Panama City is now Home Sweet Home!

The leg from Frankfurt to Miami was also uneventful and the 9 hours passed quickly. There in MIA, we were told that we were to collect madam Carlota so that she could do her business and then return her to American Airlines, for our very last leg, MIA/ Panama City and so we did. She came out through the odd size luggage door, started barking as soon as she saw us (of course, why would she not show off?), we went through the agriculture officers, who checked her papers and voila, we were free to go and so we did.

A very kind staff man explained us where to go. It’s a designated outside dog’s corner the airport put together for owners to take their dogs to. It’s a neat white fenced area, with grass, coble stones and some dirt, really nice. She was able to wonder around without any leash, did her business, drank loads of water, had very little to eat, returned to her box and then… the comic nightmare started.

Still in Luanda, we were told that we could have a problem taking off from MIA with Carlota, due to intense heat. If temperature was above 75ºF (23.8C) , Carlota would not be allowed to embark. As I was getting out of the plane, in that split second when you leave the plane and have a quick feeling of the local temperature, I thought to myself, “ouch, we’ll have a problem because it’s freaking hot”, but decided to cross that bridge when time came to it.

So, after we returned to the building of the airport with Carlota, Joel and I walked towards AA’s counters to check her in and to get our own boarding passes too. When the AA lady saw Carlota, she asked if Carlota was to embark with us to Panama and Joel confirmed it. The lady then says,
- “Ok, let me check the temperature and see if he can go”.
After checking, the lady gets back and asks;
- “he is a boxer, right?
- Joel says: “yes, she is”
- and the lady then goes on to say: "I’m afraid she won’t be able to fly, because the temperature limit for boxers is a bit lower than for other dogs, because boxers have short noses, therefore their breathing is harder than long nose dogs.”

Oh no, that really couldn’t be happening, but although in our opinion it couldn’t be happening, it was happening and we needed to take action. Joel tried to argue saying that Carlota is a dog only used to high temperatures because she is from South Africa, moved to HK, also very hot, then moved to Luanda, extremely hot and “so madam, as you see, she is used to hot climates”. To this, the AA lady replies: “sure a well traveled dog, but no, we can’t take her!”

I then suggested us to check with Copa Airlines (the Panamanian sister company of Continental). The lady very kindly said that Copa had a flight 45 minutes after theirs and suggested us to check with Copa and so we went.

However, by now, we were starting to be slightly short of time only to realize what we already knew. Miami is an international hub, therefore Miami International Airport is very big. American Airlines is a big company on its own, therefore has a sort of its own little terminal at the airport. Copa is a much smaller company that represents an even much, much smaller country… so, of course, it’s located in the most extreme side of that huge airport.

Remember I said that we were slightly running out of time, right? So, when you are running out of time, what do you do? You run, right? But how do you run, when you are pushing a trolley, doing your best to balance a HUGE box (with more than it’s half sticking out on either side of the trolley) carrying a barking dog inside? As we were literally running with both trolleys (Carlota’s and the other one with both carry-on luggage) people would stop to see what was that barking all about and as soon as they saw a boxer inside they would express their love for either dogs, boxers or both and in most cases they expressed their love in that baby’s voice many of us (including myself) do when we talk to babies or puppies. That got Carlota even more excited, so besides the barking, she would also move left to right inside her box in high speed following the voice that was talking to her and of course… guess what happened? … the box would fall from the trolley… My friends, the picture was way beyond any comical scene Hollywood could produce and please add to that, a sweating and totally over traveled look Joel and I already had on us!

When we finally arrived at Copa counters, the staff welcomed us with huge smiles, as if they were happy to be the final chosen destination of the tornado that was coming along the hall.

We then explained our situation, they also said that it would not be very good for the dog to fly because bla bla bla and that they had to call Panama City to check whatever. That short part of the sentence the supervisor said "call Panama" was crucial for us. As I heard it, I immediately tried to put a “great, we now have a solution” type of face on, and said:
-“good idea, and please speak to Dr. Paz from the Quarantine sector. We’ve arranged with him and he is already waiting for the dog!”.
Honestly, I believe that the fact that we had a real name of an authority in the story gave us some support. A few minutes later he comes back with a smile on his face and Carlota was good to go. That meant buying a ticket for me and her. Joel would fly AA with our luggage. By now, it was already too late to re-direct our luggage to Copa.

However, if you remember, I told you that when we left AA’s counter, we were already short of time, right? Now, after all the running and talking, Joel was definitely totally completely out of time, running the risk of finding gates closed… poor man… he grabbed his carry-on and briefcase as if he was holding on to his life and just disappeared in that multitude of people and their trolleys. He was like a flash man running towards the other side of the airport. I kept a mobile and he kept the other one. As soon as he got the “yes, you can go” from AA, he called me and I purchased only my ticket with Copa and life was beautiful once again. Amen!

Arriving in Panama City, I was welcomed by my smiling husband and to prove that the world is getting to be as small as a pea… when we were chatting with Dr. Paz a few minutes later, we found out that he had done his Vet schooling in Rio de Janeiro and that one of his professors is the father of Joel’s good friend in Rio. Needless to say, that immediately after, we were childhood friends!

Now you tell me, how could a story that has a Dr. Paz (in English 'Dr. Peace') in it, not end up well?