PANAMA CITY, PANAMA
Panama City is a dirty, gaudy, half-built mess full of awful restaurants and the worst smog I’ve ever seen. I don’t think anything sums the place up better than Los Diablos Rojos.

In the late 1960s, dilapidated school buses from the United States began showing up on the streets of Panama City. I can’t figure out exactly where they came from, but it seems like a few entrepreneurs began buying them from the US and shipping (driving?) them down to the Canal Zone. These diablos rojos were snapped up by wanna-be bus drivers and quickly became Panama City’s excuse for public transportation, bypassing licensing restrictions, forgoing inspections and competing for fares by literally racing each other down major roads. In 2003, they caused 14% of all traffic accidents in the entire country.

A ride in a diablo rojo will run you twenty-five cents (literally a quarter – Panama uses American money), but the buses heat up like ovens in the equatorial sun and you’ll have to cram yourself three to a seat while listening to blaring salsa music. The back exit is sealed, so if you’re handicapped you’re just going to have to, um, walk.

Despite the government’s repeated attempts to rid the city of these public menaces, not to mention the fact that everybody hates them, Los Diablos Rojos continue to prowl the streets of Panama City. They won’t be around forever, but given how long it takes to do anything in Panama I think they’ve got a while.