A Candid Panamanian Experience
Norman Wolfer
Normre49@gmail.com
January 2014
I don’t think we have ever visited a country around the
world that one could consider perfect.
Every country seems to have wonderful things to offer along with the
idiosyncrasies that take away from paradise.
Panama
is no exception. Our visit to Panama started in Panama City where we were subjected to much
of the same bureaucratic nonsense we experience in the first world
countries. We were finger printed,
photographed, questioned, and sent on our way.
Panama City
is a large, high population city that is suffering from a great deal of new
infrastructure construction and an ever growing population. Views from the airplane’s windows had confirmed
new construction of large Panamanian neighborhoods to absorb the growth. Infrastructure construction provides many of
the new jobs, which leads to a growing economy and what is touted as a
burgeoning middle class, confirming much have what we had heard. Our transition through the city seemed like
it would go on, forever. Traffic was
horrendous and construction sites impeded progress, especially because there
were relatively few traffic lights to keep order.
We had decided to experience Panama by rental car, without an
agenda. The first destination we had
identified was Coronado, for no other reason
than to visit a beach community in Panama. We traveled on the Carretera Panamericana
(Hwy 1) following some expat friends, Dusty and Carolyn Tubbs who live in Panama, for the better part of two hours, which
put us in Coronado
at dusk. Upon entering the Coronado and
dining at a Panamanian version of a fast food restaurant (actually quite nice)
we drove into what promised to be Coronado village, where we were stopped at a
guard gate, revealing much of the Coronado beach area is a gated community. The young man at the guard shack was kind
enough to call ahead to the Coronado Golf Resort (Av
Roberto Eisenmann, Playa Coronado, 0816-00571 +507 240 4444 http://www.coronadohotelpanama.com/ ) and confirm they
had a room for us. We landed in an
austere, but pleasant and quiet room with two queen beds for $150, which
included a meager breakfast.
Our next destination was Santiago is a medium sized town and
we found a nice habitacion, called the Hacienda Hotel (http://hotel-lahacienda.net, (507)
958-8751 / 958-8580 / 958-8579 located right on Carratera Panamericana), which
though nothing fancy, turned out to be a nice place to stay for about sixty
dollars. There was an attached
restaurant, but no breakfast was included.
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| Valle Del Rio |
Our next stop was the second largest city in Panama, the City of David.
That it was large was evidenced more by the number of cars and people
than the geometric size. We spent the
night in a room that felt like a jail cell in a hotel I would never recommend
but cost only $35 for the night, and got up the next morning rested and ready
for our main destination. We would be
driving to the city of Boquete,
which was only about 30 kilometers from David, and as luck would have it, there
was a flower fiesta going on. We were
told it would be a great experience, because the Panamanians would be
celebrating that festival for a full ten days.
Whether it was “luck” or not could be debated. The number of people attending, from far and
near, choked both the roads and the hotels.
The first night in Boquete we ended up getting what was apparently the
last room in the area. It was far enough
away from the celebration, which continued very loudly until 6:00 in the
morning—every morning, that we were not kept awake by the festivities. The Valle Del Rio was a very nice hotel which
included a nice breakfast and a comfortable room for $200. Again, it was more than we wanted to spend,
but we did not want to drive back to David.
It did not include wireless internet access, however, except in the
lobby. It is located at Camino Valle
Escondido Bajo Boquete, Phone +507 720 2525 and web address www.valledelrioboquete.com.
The city of Boquete
was alive with many hundreds, if not thousands of visitors, most of whom were
very friendly. The activities were
pleasant and festive. There were many
pastry shops and restaurants and we found a restaurant that served cafeteria
style that had remarkably good food for a fair price. It was called El Sabroson #3 and was on the
uphill side of the main street. There
was at least one more (El Sabroson #2) further down the street, and we were told
there was a #1, somewhere not too far away.
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| Boquete seen from high on a coffee farm hill |
The next morning, we decided $200 a night was a little too
rich for our blood and started scouting around for a different place to
stay. We were challenged by not wanting
to be too far away from Boquete, not too close to the celebrating masses, and
hoping not to spend too much for lodging.
