Wandering Through Panama (Day 6) - Drive to David

We drove to David, about 350km.  The road was good until we passed Santiago and then it became 2 lanes and some mountains and one stretch of about 20km was really pretty bad.  But all in all, the trip went well. 
We did detour in Penonome to La Pintada to visit the Cigar Factory.  The only maker of  "premium cigars" in Panama.

The factory:

On the inside:

Sally and the Owner:

I bought a box of 25 for $60.  The first one I had was a couple of night later and it was a little dry.  When I got home and put them in a Ziploc bag with a wet paper towel, after a couple of days I had another cigar and it was excellent.

We ate lunch at the little place next door to the factory, I think the owners might have been related to the cigar lady.
Picture from in front of the cigar factory:

Picture of the cigar factory in the background with our rental car parked in front of the factory.

The lunch was soup, and rice and chicken.  I asked for a beer and they did not have any.  About 5 minutes later their son got on his bike and rode off, I was not sure where he went but I suspected.  He came back 5 minutes later and a couple of minutes later, they brought me out a cold beer.  Now that is service.  The whole meal, including beer was somewhere between $4 and $5, I forget exactly how much.  The lunch was very good.


We got to David in the late afternoon, the GPS was off by a couple of blocks or it thought I meant Banco Nacional when I actually wanted to go to Hotel Gran Nacional.  Anyway, we went around in circles for about 1/2 hour till we got directions. The hotel was only2 blocks away and strategically placed.  Leaving the hotel, it was one turn to Boquete and going the other direction from the hotel it was one turn to go to Playa La Barqueta.  So, after we got to the hotel, we had no traffic issues.

Gran Nacional:

Picture of the room:

Picture from the window:

This was one of their junior suites, the room was great but it was in the front of the hotel across the street from the casino.    The noise went on till early early morning. 

One thing I noticed in all locations we visited, the young men of Panama are very proud of their sub-woofers.
Boom, boom, boom, boom till late in the night.  Just something that goes with the territory.

Wandering Through Panama (Day 5)

Today we decided to stay close so we could make it an early day in preparation for our 350 km+ drive to David tomorrow. 
We drove west 30 or 40 km to Playa Blanca.  The area is pretty much dominated by 2 gated communities, one is Playa Blanca and the name of the other escapes me right now but it is very large.  These are both havens for big Gringo money from up North. 

We drove out through the small ocean side town of Farallon to a really great place on the water called Pipas.


The view from Pipas:

Lunch at Pipas:

Back at Costa Grande, our last evening before traveling to David:

Wandering Through Panama (Day 4)

Still in Gorgona staying at Costa Grande.

Picture from in front of our unit towards the pool and the ocean.

  Today we visited a little mountain town called El Valle.  It was cooler than in Gorgona because of the altitude but not so cool that we needed long sleeves. 

We visited an interesting church, located on the far side of town.  This is a good place to turn around because there is really no town left after this point.

While in El Valle, we visited the zoo which started out as an animal rescue facility.  Interest and well worth the $2 or $3 dollar price of admission (I forget exactly how much).

One of the birds in the zoo

It was hard to take pictures because just about every animal was in a cage.  This is one of the few unobstructed pictures.

Interesting rock placements (this is part of the zoo).

El Valle is definitely worth visiting and the zoo is very impressive.  The zoo is hard to find and the road is bad but worth the trip.  On the way out of town, turn left at the police station and follow the road and you will arrive at the zoo.

In the center of town there was also a nice little craft area where you can purchase souvenirs.

In the evening we had dinner at Rincon del Chef, an interesting restaurant in Coronado.  Turn off the Panamerican Highway at El Rey heading towards the Pacific and it is about 1/4 to 1/2 km on the right.  The Salmon with Pesto was probably the best Salmon I have ever had.  Seriously, you have to try it.

Wandering Throught Panama (Day 3)

Today was spent becoming more familiar with the Coronado area.  Across from EL REY grocery we discovered a brand new shopping center -The Village.  The shops were very upscale...a four story building containing everything from groceries to electronics and household goods. You could outfit a whole house from this store.  While there we shopped for groceries.  This was the day of the "beer fiasco".  We picked up 6 bottles of Balboa Beer from an open crate. At checkout it became apparent that there was a big problem.  The machine could  not ring them up.  After a 10  minute "convention" of about 6 of us and mutual attempts to communicate in both Spanish and English we finally understood we could only buy the 24 bottles in the crate...or none at all.  No problem as there are lots of little tiendas where we can buy individual bottles for about 45 cents each. Everyone in both large and small shops/grocery stores are eager to be helpful and appreciate our attempts at Spanish.

 We drove about 50 kilometers west on the main highway (Carretera Interamericana)  sightseeing and searching for a little cafe for a beer ... we found a cute place, cute little girl (about 11) who cheerfully waited on us, but no cervesa.....wine worked out just as well. In a local cafe, beer is usually about $1.00 and wine is $2.00 to $2.50. We ended the day with a walk on the beach and visiting with our neighbors in Costa Grande.

Wandering Through Panama (Day 2) - Costa Grande

  On our first day here our big adventure was a trip to REY, a large local grocery store.  We walked on the beach (salt & pepper....partly white and partly volcanic).  The local fishermen come into the bay close by.  We tried to buy some fish but the sight of all those fish in the barrel just really wasn't too appetizing so we cooked in our little galley kitchen in the villa.

The villas are nice. There are about 15 units which overlook the beach.  Our neighbors are mostly Canadian but there are also Panamanians who own units here.  Staying here gives a sense of community vs. being in a hotel. For anyone interested in travel to the Coronado/Gorgona area of Panama (about 1 1/2 hours west of Panama City) we would recommend Costa Grande.  The contact person is Mayela and she was very helpful in arranging our stay and sharing information about the area.  mayela@panamarealestatepros.com

Panama - (Day 1) - Travel

We drove from Daytona to OIA (MCO) early and flew through MIA to Panama (PTY).
Major hassle at the car rental place, I got most of it straightened out there and will contact Thrifty and get the liability insurance overcharge worked out.

Sally  and I in the airport in Miami, waiting on the plane ( it was late ), You can tell we are having a great time.

A picture of where we are staying from the beach the morning after we arrived.

The drive from Tocumen airport to the city was terrible, lots of traffic on a Saturday afternoon, almost like it was rush hour.  There was a lot of trash on the side of the road, not a pretty site (the airport area is a good place to stay away from.

New Year's Day at the Beach

A Great Day at the beach, 75 degrees, sunshine, and a fair amount of people at the beach, lots of activity.

Not sure I have ever seen this, fishing from a kayak.

Originally thought this was someone para sailing but it turned out to be a weight.
Guess they were advertising.

A couple of fishermen, watching the para sail, guess I should have taken the time to zoom in on this one.

Interesting beach attire, I am pretty sure these two young girls were Amish.

A guy on a jet ski, This guy was pretty good, I watched him and his buddy for a while.