Diablo Rojos

Every country I've visited had its own form of interesting public transportation. However, I'm going to go ahead and say that the Diablo Rojo is one of the most out there forms of public transportation that exists.

To understand what this form of transportation, we must start at the beginning. To do this, we must return to the United States. Twenty something years ago, a man in a factory somewhere in the United States finished polishing off a school bus, making it glimmer a bright shade of yellow, before it headed to serve dutifully transporting children to and from school.

For the next twenty something years, this bus works great, carrying out its duties day in and day out, content with itself and looking forward to retirement. However it is pulled early from retirement, as if kidnapped, and put to work in Panama.

The bright shade of yellow has since faded and this bus is in need of a paint job. However, this paint job isn't just another coat of the same color. Things start to become awesome around this point. I've seen Diablo Rojos with all sorts of paint jobs with everything from the owner’s children, cartoon characters, naked women, spiritual figures, and everything in between. Sometimes, all these things are painted onto the same bus! The transformation doesn't stop there. Many busses are covered with neon lights both inside and out, modified horns, streamers along the inside, and new upholstery. However, it doesn’t stop here, Diablo Rojo owners are limited only by their imagination to make their bus the best it can be.  

You may be asking but what is all of this for? And the answer to that question is to attract passengers. Transportation at the moment in the country doesn't appear to be controlled by the capital. Diablo Rojos have been pushed from the city as the form of public transportation and have been replaced by the typical busses you'd find in the United States but they've yet to give up their strong hold outside the capital. Outside of the capital, every passenger and every dolor is fought for. Until the day a government run system of transportation operates throughout the country, Diablo Rojos will continue to operate as the go to cheap form of transportation throughout Panama.