We headed down the road toward David, again, hoping we had missed
something on the way in. We turned at an
intersection that had a sign showing a golf course and country club, but after
driving a ways we were convince that was a “dead end.” We turned around and drove back to the main
street and noticed a small strip shopping center, on the corner, called San Francisco Plaza.
I decided I needed to ask someone in a restaurant we spotted about
potential lodging.
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| Zum Emsländer Restaurant |
As we parked in front of the restaurant, my wife said,
“Look, Norman. The restaurant is called, “Zum Emsländer.” My wife is originally from Germany and
finding a German restaurant in Boquete was kind of nice. We had already eaten, so I went in to inquire
about any nearby lodging. There were
several people sitting at various tables and I could hear German being spoken.
As a result of my wife’s diligent tutelage, I am fairly good with the
German language, so I went up to a lady who seemed to be in charge and asked
whether she knew of any place we could spend the night. She did.
She asked us (my wife and me) to sit and have a cup of coffee and she
would make a call. Sure enough, she knew
a Panamanian woman who had a guest room with a separate entrance (and very
simple) who would rent it to us for $30 per night…would we be interested. Of course we agreed.
Zum Emsländer turned out to be a first class German
Restaurant that served the German specialties that looked, smelled, and tasted
like classic German Cuisine. It is
operated by George the German, who also operates a used European Furniture
outlet from the same location. This
restaurant is only a little more than a mile before getting into the town
limits of Boquete. It is very high on
our list of recommendations for restaurants.
Tell George, Norman
and Evelyn sent you.
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| A young Native Girl with her daughter |
Our stay in Boquete was very pleasant. The perfect weather (year around) was a big
attraction for us. There was usually a
comfortable breeze, which kept it in a very tolerable temperature range, even
when the sun was shining without cloud cover.
The Flower Fest was less than awe inspiring, but the energy level of the
people celebrating the festival was contagious.
There were native Indian demonstrations in the central park, small,
private vendors selling indigenous meats and wares, and all the normal
Panaderias (pastry shops), coffee shops, and restaurants lining the streets
making it easy to fill one’s appetites.
The two nights we spent in the guest house were quiet, comfortable and
reasonably close to town. Since it was a
private party, if your interested in staying in this accommodation, you might
want to stop at Zum Emsländer and ask for Ruth.
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| Sunset in Las Lajas |
Michael Holz and Ruth Eyer, our two new German friends from
the restaurant, informed us they were taking a three day, two night trip to a
beach resort. We had paid for two nights
in the guest house and, since that coincided with when they were planning on
leaving, we asked if it would be okay for us to follow them and spend a few
nights there, too. They were very gracious
and not only agreed to have us follow them, but managed to negotiate the
Resident Retiree rate for the room we got, which brought the nightly rate from around
$120 per night to about $80 per night.
When we arrived at Las Lajas Beach Resort, located at Playa Las Lajas, Jobo, Panama,
and Phone:+507 6790-1972,
where we were treated to beautiful lawn areas bordering the clean sandy beach
and the 80 degree surf. The sunsets were
remarkable, the people extremely nice, and the food was good. This resort, too, was high on our list of
places we could recommend in Panama. We met other Germans there, who were spending
an extended time there. They had been in
Panama for thirty days and
had only one warning, related to Panama. Their visit to Bocos Del Toro had been a
nightmare, because their two year old son had managed, from just having his
pacifier rinsed in the tap water, to contract a deadly parasite, which put him
in the hospital. That caught our
attention, because we had been freely drinking of the water throughout Panama. Fortunately, we did not experience any
negative effects from the water.
Our first
night in Las Lajas, we went to another resort about 15 kilometers away, called
Paradise Inn. It had caught the
attention of our friends, because the owner and operators were German. Located at Las
Lajas Adendro / Centro, Playa Las Lajas, Las Lajas 0446,
Panama (cell 011 507 6580-8800) and website with Trip
Advisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g1390105-d1642626-Reviews-Paradise_Inn-Playa_Las_Lajas_Las_Lajas_Chiriqui_Province.html,
which boasted not
only unique and pleasant lodging, but had exquisite food. It is operated by Harold Merzscheidt and
Helena Muensch, who were excellent hosts.
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| Lawn leading to beach in Las Lajas |
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| Hotel Valle-Verde in El Valle |
