OK, so I am cheating a little here, and this (thankfully!) is not my own experience, but rather that of Chuck and Richard, 2 members of the distressed airline passenger club, the formation of which will be noted in the next post. However, amongst the many great and interesting travel stories I heard, this one takes the cake and thus I've got to add it as well. Chuck and Richard, if i get it wrong at all, please feel free to comment!
Basically, as I can recall it goes a little something like 2 innocent American guys following their hobby of geocaching, with the aid of a GPS. The site they were aiming for was this sort of mountain, in the environs of Panama City - the one with the giant flag on it is the only way that I will know it, as with my limited time I did not make up it any Panamanian mountains. maybe better so..
so with just their coordinates to guide them (and the clue 'arroz con pollo' - rice and chicken), they set off, only to be stopped by armed guards during their pursuit, at which point Chuck tells them they are looking for treasure, and something about the 'travel bug' implanted in the GPS, which somehow got misunderstood for them wanting to plant a bug in the president's residence. Ah yes...this I did not mention yet, and this they did not know at the start, but on this mountain was the true president's residence, not the palace in the old city. heeeugh. they were taken to this guard shack, and there, in a cage was a chicken. so according to the clue, they were right anyway!
The exact details here I can't recall, but it ends up with our 2 heroes being detained, as the problem is, Colombian drug runners are now using GPS for someone to hide the drugs, and another to collect them several weeks later....however, it is important to note, they were not actually arrested, but just detained...and the 'help' from their embassy came in the form of 'Don and Dean', who were not actually from the embassy but there to 'translate', yet had done all the checks on them and knew who they were. throughout the next 24 hours they were repeatedly interrogated and accused of being in cahoots with Colombian drug lords. In order to get food, they had to pay for all the guards to eat as well. At one point a very large, brick shithouse type guy (who was later called just 'mr. shithouse' by Perry, a fellow airline distress passenger to be mentioned in next entry) comes in saying he could be 'their friend' and they could call at any time, if, you know, the story changed at all....
But the best bit - was the television. In their little detention room they had a TV, and of all shows...they were watching....(wait for it)...PRISON BREAK!!! With a guard who spoke a bit of English telling them 'We like that here...'.
Thankfully 24 hours later, they were released, and thus able to enjoy a bit of Panama (huh), and give us the pleasure of meeting them, if also not under the greatest circumstances.
Again, totally not my story but a great one that cannot be allowed to slip through the net...Chuck and Richard, thanks for sharing and hope that you have better luck with your next geocache sites.....;-)
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