Keith's Panamanian Travel Ramble

The wanderings of Andrea and Keith around Panama

Posts tagged ‘dinner’

A Little Luxury in Santa Clara

Howdy Travelers,

Today, we teamed up with our friends Shirley and Dave who are also wayward Canadians, for a trip west on the Inter American Highway to check out a resort in Santa Clara.  Santa Clara is a little over a 30 minute drive west of Coronado.  If you come to the new airport at Rio Hato where the Royal Decameron in Farallon is, you have come a bit too far.  Find a Returno (an authorized place to make a U-turn) and return back to the next town.

Santa Clara is the site of the opulent Sheraton Bijao Beach Resort which is just a couple of years old.  It’s another remote all-inclusive place with rates starting in the $250 per night range.  As we turned south off the highway towards the Pacific, we soon met some of the trappings that makes this place expensive.  We first came to a security gate.  Our friends, who had been here before, simply told the guard that we were going to the Hertz car rental desk which caused us to be immediately waved through.  Apparently you get quite a bit of hassle if you say that you just want to go look at the resort.  As we drove down the road, I noticed that the infrastructure is all complete.  Roads are paved, sidewalks and street lighting is in place, and every inch of the landscape is manicured just the way you would expect around a Sheraton Resort.   We drove past a number of three-story walk up apartment buildings that lined the perfectly groomed golf course until we came to the end of the road where the Sheraton was.

The building is a six-story open to the ocean drop dead gorgeous expression of luxury everywhere you look!  When you enter the lobby and pass the many ample soft couches you are immediately struck with the incredible vista that rolls out to the Pacific beginning directly in front of the hotel.  There are a series of pools that occupy the space between the hotel and the wide white hard sand beach.  Off in the distance a white double masted schooner is at anchor.  The view is further enhanced by a restaurant with a thatched roof which is off to the side as well as a water slide between an infinity pool and the pool below it.

We wandered the hotel and grounds, unchallenged.  There were lots of guests, unless the place was full of crashers like us, but the pools were being well used.   The grounds are beautifully kept, as expected and the beach looked recently groomed.  We thought we would stay for dinner and enquired at the front desk about the cost of a dinner pass.  We were told $25 would buy us into any of the restaurants on the site for dinner and give us our food and drinks.  Not too bad a price for such a high-end place.  After determining that none of the restaurants opened until at least 6:30PM, we elected to move on to somewhere where we wouldn’t have to wait so long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a tall customer service representative from the hotel roaming among the guests lounging in the lobby.  She was wearing a typical historic local costume that was to say the least, striking.  When I asked her to let me take a picture she agreed and posed.  I’m sure it is something she gets asked to do on a regular basis and it is probably also in her job description.  Very nice!

On the way off the property, Dave spotted a small hedge that interested him.  He is a bit of a gardener and had spotted a flowering hedge where the clusters of flowers were actually different colors within each cluster.  Unusual, don’t you think?

Well, I would say that if you like the Sheraton resorts, you would be very pleased with a stay at this one.  In the very near future, when the new International Airport opens down the road at Rio Hato, the taxi ride from the airport will decrease from a couple of hours and $150 to something less than 10 minutes.  Check it out.  It gets a thumbs up from all four of us!

Have Your Dentist Pay Your Airfare

Hi Travellers,

Medical Tourism is a relatively new phenomenon that is becoming well-known.  Many people have heard of medical tourism but let me show you some really simple and practical examples of how it can work for you in Panama.

Everybody wants to travel as inexpensively as possible and we are no exception.  We love to travel to exotic destinations to build my image library so it is important for us to travel as efficiently as possible so we can stay longer and return sooner to another destination.  Each time we come to Panama we try to offset our traveling costs in as many ways as possible. It is an easy thing to do here because so many things are relatively inexpensive when compared to costs at home in Canada.

We always pay a visit to the dentist while here in Panama. At home a trip to my dentist for a simple one hour session of descaling and cleaning will cost me around $400. The last crown I had replaced a few years ago was $1,000.  In Panama, my English speaking dentist is located in a new modern facility in the Coronado mall, where the Super 99 grocery store is located. When I arrived for my appointment I was greeted warmly in English by the dentist, who led me to a modern well equipped treatment room. The descaling and cleaning process involved the same equipment as used at home and took just over an hour to complete. The work was done by the dentist, Dr. Wong, and not a dental assistant, as it would be at home. During the work, the dentist found a cavity which, due to its place, would need one of my crowns to be replaced. The cost for the descaling and cleaning, along with one x-ray was $50 and the cost to replace the crown was $450. The $800 savings is enough to pay for my return airfare to Panama from Calgary.

