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Published: February 24th 2013
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Panama City
View from our 7th story room at Hotel Continental. Sunday, February 24th Playa El Palmar, San Carlos We arrived in Panama City last night at 7:15 pm.(EST) right on time. The flight was six and half hours long but we can't say enough good things about Copa Airlines. The plane was new, with mini televisions in the back of each headrest that offered four new movie releases, movie classics, sitcoms, comedies, and games. Also, we were pleasantly surprised when the crew served lunch and dinner as well as complimentary wine, beer and soft drinks. We highly recommed Copa Airlines in your future travel plans.
Tocumen International Airport is modern and easy to navigate. We made it through customs in no time at all, and found Budget Rental Car located right outside the doors that exited customs. The car rental representative was very nice and helpful, and provided us with a "Playground Map" for ease in finding our hotel and assured us it was a quick 20 minute drive down Corrredor Sur to Avenue Balboa. We were pleasantly surprised to see they had upgraded our reservation to a new Toyota Rav 4, 4WD, so we loaded up our luggage to start what we believed to be the short 20
Panama City
Another view from our hotel. minute drive to the Hotel Continental. An hour and 25 minutes later we pulled up in front of our hotel, tired and dazed by the trip from the airport to the hotel. The best advice we can give anyone is, do not arrive in a strange city after dark and try to find your way to anything! Panama City does not have an over abundance of street signs, and most intersections are devoid of traffice signals, instead operating on the honor system. The local taxi cab drivers do not subscribe to the honor system, but they are very profficient at horn honking. We were lost at least 8 times and asked directions from at least 7 different people. Panamanians are very nice people, as every person we asked directions of smiled and said, "oh yes Hotel Continental it's just around the corner and up the street." The last kind gentlemen we asked for directions, pointed over his left shoulder and said, "Hotel Continental". How had we missed a 15 story hotel?
This morning, we got our first real glimpse of Panama City. It really was quite beautiful and we have shared some pictures with you. Our original plan was
Panama City
Via Espana Blvd to visit the Panama Canal today before heading down the coast. However, navigating the city during the day is not much easier than navigating it at night, the only difference is the ability to see the car that might hit you. We were very happy when we realized we had found our way to the Interamericana Highway and were headed to the Pacific coast beach towns. The visit to the Panama Canal will have to wait until the end of our trip instead of the beginning. We realized we had missed the turn off (again) when we crossed the bridge over the top of the Canal!
The two hour trip to the Manglar Lodge in Playa El Palmar, San Carlos was thankfully uneventful. The hotel is about a 1/2 block from a black sand beach. We have already enjoyed a delicious lunch and walked about a mile enjoying the sand, surf and sun. We'll stay here tonight and tomorrow night and then continue SW to Pedasi in the Los Santos province. Until then.......................
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Lesley Sprague
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Love it!
This blog will be so fun to follow...thanks for sharing your adventure.