Bringing dignity to the memory of some old Panama warriors
By Robert Ralston
A chapter in Panama’s history is ending and the Diablos Rojos (Red Devils) are moving forever to the end of their line.
More than one thousand of them fill a scorching field in Panama Pacifico, the former Howard Air Force Base, with many more to come.
Viking ships filled with warriors, the smirk of Tazz, riders on horseback,
Egyptian pharaohs with their lovers and even the yaba-daba-doo Flintstones grace the sides of these former monarchs of the roads.
May they rest in peace….and quiet….but should they?
Part of the wonderful culture of Panama is the boisterous, spray-painted,polluting, chopped and channeled, retired US school buses.
Some explorers dive to great depths to retrieve golden treasures, while these local treasures sit rotting in a field.
Don't get me wrong….the noise created on the Cinta Costera by all-out acceleration and the follow-on downshifting exceeds the decibel count experienced by patrons with orchestra seats at a Rolling Stones concert.You can only appreciate that intensity by thinking the paper you are reading suddenly bursts into flame. No need for new batteries in your hearing aid, just an insertion of state-of-art earplugs to provide a blessed relief.
I am not sorry to see them replaced by the new, comfortable Volvo buses, but I'm sorry to see the artistry displayed on them disappear.
Down Memory Lane
So, I have a few suggestions to keep some forever:
1. Put several of the most beautifully decorated on the Cinta Costera
in permanent locations where they can be converted for selling hamburgers, popcorn and drinks.
All the new proprietor needs to service customers is to be able to open and
close a portion of the side windows.
2. Select the best looking emergency doors and cut them to size and
frame them. Art entrepreneurs let's go!!
3. The government could use them as decoration for all the metal walls
they are constantly putting up to screen whatever is going on behind them.
4. Put four of them together and use them on the Cinta Costera Yacht
storage area for a restaurant. Restaurant Rojos is waiting to happen!!
5. Take the fastest ones out to the runways at the former base, call it Via Espania,and run drag races to see which one REALLY is the fastest over the quarter mile. Sorry, I couldn't resist. I'm just kidding!
Anyway, you get the idea.
These dedicated servants of Panama’s population should have the dignity of timeless remembrance for all Panamanians and tourists, who want to see a REAL Diablo Rojo. After they are flattened into metal sheets, it's too late. My vote is for history!
Rob Ralston is a regular reader of Newsroom Panama who led the citizen charge that got the operating hours of the advertising “searchlight” that stands above Extreme Planet Avenida Balboa reduced. Feel free to add your ideas for remembering the old devils.