Eating out at restaurants here is always an interesting experience. Our preference is to try the local restaurants as much as possible. The food is always great and runs a little less than half of what it would cost at home. It is not uncommon to pay a little less than $25 for dinner for two including a bottle of wine and desert.

Before we came to Panama this trip, I had an eye exam that determined I would need new bi-focal glasses.  I costed them out at home and found that to get what I wanted would cost me around $1,100. My English speaking Panamanian optometrist, Boyd Optical, in the Coronado mall with the Rey grocery store, sold me identical lenses as I had chosen at home along with frames that were much less expensive. Total cost for the transition bi-focal lenses and frames was just over $250.

We are wine drinkers and love the wines you find on the store shelves in Panama.  The selection of Chilean and Argentine reds is to say the least, impressive.  We get some of them at home but the costs are usually in the $20 or more per bottle range.  Here, you can find a great choice of South American red wines for under $10 per bottle, with many under $5. It is a great opportunity to try wines that are a bit uncommon and pricy at home but are priced for consumption here.  In Coronado, we found the best selection and pricing at the Rey grocery store, although the new wine store also has a good selecction and is priced similar to the Rey.   We just don’t know about the Super 99.  They have a nice corner of the store with a smaller wine selection but none of it is priced.  If you want to know the price, you have to walk it up to a cashier who will scan it and tell you.  Way too much trouble!

It really is quite easy to save enough to pay your airfare or more.  It just takes a bit of planning before you come to decide what you can have done while you are here.  Give it some thought and maybe you can have your dentist pay your airfare as well.

The Monster Deck at Rio Mar

Hi Travellers,

When we first visited Panama, now five years ago, we went on a little real estate tour out of our base in Coronado.  One of the properties we were most impressed with was a resort, then under construction, called Rio Mar.  The plan was to build three 22 story towers with two suites per floor, a pool complex with a restaurant, a spa complex, a low-rise beach front apartment building and around a half-dozen million dollar individual beach front homes.

At that time, there was nothing actually built but the first tower, which had just completed.  We looked at a couple of units and found the finishing was excellent.  The resort appealed to us because of its’ beach front location and reasonably small footprint.  At that time the plan was to have the whole place built out in under 10 years, which would mean less construction mess than one of the larger resorts that probably will be under construction for the next 50 years.  Also, of interest to us was the financing to build the project.  It was equity financed by a Canadian group who were taking an active part in the build out.  The units we saw were in the $US 300,000 to $US 400,000 range.

As we have re-visited Panama over the years we have kept track of this resort, still thinking that we might pick off a suite in the low-rise beach front building which would have put us 30 meters from the Pacific.

This time, we found several of the million dollar houses either finished or under construction, the low-rise building was pretty much complete and beginning to be occupied, the pool and restaurant were open as was the spa complex but they had yet to start on the second tower.  We were told that because the resort was already occupied that they had to go back and re-think the way they would build the second tower to minimize the noise and mess to the rest of the resort.  This, being done, and with the sales being over 50%, the plan was to begin construction later this year.

We checked out the small restaurant that is located poolside.  They have inside air-conditioned seating as well as outdoor shaded lounges that you can eat from.  It’s not a fancy dinner restaurant but rather a lunch and snack place with good food and service.  It’s worth a try if you are in the area.

We decided to have a look at some of the units in the low-rise beach front building.  We saw a very adequate three bedroom unit selling for around $US 650,000 as well as a nice two-story penthouse with a couple of balconies, one of which was about the size of a good-sized Safeway store that was listed for just over a million.  It was quite breezy that day and I couldn’t help but wonder how much furniture you would need to equip that monster deck and that with the wind blowing as strongly as it was, how often you would have to drag all that furniture back out of the corner that the wind had blown it into.  Oh well.  If I had to…

I think that one of the most distracting things though, was that there will be a brand new Marriott Resort building right next door, just on the other side of the river!  This ensures a construction mess for a couple or more years at least and with the prevailing breezes coming from that direction, I would need a ride around street sweeper to keep my monster deck clean!  Hmmm!

Someone we were talking to, not at Rio Mar, believes that the stretch of beach communities beginning at Punta Chame and stretching west to Playa Blanco is going to be the next Cancun!  You can see that development has increased, particularly over the last few years.  Many of the big resort hotels are already here or planning to be here and there is lots of construction at the beach front as you driver westward from our apartment in Gorgona.  It makes sense to me that with the favorable pricing of property, solid infrastructure, wonderful climate, and growing tourist numbers discovering Panama, that it will only be a matter of time so if you are a property speculator, this might be the place to consider!

