forcing Karolina, one was pulling her hands and arms while the other guy was grabbing her from her waist. Zuza tried to help, but she was abruptly pushed and felt on the ground. Both guys forced her inside the building complex.

My thoughts spinning. Oh, God, What are they doing? What if they rape her? Oh, Lord; please don't let this happen! Are they kidnapping her? What can I do? As I was getting closer, I saw how she; by force vanished from my sight. Zuza was already up and running behind them too. We both yelling No! No! No! We went inside the building complex following traces, her shoes and the rest of the oranges we didn't finish eating. My thought was if I catch them, I will cut their ankles.

Suddenly, Karolina appeared in front of us. Her knees were bleeding, and she, speaking in polish said: "those imbeciles have taken my phone and my waist wallet. Look what they have done to me"

Nightmare location

We were in shock. I asked if she saw where exactly they have run to. She said saw them going up the stairs of one of the buildings. Although, we wanted to catch the bastards; Zuza advice us to get out of there and call the police.

Back with Magda, we called the police. It started raining again. An elder man approached us and said maybe someone has already called the police. Said that his grandchild notified him, a girl was being assaulted by two guys.

Everything happened in front of dozens of people, but it seemed that everyone all of the sudden became blind, deaf and mute. Nobody left a finger to help. At minute 3:00 of that five-minute walk everything turned to chaos. We were terrified. 

About fifteen minutes later two police officers came. They asked what happened. We explained and took them to the front of the buildings. They said needed to wait for back up before going inside the building. They asked us to wait with them.

Ten minutes waiting, two more officers riding bikes arrived at the scene. Then a pickup truck with more police officers and big guns. We were asked by every new officer to repeat what happened.
One of them said for our safety it was better to wait inside the truck. We sat there for a few minutes, then another pickup truck with more armed officers arrived at the location. We were asked to move to the other vehicle, advising they have been instructed to take us to the city hall to give our statements.

At City hall, we were sent to speak with a lady, who asked how old were the guys; Karolina said they look like teenagers. She immediately said she could not help us because it was not her department the one to handle teenagers. She sent us to the second floor and gave instructions on where to go.

Finally with the right department again we were asked the same questions over and over. Since the girls, primary language was different from Spanish; we were told an interpreter was required. Although I was the one doing all the interpretation, they said it needed to be one that was a government employee.
The result of that was another hour waiting. The same officers that arrived at the scene were now either calling us or showing at the place asking for our statements for their reports.

It was almost noon when we were finally done giving our statements. Since Karolina had physical injuries, we needed to go with forensics too. A driver was called to take us to the forensics office; but, it was his lunch time so he made us wait another hour.

 Hungry, annoyed and still terrified we sat on the floor to eat the rest of the snacks from the train. We shared what we had between us all. We started talking about the thoughts on our heads as things were unfolding. I couldn't keep my composure and started crying. I was feeling guilty, for bringing up the race sooner, maybe if we had nothing of what we have gone through would of happen.
Even when I was not the one who performed the act of theft, I felt it was my fault.

Colon City

I was feeling ashamed of my country, the city, the people. What a bad image these girls will take back home. Then Magda's question came back to mind. Speaking to the three girls, I brought the question back and said: "Maybe they do deserve being forgotten. Kids learn from their elders. If nobody teaches them right, they will always do wrong".

The girls kept telling me not to feel bad. Claiming that if I was not there, things might have been worse for them. For not speaking the language or by not knowing what to do.

When the driver clocked in after lunch, he took us to the forensics office. During the time he was driving I saw the other parts of town. It looked like a war zone, old houses in bad conditions were still the "home" for someone. The streets had huge holes and ditches all over. There were remains of building no longer standing. Trash was all over the place. I have never felt so insecure in my entire life, until that day.

At the place, we waited almost three hours for what took ten minutes, maybe I am exaggerating when saying ten minutes. We were again hungry and now cold. The place had an AC unit that was visually way bigger for the size of the waiting room.

A few minutes before six in the afternoon we were dropped at the bus terminal. Took about twenty minutes before the driver started the engine of the car.

Finally a decent meal

During our way back to the city we went over everything that happens that day. How we have started so anxious about the trip. Getting up early and how our plans for the day were ruined.
With that thought in mind, we didn't want the day to end in sorrow and anger. We said we needed food and cold beer. Something good to forget the hell of a day. I called one of my friends and asked if he could join us or take us somewhere. We didn't want to be all by ourselves that night. My friend and his friend agreed and met with us at a restaurant. We dine and then went to a bar nearby, had a couple of beers as planned and tried our best to not think about that day, until now.



Why do I, write about this now? Because I learned something from it.

1. Before going to an unknown place, study the place and its surroundings.
2. If too many people say negative things, be triple extra careful if you decide to go despite all negativity.
3. Sometimes is better to pay a little bit more (guided tours) if you have to go through really hostile places.
4. If you are ever assaulted, remember the movie "TAKEN" everything you remember about your attacker counts when giving your statement.
5. When travelling in groups, always stay close from one another.
6. At unknown places be careful of your belongings, try not to call the attention of those that search for easy targets.
7. As hard as the situation might be, react. If there is no gun pointed at you, fight back.
8. Learn about emergency contacts of every place you go. Better to have it and not needed than need it and not have it.

Honestly, I hope nobody else goes through this, or similar. Keep yourselves safe!

(End of day) - Jose, Jacob, Karolina, Zuza, Magda and I (Thia)