Panama Paradise - Day 3

Today we* did less touring and more relaxing as we enjoyed the beautiful Panama weather. We spent the morning in the exercise room and at the swimming pool at our hotel. The water was refreshing and we enjoyed a view of the city from the poolside patio. 

In the afternoon we hired a guide to take us on a drive up to Playa Blanca, which means White Beach, on the Pacific side of Panama and north of Panama City. Our guide arrived in a van which seated 12 people, even though there was only the two of us. As we drove up the coast we saw beautiful scenery, mountains, a new airport and mall which were being built, and a lot of little coastal towns. We stopped at the Playa Blanca Beach Resort, which is an all-inclusive resort, and enjoyed the lunch buffet and beach. We paid a fee, rather expensive, and then got the beautiful Playa Blanca bracelets!

The lunch was tasty and we were able to sample everything and eat as much as we wanted. Thank goodness we worked out in the exercise room this morning!

After eating we spent a couple of hours on the beach. The sand, water, and scenery were all beautiful, and we enjoyed sitting under the shade of the palapa and watching the boats sail by.

While we were relaxing a dog walked up and plopped down beside us. He seemed totally comfortable and enjoyed the scenery as much as we did!

We returned to our hotel in Panama City and ordered Domino's Pizza for dinner! It is amazing how you can find some things no matter where in the world you go. Tomorrow we will be getting up at 5 am to take a train ride along the Panama Canal Train Ride. It is an all day excursion and a great way to see the canal from one end to another. We are looking forward to it!

Hasta la Vista!

*Allyn and Dad as told to Debby

Panama Paradise - Day 2

Our* first full day in Panama was busy with touring, relaxing, and getting to see the people and sites of Panama City. We signed up for two tours while we were planning our trip and were surprised to find that we were not with a tour group but instead had our own private guide. That was nice because it gave us the opportunity to get to know our guide and ask many questions. The "tour bus" was actually a Toyota Prius and our guide's name was Kevin Thompson. We were not expecting such an American sounding name, but Kevin explained that his grandfather had come to Panama as  part of the US Military, married a Panamanian woman, and stayed to raise his family. The first part of our tour took us to Colonial Panama City.

This picture shows a typical street in this part of the city. 

These are the guards stationed at the entrance to the Presidential Headquarters.

The Presidential Palace was beautiful with a great deal of colonial styled detailing.

The Palace Guard refused to let us in, would not smile, but did consent to let us take his picture. The guard is the one on the right!!!

The city of Panama was very nice with lots of banks and commerce. It reminded us of Miami. There were several old US Military Bases which are used for various purposes including Panama's National Airport. Panama does not have their own military, but is protected by US Troops.

The second part of our tour took us to the Panama Canal to view the locks.

We visited the Miraflores Locks which were built in 1913. 

This is one of the engines that guides the boats through the lock.

The Panama Canal Locks lift the ship from the level of the ocean to the elevation of the Panama Canal as the ship moves through them. Many people consider them to be the greatest engineering work to be undertaken up to that time. The total length of the locks, there are six of them, is nearly two miles, and the canal takes the ships from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. It costs about $400,000 for a ship to sail through the Panama Canal. That seems very expensive until you find out that going through the Panama Canal instead of around Cape Horn at the bottom of South America saves about $1,000,000 in travel costs.The following pictures show a ship moving into and going through the Miraflores Locks and the lock opening.

 These are pictures of us at the locks. 

We also got to see the Causeway which is a bridge that connects some of the islands in the Panama Bay. It is made out of the rocks that were taken out of the ground when the Panama Canal was built. I did not get any pictures of it, but it was very interesting.

 

Tuesday afternoon we found a very upscale shopping mall in Panama City. 

It was modern and had a variety of expensive, designer shops. 

We ate lunch at the mall in a restaurant called El Corral which had 1/2 pound Panamanian Hamburgers! They were delicious!!! We found another American Favorite, Haagen Das! The people were very friendly and many of them spoke excellent English. It is a melting pot with French, Spanish, and Italians from Europe, African Americans from the Caribbean, and a variety of people from Central and South America. 

We also had time to take in a movie at a "luxury" VIP  theatre. Look at those comfortable seats! Not only were we seated in a roomy, padded chair, almost like a recliner, but we ordered your popcorn and soda from our seat and one of the theatre workers delivered it to us! Amazingly the cost was only $6 per seat. You would never find such service for so little money in the US!!! The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles.

We ate dinner at Tinajas, which means "a large earthen jar" when translated from Spanish. The food was good and there was an excellent show with Panamanian dancers. They wore colorful, handmade costumes and danced to traditional music.

We were tired when we returned to our hotel after a very full day of sight seeing! These pictures show the hotel sign, the lobby, and the view from our room. Tomorrow we plan to relax and spend time by the pool, possibly take a tour of the causeway in the Panama Bay.

Adios Amigos!!! 


* Allyn and Dad as told to Debby

Panama Paradise - Day 1

After an early departure for LAX, battling traffic on the Southern California freeways, and a six hour flight Allyn and Dad arrived at the Panama City Airport shortly after 5 pm Central Time. The drive from the airport to the hotel was about 15 minutes and the Panamanians drive "crazy and fast".  They are staying in the Mariott Executive Apartments in Panama City which are about a year old.  For dinner they had the Marriot cheeseburger and fries, "a safe bet" for their first night. Allyn swam in the pool and Dad tried out the gym after dinner, and they watched a little TV, including Fox News and some of the NBA playoff games. With a day of travel and not much sleep last night (Dad's flight from SLC was delayed an hour so none of us got to bed until after 12:30 and we got up at 4 am) they will take it easy tonight and be ready to see the sights tomorrow!


Here are some pictures of their "digs" for the next couple of days. 

The kitchen is "nice", has tiled floors, and they will be able to eat some meals their. There are beautiful wood floors through the rest of the apartment. This view shows part of the living room looking into the dining area and kitchen.

This is a "cozy corner" with a nice office space 

and wireless internet.

The bedroom is very roomy and as you can see, 

they are already getting settled in. 

This is a view of the living area with the office with the office space in the background. The front door is on the right.

The two tourists relaxing on the "comfortable" sofa. 

Tomorrow they are taking a tour of the city and going to the Panama Canal to see the locks. Hopefully there are some ships sailing through the canal so they can see how the ships are able to maneuver through the locks. It will be an interesting day!