We avoided the winter blahs by escaping to Panama in late February. A brief aside, in the few days before we left..... Leslie and her fiance, Bill, (newly engaged) and Blake and his girlfriend, Kim, joined us in the mountains for a few days - it was a great start to our vacation. Getting together is always a challenge with Leslie abroad until October of this year so this was truly a celebration!
We arrived in Orlando and joined the group of 36 headed to Hotel Coronado in Panama. The resort is located approximately 1 1/2 hours outside of the city. June and Bud Widdoes were our hosts along with their friends Ann and George Downing whose cousin Bobby owned the resort. What a treat to be included with the Widdoes and another ten of us from the High Meadows community; we enjoyed the expanded group that included Widdoes family and friends from the Florida area as well as the Michigan area. Needless to say we were treated like royalty-we became part of the family and staff became our friends as well. Language with the staff was often an issue but pointing and pantomime were a huge help.
The week was filled with lots of golf and morning-noon-and night meals that were delicious. There were pool parties, parties in the halls outside our suites, parties on the bus rides to the various activities-it was a fun group. Each evening we were entertained with music, dancing, karaoke, etc. We fell right into Panama time - "no hurries-no worries"....I loved it all !
A few highlights: Many members of the Downing family grew up in the zone and are now living in the Florida area. They shared great stories of life in Panama. We went to the Canal zone which consists of several lock systems. Panama is currently building another set of locks to be complete in 2014 that will accommodate the larger vessels. We were viewing the locks which access from the Pacific Ocean into the Atlantic for the cargo ships. Another day we drove into the Chargres National Forest to visit the Embera Indians, one of a group of six tribes that live in the island area. The tribes total 800 peoples and basically subsist as much as possible on the land and waters around their village areas. More recently some of the younger tribe members attend schools in the city but often return to the tribe to live and raise their families. Another day we drove into the mountain range to El Valle-beautiful scenery-into a town with a craft and farmer's market. Otherwise there was as much golf as you wanted to play. (Duncan never lacked for playing partners-my knee replacement kept me off the course except for chipping and putting). The resort had a gym as well as spa facilities which I enjoyed. Bright sunshine with breezes kept the daytime temperatures of 95 bearable. Evenings were pleasant in the 70's - because we were visiting during he dry season, many areas were not in full green and bloom but lovely none the less.
Panama is a beautiful country with very inviting peoples-but be prepared-with just a bit of Spanish you can make the trip an easier go. Our many thanks to the Widdoes and the Downings for a wonderful week-this photo link gives you a great overview....ALMOST like being there !!! Enjoy...