Pot Luck at Sueno Mar

Hi Travellers,

Out little community here at Sueno Mar in Gorgona is interesting and very friendly.  Today, we have been invited to a pot luck dinner which apparently happens quite often.  The occasion?  It’s Friday!  We have been instructed to bring something for everyone as well as whatever meat we want to eat for a social gathering of all the occupants of this place starting around 5PM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two large bohios here, each with a very nice gas barbecue so the plan is for everyone to visit for some time then cook their own dinner and eat together.  Very civilized!  It is an interesting crowd here from literally all over the world.  There is a couple born in Holland who have spent their last 20 years living in Australia and have just moved to Panama, there is an Argentine family who moved to Panama several years ago and live in Panama City.  There is a couple from Quebec, a couple from Kelowna, a couple from Cranbrook, a family from the US and us.

I threw in a few photos of the group.  They are so diverse that someone out there may recognize someone.  What a great way to conduct a vacation!  We like small places because it gives you a chance to meet people and find out what they are up to.  That is possible in larger places but it just seems easier at a small resort.

The Surprise at Vista Mar

Howdy Fellow Travellers,

Today we invested the day enjoying the beach and the pool at our little Panamanian hide away in Gorgona.  The day disappeared quickly and soon it became time to go and pick up our friend Octav, who is staying at the Bayview Resort, and head out for dinner.  We found him in the restaurant talking with a woman from Switzerland.

We headed for a restaurant at a resort that we knew from previous trips.  Vista Mar, meaning Sea Vista, is a large resort with several towers, a couple of villa complexes, some private homes, and a golf course.  It is west of but not far from Coronado.

On our first trip we visited this place on a real estate tour.  We rented a villa here the last time we were here.  That experience was, shall I say dry!  The first nine holes had been built for some time but the second nine were under construction while we were there.  There were daily water outages, sometimes for the whole day.  Hopefully someone would remember to turn the water back on at the end of the construction day but sometimes, they didn’t.  It was a frustrating experience.  I was there with three women, trouble enough on its own but when they don’t have water it can get downright ugly!  It really wasn’t that bad, they were pretty good sports about it but it was problematic.

Our little villa complex had its own pool which had no shade.  Down on the beach, the resort had a very nice restaurant as well as a small well landscaped pool area.  There was sun and shade and a very nice little waterfall.  It was a really pleasant place to wile away an afternoon.

We were not sure that the restaurant would be open as most restaurants here seem to close one day of the week due to the staff being required to work all weekend.  When we arrived, we were pleased to find they were open.  Before we went in for dinner, we walked down to the beach where we found a surprise.  The beautiful little landscaped pool was gone and had been replaced by a huge commercial looking infinity pool thing that looked like it would hold 500 people!   Deck chairs were lined up side by side just like a huge resort.  The vegetation was gone in favor of a wall to wall concrete deck.  There was actually a concrete wall with astro turf on it.  Imagine!  They had also built a couple of wooden walkways for people to wander on.  The charm was gone!  The intimacy was gone!  The pool contained a huge statue of a fat woman that should be gone, if you ask me!  It was disappointing to see such a perfect little Panamanian space replaced by a commercial monstrosity that seemed to belong more in Florida than here in Panama.

We were seated in the restaurant outside on the deck.  It was in the early stages of sunset and the view of the ocean was exceptional.  The overhead fan along with the gentle breeze from the Pacific made for a most pleasant and comfortable environment.  Dinner was grilled shrimp in a coconut sauce, roast pork, and I had the Sea Bass.  Everything was perfectly prepared and served by attentive wait staff.  We lingered over dinner enjoying good food, good conversation and a perfect environment.  Dinner for three including wine and desert, just over $100.  It is a little more expensive here but still less than home.  If you want a nice dinner in special surroundings, head to Vista Mar.  Just drive up to the security gate and tell them you are going to the restaurant.

Sueno Mar on Malibu Beach

Hi Travellers,

We are finally at the beach, where we will be for the rest of our trip!  Temperatures are higher here, around the low 30s, but there is a gentle constant breeze off the Pacific that blows through our spacious 113 square meter two bedroom two bathroom condo.   We are in the community of Gorgona at a small apartment complex called Sueno Mar which means Sunny Sea and it is right on Malibu Beach, one of the nicest in Panama.  This place has grown dramatically since we last had a close look, several years ago.  The main drag is paved but many of the other roads are very rough gravel with pot holes that would break an axle.  I think this is the local protection against speeding.

The beautiful beach is a mixture of black and grey sand so it has a constantly changing appearance.  You can walk for miles on this beach where if you walk eastbound, toward Panama City, you will see that the beach is lined by a mixture of beautifully kept private homes along with some empty lots and derelict properties.  There is even a high-rise tower, called the Biltmore.  It is not a hotel but private apartments.  If you chooses to walk westbound on the beach you will eventually get to the Gorgona Fish Market and the town itself.  If you continue, you will come to the community of Coronado.

