Colon is a Dangerous Place
The guidebook that we consulted about Panama states, "It is unsafe to walk around Colon day or night." While the city does look horrible with dilapidated buildings on every block; we still choose to walk around during the day. We figure it has to be safe to walk on the main streets in broad daylight. Wrong.Of course, our first mistake was to have me (Karen) wear the fanny pack. Granted, its contents consist of $12, tissues, lip balm, and a Spanish-English dictionary, it still must be appealing to a potential mugger. As we walked down one of the main streets from the Internet café to the grocery store, I moved from the sidewalk into the street because an unleashed dog was in the middle of the block on the sidewalk. Since a dog bit me two years ago while I was jogging, I do not like to go very close to dogs anymore. There are about 10 people sitting on the sidewalk next to the building. It looks like the two-story building is a rundown apartment building. Pete stayed on the sidewalk and was about three steps ahead of me.
From our left, a large black guy runs up to me and tries to grab the fanny pack from my waist. However, I instinctively put both my arms around the pack to protect it and scream loudly. He runs around my right side and back to the sidewalk and down an alley in the building. Pete runs after him to the alley entrance screaming, "hey, hey, hey" very loudly, then he comes back to me quickly. The whole incident probably lasted 5 seconds or less. Pete asks if I'm OK, I say "yes" and we keep walking keeping a close eye behind us.
A taxi stops and asks if we want a ride. Call me crazy but I don't want to get in a taxi, which would look like defeat so we say no and walk the block and a half to the grocery store. Once in the store, I notice that I am bleeding from a small cut on the underside of my arm near my wrist and my body is shaking slightly. It looks like a fingernail was pressed into my arm. I don't know if I did this to myself when I grabbed the fanny pack or if the mugger did it. We buy what we came for at the store and get a taxi back to the yacht club. I hold my arm under running water for a few minutes then put some antiseptic on it. The more I look at it, the more I think it is a self-inflicted wound.
We decide we will not use the fanny pack anymore in Colon. If we need to walk anywhere, we will just carry cash in our pockets. We agree with the guidebook; Colon is a dangerous place.