Pictures from Panama Day 1

: This is totally the way horse racing is at my house, too.

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA – Here to cover the Clasico del Caribe, first day in Panama. I’m a journalist (periodista), not photographer, but when you don’t speak the primary language it’s not so easy to ask questions or do interviews. So I took a gazillion pictures today, met a few guys who speak English and will help me out when I go to morning works tomorrow, smiled a lot, observed.

Going into this thing, I wondered if it would make my writing sharper. You notice a lot of random stuff when you have absolutely no clue what people are saying – during a press conference, for instance. The jury’s still out (ESPN.com content runs Friday), but almost any time a journalist goes into an unfamiliar situation, creative sparks start to fly. It’s so different from the daily grind, it’s inspiring.

I didn’t get a picture of the two army-green-clad “policia” with black flak jackets riding down the center of the street on a motorbike with the back one casually carrying what pretty much looked like an adaptive combat rifle on my way home from the track (just another Monday, folks) – but here’s a smattering of what I found during today’s adventure. More – including some real horses, I promise – to come tomorrow.