Bureaucrats Delight
‘If we would pay your airfare and hotel, would you like to go to Panama?’ Of course, I said, ‘Yes.’ I was assured there was no problem for my guide dog to accompany me, so I started to work on my presentation for the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) Conference and then the problems started to crop up.
I needed a visa, despite the tourist information that a tourist card was easily available to Canadians. When I started to apply for the visa, I was told that inquiries would have to be made to find out what the requirements for my guide dog were.
I waited for news. When more than a week passed without a response, the Cruise Association folks contacted the Panamanian Consulate in Miami and obtained a letter with official seals on it that was an official access permit. All seemed back on track until the Panamanian Embassy in Ottawa contacted me a week before my departure.
I was told that the letter was not adequate because Panama has a quarantine for dogs which included guide dogs. I thought I was not going and the FCCA wanted me to participate. A call to the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) for advice started a chain of action that resulted in an exemption that would be made for me. I would be able to go, but I would be placed under quarantine restraint. If I would pay a large fee to have the dog inspected, I could enter the country.
I started to assemble the required documents when the Panamanian Government informed me that I had to send letters in advance to the department of Public Health and the Department of Agriculture. I was only a day or two from take-off and I thought the papers would not be processed in time; therefore, the trip would be cancelled. Susan Howell at the Caribbean-Central America Desk said: “send over the documentation and I will fax them to our Embassy in Panama City and the embassy driver will hand deliver them and make sure that the formalities are met in full.” Fortunately, I had already been to our veterinarian and I now had the international health certificate and vaccination record to attach to the letters preceding us to Panama City.
The next day, Ambassador Daniel Daley sent a note advising of the following:
Unfortunately neither the animal health nor the human health authorities will be available to process the dog’s entry from a flight arriving at 7:00 p.m. We therefore suggest that the Canadian Transportation Agency review the flight options available with a view to identifying an arrangement that would be reasonably comfortable and convenient for Mr. Stark and his dog and that would provide for his arrival in Panama no later than mid-afternoon.
Again, I was ready to give up. I felt very uncomfortable about telling my hosts that yet another costly change was necessary if I were to go to Panama. Ms. Howell kindly agreed to talk to the FCCA and explain the situation for us. She called back to say that they really wanted us there to provide information about accessible transportation and tourism to the conference and so now it was in Canada’s best interest for Ritchie and I to go and contribute. Not long after, I had a new itinerary and a second ticket, now full fare, for the trip from Miami to Panama City. I was spending the night in Miami and I would arrive in Panama the next day when the offices of the department of public health and agriculture were open. In the afternoon of the last working day before departure, my Panamanian visa was finally granted and issued. I then received my official Government of Canada green passport for the trip. Armed with a volume of travel documents organized by J.D. Coon, my reader, Ritchie and I set out.
We traveled through Miami International Airport in the midst of a torrential downpour that closed the airport for a day shortly after our plane to Panama departed on its three-hour journey over the Caribbean. When the aircraft door opened we were assaulted by sauna like humidity of the midday tropical heat of Central America. As we took our first tentative steps out of the aircraft a “Hello Canada” rang out and two VIP stickers were slapped on my shirt. “The Canadian Ambassador is on his way to look after your well being. He will be here in a few moments.”
Traveling through the airport was a blur and soon we were safely in the back seat of the embassy four-by-four traveling to our hotel. Just as we arrived in our room, a call was received from health officials at the airport. Even though we had been cleared at the airport, there seemed to have been formalities we had not completed to get Ritchie into Panama officially. After a few minutes of negotiations, it was agreed that Ritchie and I would go to the conference the next day and make our presentation while Deborah from consular services at the embassy would return to the airport with all of Ritchie’s papers and complete the additional formalities. She paid thirty-eight dollars U.S. in various fees and obtained more stamps and receipts. Ritchie was finally in Panama officially monyana.
Because of the uncertainties in the initial travel arrangements, several hotel reservations had been made and lost because conference confirmation deadlines came and passed. At the last minute accommodations were made available, but they were far away from the conference. On the day of our arrival, the Canadian embassy was able to get us a room at the main conference hotel despite its no vacancy status. Later we were to joke that I had a reservation at most of the Panama City Hotels. However, it was no joking matter to think of how hard it would have been for Ritchie to work in that humidity to get from the Hotel to the Atlapa Convention center in a city unfamiliar with people who are blind traveling on their own with guide dogs.
It is customary for Ritchie and I to take a day before the events we attend to learn our way so we can travel around independently and interact with other participants. We had lost this crucial environmental familiarization time because of the entry problems. The Conference was starting within two hours of our arrival. This anxiety disappeared when the ambassador kindly gave me an orientation to the location of amenities in the hotel and showed us the way to the conference center and facilitated our registration. Once we had our official conference badge, we were part of the group of cruise industry visitors who were warmly welcomed by Panamanians. People were very helpful and showed a remarkable respect for Ritchie and his work. It is not uncommon to have trouble when abroad with people petting, trying to feed or even tease my guide dog. The streets were clean and we never had to cope with stray dogs or other expected hazards. None of those concerns ever arose while in Panama.
We were able to function effectively and productively by participating in workshops and events. We discussed accessible transportation with a Paratransit operator from Costa Rica. We learned about living with a disability in Guatemala from a jade factory owner who was motivated to go home and install ramps and widen the entrance doors of her factory so that cruise ship passengers and other tourists with disabilities could enjoy the factory tour too. We learned from a tour operator that Barbados now had two mechanical lifts at the airport to make it easier for embarking and disembarking cruise ship passengers to board the large jets on the tarmac as the airport does not use loading bridges. This equipment is also making it easier for Barbadians who use wheelchairs to board aircraft in dignity when traveling to and from their country.
It was encouraging to learn about the many new initiatives that have been spawned in part by the growing emphasis on shipboard and ports of call accessibility
within the cruise ship industry. In November, in Miami the Passenger Vessel Access Advisory Committee will release the Accessibility Guidelines for Water Passenger Vessels to ensure that our Code of Practice Ferry Accessibility is consistent. The Agency has been supporting this accessibility initiative. Canada is an effective player in expanding the Transportation accessibility horizons for persons with disabilities in this hemisphere.
We even went on several outings with other delegates. Panamanians do things with a flourish. We all boarded busses at our respective hotels for an evening trip to the Gamboukoo rain forest resort. The busses all met at an assembly point in the downtown and were given a police escort to get through the city traffic. For more than an hour ten busses roared down street after street running red light after red light as an equal number of police cars with blue and red lights flashing and sirens blaring sped up and down the line of busses clearing the way for the convoy. Ritchie slept quietly under my bus seat throughout the noisy spectacle.
We visited the Panama Canal with Ambassador Daley and Mrs Daley to see the transportation system in action. After donning a hard hat, we were able to walk right up to the edge of a canal lock at Mara Flores. It was learned that a Canadian company has a contract to build new tugboats for the Panama Canal Corporation.
All too soon, our presentation to a standing room only appreciative audience had been delivered and the conference was over. We were repeatedly told that making the effort to come and participate has inspired cruise company executives, business people from the ports of call, government ministers and representatives from many Caribbean and Central American nations to work even harder to make it easier and more enjoyable for visitors with disabilities and our service animals to come and enjoy their hospitality.
At 05:45 am Ambassador Daley met us at the hotel to assist with the departure arrangements. All went well at the airport once security screening officials reviewed Ritchie’s documents to satisfy themselves that he really was a Canadian guide dog starting the thirteen hour trip home. Then we were on our way thankful for the customer service umbrella of Foreign Affairs that prevented us from being badly burned by the tropical formalities.