A
Candid View Of Panama
Norman
Wolfer
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 lead 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 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 village, 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
 |
| Dusty and Carolyn |
+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 a little more than we would have spent on a
nice motel in California, which included a meager breakfast.
Our next destination was Santiago, 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 very pleasant place to stay. There was an attached
restaurant, but no breakfast was included.
The food in the restaurant was reasonable and good.
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 (showing the extreme diversity) in a hotel I would
never recommend but cost only $35 for the night. The next morning we were 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. It did not include wireless internet access,
however, except in the lobby. It is located at Camino
2 Valle Escondido Bajo Boquete, Phone
+507 720 2525 and web address
 |
| Boquete from above |
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.
The next morning, we decided the rate for
the last available room in town 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 where we 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.
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.
 |
| Zum Emsländer |
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.
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.
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.
 |
| Our spot on the Pacific beach |
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 has 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_Reviewg1390105-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.
Upon completion of our stay at this
resort, we set out toward Panama City, again. Our friends, Michael and Ruth,
recommended we stop and visit El Valle for a few nights. That took us almost to
Coronado, again, but turned out to be about 20 kilometers inland from Highway
and took us into a higher elevation. At about 2500 meters (7,500 feet), the
climate
was once again one of eternal spring. We happened upon a very nice
hotel, Valle Verde (www.hotel-valleverde.com, P.O. Box 87-4381 Panamá 7 República de Panamá +507 983-6080) which offered extremely nicely manicured gardens, a quiet setting, and
included breakfast. Although the winds, at this elevation, were gale force at
night, the two days we were there were pleasantly breezy and pleasantly cool.
Valle Verde is a family run facility, but they spoke only Spanish. While that
created some obstacles, we found them to be very willing, friendly, and great
hosts.
 |
| Entrance to our hotel at Valle Verde |
Frankly, in general, we found the streets
in places in Panama (especially the main Carretera Panamericana Hwy 1) to be
somewhat treacherous. However, the people were friendly, the terrain was as
diverse as California’s, and the cost of meals, lodging, and the sights, were
worthy of any traveler’s visit. Regarding
the things we find in publications enumerating reasons to retire in Panama, we
found most of them to meet or exceed the reports. There were, of course, things
we did not care for in Panama, but the cost of living (especially for those on
the pensionado program, which gives seniors generous government mandated
discounts on almost everything including air fares), along with the eternal
spring, wonderful people and numerous like minded expats from many different
countries, more than make up for those certain inconveniences. Visit Panama
with an open mind and look for the good and you will find it in abundance.
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