When snail mail is better than no mail

THE SAYING goes that if you hear a “rumor” in Panama it’s true. This item from an American expat seems like an endorsement for the adage:

I had heard a rumor a couple of years ago that the president had ordered regular mail delivery between Isla Colon and Panama City suspended (it was being delivered weekly by air) and that mail was being exchanged only once every 60-90 days. It sounded like a “Bocas rumor” to me, so I called the post offices in both Isla Colon and Almirante and sure enough, the people there confirmed this was true. A truck is dispatched every 2 or 3 months to Almirante with mail and then anything destined for Isla Colon is put on a water taxi, and the postmistress in Almirante calls the Isla Colon post office and alerts them that a water taxi is coming with Isla Colon mail and they must put outgoing mail on the return water taxi so that it can be put on the truck before it heads back.

I had to go to town a couple of days ago for an errand and cruised by the post office. Although it has three ladies working there, they are closed for business (other than for sending and receiving money) by order of the government. They have not had mail picked up or delivered from Panama City for two months and do not know when, if ever, it will happen again. However, they are processing mone. (Its just like Western Union, but money can only be sent and received within Panama, and its much cheaper than Western Union. For example, you can send $200 and the cost is $3. You can send or receive up to $1,000. You show up with cash and fill out a form with information about you and about the recipient (name, cedula, not sure what else), give them the money, they give you a receipt, the information about the money is sent somewhere by phone and the recipient can then go, show his ID and pick up the money) But no mail, at least for now.

I did ask the woman in charge of the Isla Colon office (she declined to give me her name even though I asked very nicely) what people who have important mail are supposed to do to get it to where its going and she said “they have to take it to Changuinola.” In order to get to Changuinola you have to take a water taxi to Almirante and then get on a bus (or if you have the bucks, take a taxi) to Changuinola, which is about a half hour from Almirante. This seems an undue burden to place on residents of Isla Colon. Not what you would expect of a country with an allegedly “booming” economy….