Lesson Learned from a Panama Taxi

I was in a taxi on my way to a Capoeira class at a park near the waterfront. I was wearing jeans and I figured the park would not have a place to change my clothes. I estimated about 5 mins before we got to the park...plenty of time to quickly change out of my jeans and into my Capoeira pants.

I pull off my jeans and am about to put on my Capoeira pants when the taxi stops to pick up two girls. The cabbie says to me "some pretty girls". I try to tell him in my broken Spanish, that I have no pants on.

Important note about taxis in Panama: After they pick you up, they might still stop and pick up other people along the way. (I knew this, but I didn't know we were gonna pass by a major street with people waiting to go home from work or school.

I'm sitting there with no pants on. The cabbie is talking to the girls and they start walking over to the cab. At this point with the cab being so small in the backseat, I had NO chance to get my pants back on. The girls don't notice me while there negotiating with the cabbie. The girls grab the door and look inside to see me in my underwear. They do a double take and then run away from the cab. The cab driver drives off not realizing what happened. I explain to him again and he looks back this time to see me in my underwear. He starts cracking up and laughs for the rest of the way until we get to the park.