Tag: Presidential Palace

Casco Viejo, Contadora, and The Amador Causeway

Yes, you are about to hear of our awesome adventure over this past weekend. Things at our house have been extremely busy over the past several weeks, so we have to apologize, with explanation, for the lack of recent posts. Shortly after our last post we had a wonderful visit from friends who live in Michigan. We shared some adventures with them that would be a repeat to our blog, but were great never the less. One adventure of note that we have yet to talk about is the Playa de Panama which is just a few short minutes from our condo. The beach is generally quiet and secluded. The best part is that there is a shack at the entrance where you can get a great meal of Lobster or Corvina with Patacones.

Playa de Panama Lobster and Corvina
Playa de Panama Lobster and Corvina

The price for Lobster is $10 and the Corvina is $8. The purveyor usually has ice cold beer for $1, but it is not a problem to bring your own drinks. Once our friends departed, we found ourselves busy dealing with the sale of our house in Michigan. As of now it is scheduled to close by the end of the week. With the sale of our house looming near we have resumed actively looking at homes here in Panama. Last week was the Thanksgiving Holiday in the States. It is just another day here in Panama, however we opted to create our own grand celebration. We shared our meal with new friends from five countries, including Canada, Germany, South Africa, Panama, and The United States. There were traditional and non-traditional Thanksgiving food with Turkey and everyone bringing a dish to pass. We also made sure that the staff here at our condo was fed. A great time was had by all.

This is where we catch up to the present. We left early on Friday morning with our good friends and neighbors to share a weekend adventure. Our adventure started with a stop on the Amador Causeway to explore the Biodiversity Museum.

Bio Diversity Museum, Panama City
Bio Diversity Museum, Panama City

The experience was, without question, one of the most interesting experiences. Readers may recall our previous post T- 21 Days To Departure . In that post we presented research where we found some great adventure destinations. We were able to cross a couple of these destinations off our list, and more, this past weekend. The Bio Diversity Museum was self guided. Each of us had a device that we could listen to, which guided us through the museum in our native language at our own pace. There were also real human guides all along the way who were all multi-lingual. They helped fill in the blank spots and answered any questions. The museum explained how Panama was formed by volcanoes, rising from the ocean which created a land bridge from South America to North America. The result was the convergence of two populations of plants and animals on one single land mass. The museum also helps teach how to live in harmony with the other plants and animals with which we share this space.

Following our visit to the museum we explored the Amador Causeway. The Causeway runs out to the Pacific along the Panama Canal. It is lined with marinas, bars, restaurants, and shops. We located a great fonda where we had lunch.

The Flamenco Marina is just down the way. This is our destination Saturday morning. Our ferry to Las Perlas  (The Pearl Islands) will depart from there. We have round trip tickets for the ferry ride to the island of Contadora where we will spend the day. Following our lunch we found our way to the Raddisson on the Panama canal. We got checked in and took Uber to Casco Viejo. We enjoyed Casco well into the late evening. This was our second trip to Casco. There is so much to do and see that we will entertain friends there for years without ever tiring of it. The Cathedral on the square is being renovated and it is nearly completed. When we were there the freshly refurbished bells were waiting on the sidewalk to be returned to the bell towers. We also toured another Cathedral where there was a scale model of Jerusalem. It was just incredible. Our night ended with dinner then a half block walk to the Presidential Palace. It is Independence month here in Panama and we enjoyed fireworks over the bay near the palace. Panamanian people love fireworks.

Saturday we were up early for our 7 a.m. ferry departure. The Pearl Islands are a string of islands about 1 1/2 hours away by boat. Survivor fans will remember a season of that show was filmed there. We visited Contadora. It was a beautiful beach destination, but not the same island where the popular television program had been filmed. We rented a golf cart on the beach and took off to explore. The island has several restaurants, beaches, a few bed and breakfasts and an airstrip. We enjoyed two different beaches, one of which we did not share with any other people. We all agreed that this was someplace where we could spend a few days. The surrounding islands made for spectacular views.

There is so much more to share, and we are feeling a bit guilty that we have allowed so much time to pass between posts. We hope that you all have enjoyed our pictures from this weekends adventure. We are preparing for special guests this next week from the States, and there are a couple of great new adventures planned for their visit. We are committed to sharing those in a little over a week. We are hopeful that we may, also be able to share more about our pending home search here in Panama. We wake every morning feeling thankful and blessed to be retired in such a beautiful place. Please like and share our blog to keep us out there. The new rules at FaceBook are continuing to drive us crazy. We will post a link, but they seem to block our ability to share as we used to.