With the exception of Sunday, when the locals appear from other places, it is pretty quiet on this beach.  During the day you will see the odd person walking, mostly early in the morning or around sunset.  Occasionally, a quad will appear from somewhere on its way to Gorgona transporting three or four people but for the most part it is very quiet.  Local fishing boats from Gorgona pass both directions across the front of Sueno Mar on their way to and from their fishing grounds.

Sueno Mar was built a couple of years ago and still has some units for sale.  There are six two bedroom units and nine one bedrooms all overlooking the ocean.  There is on site management and security gates, a couple of large bohios on the beach side each with their own barbecue and a lushly landscaped and beautifully kept pool area.  We got upgraded when we arrived, to our delight, to a two bedroom unit.  It is on the third floor so has an unobstructed view of the Pacific from the wall to wall windows across the expanse of our living room.  The kitchen is well equipped with everything you might need to survive here, including an ice and cold water dispensing fridge and freezer, micro wave oven, six burner gas stove, dishwasher, washer and dryer, air conditioning, large screen TV to play as many Spanish-speaking stations as you wish to listen to, and the always necessary WiFi which is supplied from the cable company so is truly high-speed.  Oh, and there is a honkin’ big Karaoke machine that I have to learn to run before Carnival starts next week.  It will be my pay back to compete with the loud music that locals tend to play at that time!  You need a truck to move the speaker around, I swear!  Because our unit is on the third floor, it also has vaulted ceilings that I would estimate go up to about 4M with seven, yes I counted them, seven ceiling fans to keep the air moving.  The unit runs the full depth of the building with the two bedrooms at the back with a mountain view.  When you open all the windows, you get a great breeze that blows right through the whole place.  We have not yet felt the need to run the air conditioning as the breezes keep the unit comfortable.  I have put a link to the Sueno Mar Website in the right column under Businesses We Support.  You can get prices there for rentals and for buying.

For dinner tonight, we headed back into Coronado to the Malibu Restaurant.  It is before you reach the security gate on your left just past the stores at the entrance to Coronado.  We came here on purpose because they serve a great Cashew Corvino.  That’s right, a piece of grilled sea bass liberally loaded up with fresh cashews.  Yum Yum!  It was as good as in the past but a bit pricier.  It was up to $10.50.

Impressions of Santa Fe

Howdy All,

Sadly, today we leave this beautiful place and head for our next destination which is at the beach in Gorgona and is about a three-hour drive without stops.  After another great breakfast, we packed up and hit the road.

Yesterday, I mentioned a blockade of the Pan-American, west of here closer to David.  It turns out that the local Indians (Ngobe-Bugle) had blocked westbound traffic on the highway for several days.  They were protesting the changing of some legislation around mining and the Cerro Colorado mine, which has one of the largest copper reserves in Latin America.  There have also been some short-term interruptions to traffic eastbound headed for Panama City.  The westbound blockade has held the second largest city in the country, David, hostage and there are reports of stores being short of food stuffs and fuel stations closing as they are out of fuel.  The police were directed to clear the road last night and the ensuing scuffle resulted in a number of injuries and one death.  Several police were hospitalized.  Further investigation into the death found that the bullet was of a caliber not used by the police.

President Ricardo Martinelli has blamed the opposition and “foreign elements” for inciting chaos.  I did a little Internet research and oddly found that an Indian band in Ecuador held a protest at the same time over a similar issue.  When you look at the pictures of the Panama protest, I cannot help but draw the conclusion that this was organized by someone or group other than the natives that knows the techniques of how to successfully protest today.

Now our friend Octav that left Santa Fé a couple of days ago, was headed to Boquete.  He took the bus from Santa Fé to Santiago where he found out busses were not running due to the blockade.  He had some quick scrambling to do but managed to secure a place back at the Bayview Hotel in Santa Clara, the other direction.  As it is on our way, we decided we will stop and see how he is doing.

We have only been in Santa Fé for a few days and most of that time was spent at the Casa Mariposa Boutique Hotel.  Our top 10 impressions of Santa Fé are:

1.  Book a few days here at the Casa Mariposa.  You won’t believe the experience.  See the link at the bottom of the right column under Businesses We Support;

2.  Don’t miss the “Lunch with the Toucans” at the Mariposa. You will love it;

3.  Be sure to top up your gas tank in Santiago before leaving for Santa Fé. There are no fuel stations in Santa Fé;

4.  Santa Fé is a hilly mountain frontier town, full of friendly locals, around 3,000 of them;

5.  This area is starting to develop, thanks to publications like International Living Magazine.  There is a growing expat community and people from all over the world are starting to settle here;

