My Aunt Fran sent me this lovely short film from Nowness celebrating Panama’s incomparable Diablo Rojo buses.
While I didn’t ride the buses much as a kid, I always enjoyed looking at them, especially to check out the different girlfriends’ names painted under every window. Later, when I was learning to drive on the mean streets of the Atlantic side, I came to fear them too. They were buses on a mission, so look out!
Photo courtesy of http://locationpanama.com/
The buses were ubiquitous rolling works of art, now consigned to the dustbin as Panama moves its transportation infrastructure into the 21st century. This film, which features artist Andrés Salazar, is beautifully and lovingly done, and it really gives you a sense of the art and the pride embodied by these buses.