Blessings,

Greg and Jen

Panama City Day 2

Our day started early at Servicio National de Immigration. We met our attorneys assistant, Mariana, who walked us through the process of “opening a ticket” for the process of obtaining our Pensionado Visa. We started in a line to get a number like that one at the Secretary of State or DMV. Once we had our number we had to wait our turn. There were a lot of people in this room. We didn’t take pictures inside, as the people here are very insistent that the respect in government offices is maintained. We dressed appropriately for conducting business with the government. Jen wore a dress with closed toe shoes and I wore dress slacks with a button shirt and dress shoes. This initial meeting is so that the government can review the documents that we carefully prepared on Thursday. Once satisfied with our documents they then open our ticket and the process  begins. Our Passports were stamped that this process is underway. This is what ultimately will allow us multiple entry into and out of Panama. This is important if we retire here so that we can travel in on a one way ticket. As a tourist, to come to Panama, you must have a return ticket. We then had to wait in another line to pay $5. The real work will be on Monday. We will lay out our Monday experience after it happens. Having been to Immigration and having had Mariana explain everything, we now know what to expect from this process. Monday will be the last day we have to spend in Panama City.

Panama Immigration Building

We will be going to our condo in Coronado Saturday and returning to Panama City on Sunday afternoon for our Monday meetings. We will, also be picking up our rental car. We are going to be brave and drive back on Sunday afternoon. As of now, we will leave the car at the hotel while we go to immigration. The short taxi ride will cost us less than parking at the Immigration Building. The drive back to Coronado is what scares us the most. Traffic out of the city is basically gridlock 24 hours per day. Once out of the city, it should not be a bad drive back to Coronado. This will be our biggest test.

Having completed out business for the day, we decided to explore in Panama City. Our research told us that the best place to discover in the city is Casco Viejo (Olde Town). It is the original site where Panama City was settled, and we found it charming but areas were depressed and run down. There are buildings everywhere being restored, and the restored portion of Casco Viejo reminded me of New Orleans. We wanted to take a tour, however the tours that interested us were limited to Thursday, Saturday, and Tuesday at 5 pm in the afternoon. We made our own tour and visited most of the things that interested us. Our first stop was a coffee shop at the American Trade Hotel.

By the way, taxi drivers will take you anywhere, but seldom know your destination. Be prepared to communicate a nearby landmark. We have been negotiating the price for our cab ride in advance and that has worked well even if the driver has a difficult time finding the destination. We have learned, for instance, that to get back to our hotel we have to tell the driver that it is near the Do It Center (hardware store) in El Dorado. There are very few street addresses to identify location. We got out of the taxi in front of the hotel, and after having coffee we walked back toward Cathedral Metropolitana and the Plaza de la Independencia. We were having a bit of trouble getting our bearings so we ducked into a small shop and bought a map. We were disappointed to find the Cathedral totally tarped for restoration. The Plaza was nice and surrounded by Museums for everything Panama. We may find some of those interesting on another visit when we have more time. We were in search of the famous organic chocolate shop, which we did not find.

We found a beautiful old church, which was not yet being restored, on the walk.

The walk was quite hot and we worked up an appetite and thirst so we went into a sidewalk bar that was very unique. We were seated at a table near the back in front of an open door/window. The breeze coming through was quite nice and we enjoyed a fresh seafood appetizer. We didn’t want to eat much, because our ultimate destination will be the seafood market. We noticed through that open window, a huge gate with a guard. We soon learned that the gate was the drive leading to the presidential palace. We asked if we could walk there and were told that this was as close as we could get without a guide and a prior reservation. Our table was actually inside the gate.

Our walk led us along the waterfront and down to the fish market. Based on what we had found in our research, this wasn’t completely what we expected. It was very interesting and there is no shortage of fresh seafood if you are hungry. We saw the seafood market, the harbor where the fishermen bring in their catch, and found the place where you can eat about any fresh catch. We enjoyed some fresh Ceveche and a cold beer before heading back to our hotel.

Gracias for following along. Please like and share if you find this all interesting. We are getting ready for our journey to Coronado. Please stay tuned for more.

Greg and Jen