6.  There is lots of hiking and things to keep you busy in the area;

7.  Check out the Santa Fé National Park.  If you are a birder, your hotel can help you pick up an inexpensive guide to make sure you get to see what you want;

8.  Expect the place to be a bit remote.  There are only cell phones and a high-speed internet connection is still in the future;

9.  On the way to Santa Fé, don’t miss stopping to see the restored old church in San Francisco.  It dates back to 1621; and

10. Be open to all the rugged natural beauty and incredible variety of birds that you will find here.

The trip back to Santiago takes us through Santa Fé and the rolling hills as we proceed southbound back to the Pan-American. Along the way we met a herd of cattle being driven right up the road to us. The guys were friendly and waved as they forced the cattle off the road on the far side to allow us through. One of my favorite pictures so far is this one of the rider on his horse climbing the hill after crossing the bridge. It really kind of describes the character of this area; slow, casual and laid back.

Further down the road, we spotted a hawk flying beside us.  We went around a corner and Andrea said the hawk had landed and was standing beside a blue bag on the road behind us.  I grabbed my long lens and got out of the car as quietly as I could.  This is a Yellow-headed Caracara, a beautifully marked bird.  He was very cooperative.  He posed on the road for a bit then took off away from me and circled back.  I think the markings on this bird are magnificent!

After negotiating Santiago we were again eastbound on the Pan-American, headed for the Bayview.  Watermelon is now in season and it is starting to show up in markets and roadside fruit stands.  We stopped at this place to stock up on some fruit for our next week and bought one cantaloupe for $1.50, three pineapples for $1 and a good-sized watermelon for $3.

We found him on the deck of the Bayview, entertaining a couple of young women from the US!  Octav wasn’t expecting to see us but was glad we stopped by to visit with him on the way to Gorgona.  We made plans to get together over the next couple of days for dinner and a visit then were off to Gorgona to find our new home, Sueno Mar, which means sunny beach.

On the Road to Santa Fe

Hi Travellers,

We checked out of our little resort and went for breakfast around 9AM.  We were at the Artash Restaurant to get one last bacon wrap and an Internet connection to catch up my posts before we left El Valle.

We had agreed to pick up Octav from the Bayview Hotel on the beach in San Carlos at around 11AM to give him a ride to Santa Fé.  Its only a couple of kilometers out of our way just off the Pan-American Highway.  We have been here before.  It has a restaurant right on the beach with a magnificent view from the deck.

On our way to Santa Fé, we decided to check out a little restaurant in a place called La Pintada (pronounced La Pin Tada) that we really enjoyed the first time we were here.  When we were here the second time, we drove up to find it closed and out of business.  Now, I read that it is open again so we want to check it out for a potential day trip with our friends who are coming in mid February.  La Pintada is 13Km north of Penonome (pronounced Pen a no me), which is on the Pan-American.  La Pintada is a beautiful small town with really nothing much to draw people but the restaurant.  We arrived to find the beautiful little town was once again equipped with a great little restaurant.  Restaurant Casa Vieja La Pintada!  If you are in Panama, this place is well worth the little scenic detour you will take to get here.  There is a beautiful small recently painted white church on one side of the well-kept square with this restaurant on the other side facing the church.  The restaurant appears to have fresh paint and our server was a little Panamanian girl who was attentive, had a big smile and spoke enough English for us to get by.  We just had a cool drink, snapped a few shots and were on our way.

On our way back to the Pan-American, Andrea spotted a small fruit stand in front of a house at the side of the road with a supply of grapefruit stacked on the shelf.  We stopped and this little guy sold us six beautiful big grapefruit for $0.50, (total, not each) once he had his mother’s permission.

We continued back toward Penonome but in a few minutes our GPS wanted us to turn west.  We looked at the road and found it wide and paved but with no lines.  Now normally, Andrea won’t take advice from the GPS but this time, with two of us encouraging her, she agreed to follow it.  It turned out to be a nicely paved secondary road that our GPS called “Road”.  It basically, just cut off the need for us to go back through Penonome.  It brought us out on the Pan-American 20 or 30 minutes west of Penonome after taking us through beautiful rolling hills and past lots of fields of cattle and horses.  Out in the back country I might have thought we would find unkempt properties and homes but that was not the case.  Homes were neat, tidy, artfully landscaped and painted bright colors.  There was no junk lying around.  Then I remembered, we were in Panama not Mexico and this is the norm here!  There is a pride of ownership that shows everywhere.

Shortly after getting back on the Pan-American, a motorcycle carrying a police man passed us at a high speed.  In a few minutes we came around a bit of a gentle curve and saw a little white car of some kind on its side in the middle of the median.  The shot is a bit blurry but I think you can get the idea.  There was shattered plastic everywhere.  We wonder what actually happened because the road was flat and almost straight. In a few minutes we saw an ambulance approaching from the other direction.  It was not in a hurry and the emergency lights were not on.

We arrived in Santiago on the Pan-American which is where we turn north for Santa Fé.  We joined a line of mostly little yellow taxi cabs at a service station to load up our trusty Toyota with fuel before leaving Santiago which, we were warned, is the last place we can get gas.  Strange!  This busy little fuel stop was the first service station we have found that takes credit cards.  We left Santiago, heading north along a nicely paved two lane road with yellow center line and white lines at both edges of the road.  The hills are rolling and every now and again you get a chance to see the beautiful hilly vistas from the road.

We had planned to stop in a place called San Francisco which is 17 Km along the road from Santiago, to see a very important historical church that dates back to 1621.  Restoration work has been recently completed.  San Francisco is a tidy small village with narrow roads.  The whole place looks recently paved and again we find the homes all beautifully landscaped and well-kept.  Here are a few shots of the church.  The interior is amazing.  It is full of beautiful intricately carved pieces that show so well because of the fresh restoration work that has been done.

We continued north on the little hilly road for the remaining 35 Km to Santa Fé.  The GPS is not up to date with the roadway.  It looks like the road has been modernized somewhat and the map has not!  It showed us travelling in the general area of the road but not on it.  We eventually met one of the little Toyota Coaster busses that runs from Santiago to Santa Fé and followed it part of the way.  There is very little on this road.  No houses, no cows, no people, just tall grass, fields of nothing, lots of vegetation, beautiful distant hills and one small Toyota.

Our resort had provided us a map to get us from Santa Fé to their property, which is just a little over two kilometers.  We got to within a couple of hundred meters from the main gate and, following the map, turned off the paved road onto a dirt one with a hill on it.  Now a dirt road here means slippery red clay with no gravel and lots of deep ruts.  When you add an incline and water from a recent rain to this recipe, you need four-wheel drive, which our little Toyota doesn’t have.  Andrea managed to get us almost up the hill before we lost traction and could not go forward.  I hope no one from Budget is reading this!  We were probably 20 meters from the resort gate.  I got out and walked to the resort to get help and she backed the Toyota back down the hill.

As I walked through the front gate of Casa Mariposa, I was immediately faced with terrain sloping off into the distance and an  amazing view of hills, mountains, and jungle that unfolded at my feet.  First impression?  I was mindful of Shangrala!  It was stunning!

I met one of the owners, Kevin, who said to take the car back to the intersection with the pavement, and that he would meet us there with his four-wheel drive to bring us and our luggage to the resort.

There are two new villas right inside the gate at the top of the hill.  Each is beautifully landscaped to maximize the privacy between them.  Our villa is called Toucan and the larger one is called Motmot, after the bird.  I will show you a couple of pictures of the Motmot in the next post.  We were warmly greeted and oriented to the ways of the Casa Mariposa by the owners Kevin and Erica, who are from Ontario.  The routine here in this brand new resort is like in a five-star resort.  We sat and visited with Octav on the large deck of the Motmot, where he is staying, trying desperately to take in all the amazing view.  Rachel came to explain the dinner specials and to take our order.  They have a menu of around a dozen items or so.  Graham, the chef will prepare the meals and he and Rachel will them serve them to us on the Motmot deck.  So far we have experienced friendly helpful owners, who are attentive and follow-up on every small detail as well as a wonderful gourmet dinner capably served in the most beautiful restaurant, the deck of the Motmot!

The dinner selection I chose was horseradish and parmesan encrusted red snapper filet with home-made rye garlic bread and braised green beans.  Andrea chose the homemade french onion soup featuring Erica’s homemade bread, then the stuffed chicken with mozzarella, shiitake mushrooms, olives and bacon served with a shiitake mushroom white wine sauce along with purple nayami (a local root vegetable something like potato)and braised green beans.  For dessert we chose the pineapple upside down cake with a ginger sauce.  Amazing!  Now tell me!  What other jungle can you think of that serves gourmet food like this with such a view from the dining room?

El Valle Final Impressions

Hi Travellers,

It rained a bit during the night and the normal winds that keep our cabana cool were with us again.  Today is our last full day in El Valle and the weather is, once again, beautiful.

Breakfast was at Brochettes in the Anton Hotel.  I think this is the most westernized restaurant in town.  You even get jam with your toast!  It is right on the main drag across the street from the library and they have WiFi.  Bacon and eggs for two with fresh juices and coffee $15.  A day without bacon is a day without sunshine!

I got thinking this morning that I may have given you the wrong impression about El Valle.  We really haven’t done much of the tourist stuff here because we have been here before and already done it.  There is a good supply of things to keep you occupied for about three to four days according to out hotel.  We have stretched the time out a bit to meet our next reservation block which starts tomorrow.  When you come here there are waterfalls to hike to and mountain hikes that will keep you in shape, a small zoo to see with the endangered golden frog, a serpientium if you are into snakes and bugs, zip lining to get your adrenalin flowing, the public market on Sunday to empty your wallet, the Orchid Garden for some of natures beauty, hot springs or rather warm springs to experience, horse rentals if you are from Saskatchewan and square trees.  Yes, square trees!  (some imagination required) There are no banks but there are two ATMs.

Our impressions of El Valle are many but I will try to distil the list down to a top 10.  They are:

1.  Don’t miss it.  It is cooler than the beach areas and almost always has a cool breeze.  Don’t worry about the threatening clouds racing through the sky.  If they do give a bit of rain, it doesn’t last long;

2.  Be careful driving here at night.  I have never seen a place where people walk and ride bikes with no light-colored clothing and no lights or reflectors on their bikes.  People stop and talk in the middle of the road and don’t move quickly to get out-of-the-way.  That combined with very few street lights makes it really difficult to see.  The whole town is posted at 40K and that is plenty fast.  Also, dogs are slow to get up from their naps in the middle of the road;

3.  Experience the market on Sunday.  The crowds are invigorating;

4.  Take in the zoo but be ready for a place that does not house animals to the standards you are used to seeing.  It is worth seeing because of the variety of local species they have;

5.  Don’t be afraid to try any restaurant in town.  We never found one that provided a bad meal.  Like at home, some are just better than others;

6.  Enjoy walking around town.  There are some beautiful estate homes to be seen by just walking down a side road for a few minutes;  There is a bus that runs around town that you can always grab if you get tired.  I think the fare is $0.50;

7.  If you have a sweet tooth, take in the bakery.  It is right on the main drag across the street and down a little from the public market.  Your dentist probably wouldn’t be happy;

8.  Internet is available at the public library next to the church;

9.  Enjoy the people.  We have met some great folks here.  Everyone is so helpful; and

10. Don’t just come for the day, as many do.  Stay a few days and really get into this slow-paced place called El Valle.

We headed out to dinner intending to try O’Pedros Pub.  We killed some time there waiting for the Casa de Lourdes Restaurant to open last night.  The menu looked interesting and the interior of this place is done in stone and dark woods.  Besides, a pub called O’Pedros can’t be too Irish, can it?  When we arrived we found a tour bus and a buffet dinner set up and the place closed to the public.

On the way back into town, on the main drag, we saw red and blue flashing lights off in the distance and a crowd of people.  Just as we were thinking accident and that we should find a way off the street, a police truck approached and pulled across the road, effectively blocking it for oncoming traffic.  At first I thought the police had finally figured out where Andrea was but it ended up being traffic control for a procession.  Now almost every time we have been in a Latin country, we have at one time or another, encountered a procession.  Some are large and elaborate some are not.  The procession here today was a solemn event led by what looked like the Catholic priest and others in Catholic garb.  There was a statue on a wheeled cart being borne down the street and then what looked like most of the town following.  It was interesting to see the level of involvement by the citizens here in this church based event.  This was a procession for Saint Don Bosco who was responsible for taking care of the young.

Dinner was at Pinocchio’s Restaurant and Pizzeria.  We were the only ones there.  We ordered a house special 12 inch pizza and a couple of drinks for a total of $13.  Nothing special but adequate.

Tomorrow, we move from El Valle to Santa Fe. We will head down the hill to the Bayview Hotel, in San Carlos, on the beach to pick up our friend from Victoria, Octav, who will accompany us to Santa Fe for a couple of days. We have been cautioned that high-speed Internet connections are limited in Santa Fe so my posts may be a bit more sporadic for the five days that we will be there.

Speak Kind Words, Receive Kind Echoes

Hi Fellow Travellers,

“Speak kind words, receive kind echoes” the decorative plaque on the wall of our little room here at Cabanas Potosi says.  That phrase is descriptive of the attitude of the owners of this place.  Their helpfulness and concern for their guests manifests itself in many ways.  We have seldom experienced this kind of service and attention at any of the places we have stayed.  They make El Valle extra special for anyone visiting here.  I put a link to them under the Businesses We Support heading in the right column.  If you come here, we would highly recommend Cabanas Potosi and the rates are, to say the least, reasonable.  For $44.50 per night, with the 7th night free, you get an extra clean room with a fridge, fans a bathroom with hot water and louvered windows that let the breezes through.  There are two beds per room and the mattresses are firm and comfortable. There are only four rooms so you get to meet everyone else that is traveling through.  Also, the grounds are beautifully landscaped and impeccably maintained.  You also get an endless supply of cheerfully provided helpful information from the English speaking owners Mireya (pronounced Marayah) and Dennis.

I have told you about the beautiful birds here in Panama but there is so much more.  Today we went to see the Orchid Garden here in El Valle.  We were told that about 12 years ago, the Japanese government sent a high level agriculturist here to help Panama with their orchid cultivation.  They built an education center and rather than collecting local samples, they started all their plants from seeds.  Apparently there is a problem here with locals collecting orchids from the wild and selling them and they did not want the Orchid Garden to contribute to that problem.  Apparently the Orchid Garden will lose its Japanese funding this year in March and nobody knows what will happen to it.  Without the grant money, or another benefactor stepping up, the center is expected to close and much of the knowledge to be lost as the Japanese agriculturalist will return home.

Our guide for our walk through the Orchid Garden tells us that there are 1,500 native orchids to Panama.  Almost all orchids attach themselves and grow on existing trees.  There are very few that actually grow in the soil.  They attach to the bark of their host and grow.  Other than for some medicinal uses, orchids are simply decorative.  They do not harm the trees that they are attached to, with the exception of one species which kills the tree but continues to live on the dead host.  Orchids need a humid lightly breezy environment with not too much direct sunlight.  They draw their nourishment from the air as the breezes  pass them by.  Here are a few pictures of some of the vegetation at the Orchid Garden.  They have much more than just orchids.  I think it is as beautiful as the birds here.

We have been searching for a good massage since arriving here in Panama.  When we first arrived here in El Valle, we asked around and were told that there was only a few places that provided massage.  We checked the new spa in town run by some European doctor.  It is a splashy new building with lots of staff but at $100 per hour for a massage, we kept looking.  Next we checked the spa at Lourdes.  It looked adequate and their offering was $65 for an hour, the same as we pay at home.  We decided to try it but were really disappointed.  This is a case of somebody finding out the going rate for a proper massage in North America and applying that price to massages performed by staff who have no idea what they are doing.   We have had better $15 beach massages!  It was at best disappointing and I am not used to having the zits on my back popped during my massage, but that’s what you will get here.  If you need a massage, give this place a pass!

Eventually, we were told about Natasha, who performs a Thai massage that was supposed to be good.  We decided to give it a try.  Now my recollection of massages that we got while in Thailand was that there was lots of rubbing and slapping involved and you couldn’t go near a pool for about a week afterwards without leaving an oil slick.  For our Panamanian Thai massage, we were taken to an outside raised platform on a shaded covered deck with lots of gentle cool breezes.  The vegetation around the deck providing good privacy.  The atmosphere was perfect for a massage.  This experience was different from other Thai massages!  It involved assisted stretching, firm muscle presses along with limb manipulation and deep tissue massaging of problem areas.  There was no oil used.  I came away from the experience feeling like I had actually had a massage.  My sore neck was back to normal.   Natasha learned this skill while living in Thailand and she appears to have learned it well.  I would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a massage that is effective and a little different.  A one hour massage will cost you $28 which is a very good value for what you get.  Just go to the Artash Restaurant and ask for Natasha.

For dinner tonight we decided to check out Casa de Lourdes, the most expensive place in town, but it has been worth it in the past.  By the most expensive place in town I mean a fine dining restaurant with prices that we would expect at home.  Generally speaking we are finding restaurant meals at about half of what we pay at home.  We have been here before for Sunday lunch and have needed reservations.  It is an opulent European style building with thick stone walls and a beautiful lobby full of gigantic cut flower arrangements.  The eating area is outside on a covered deck beside the pool.  We have friends coming to Panama in mid February and wanted to check if the place was still as good as it had been in the past.  We arrived just when they opened at seven PM and were the only customers for the evening.   I had the roast pork while Andrea had the chicken with goat cheese and a tomato sauce.  We shared a salad with apple and pecans and a desert of pear crumble with vanilla ice cream and a caramel sauce.  Along with two very tart lemonades and a coffee, the total ran us around $63 for two.  Our impression is that the place is slipping a bit.  The building is getting to the point where it needs a paint job and many of the magnificent flower arrangements in the lobby were well past their expiry dates.  The food was good however the lettuce in the salad was a bit wilted and the ice cream had been frozen and thawed and contained ice crystals.  Now I think most of the food deficiencies can be written off to this being a Monday night after their busy time on the weekend and that we may have got leftovers.  We will bring our friends here on a weekend during the day so they can see the wonderful setting, perfectly manicured gardens and impressive mountain views and hope that the flowers and food problems do not repeat.  Until then, you will just have to use your imagination to picture what this impressive place looks like because I won’t have and pictures of it until then.