Esplendor Panama hotel and home

A little about the Esplendor Panama hotel we ended up stayed for 5-nights. It was an apartment/condominium that was converted into boutique hotel.

We paid $175 (included taxes and everything) per night. The building seems to be poorly constructed and designed (like rest of Panama). The kitchen electric stoves does not get hot, the kitchen water faucet splashed everywhere every time you turn it on. The storage room's light switch (used to be laundry room) is behind the door near the hinge! And if one stands outside of the front door you can see the small gap between the door frames and see the light inside. The bedroom's toilet seat is behind a clear glass swing door (not all the way to the ceiling) so if someone were to lie on the bed he/she can see the person using the toilet, not to mention the noise and smell! The main lobby was small but not too bad looking, the only problem is the floor is made of black marble tile, looked nice but with the dusty nature of the city, everyone comes and their footprints are clearly visible on the floor, so they have one person dedicated to mob behind guests that come in and all the way to the elevators!

The receptionists at lobby are all very friendly with exception of one young girl. She seems able to speak English ok, but can’t understand what we are asking since her answers didn’t make any sense to what we are asking of her. Her older assistant chimed in to help answer our question. May be she got her position because she is young and not bad looking. The older assistant seems to be more capable. One time we asked if she can call the taxi driver that supposed to pick us up from the hotel but was not here yet, first thing out her mouth is that we can call from our room and it will cost us if she is going call for us! Hello, if I can speak good Spanish, I would not need your help. So I just ask other more helpful person from the hotel where is the public paid phone and made the call myself for 25c.

The breakfast was included and was ok, but since we booked as two people, the third person is not allowed to have breakfast. They mark people off every morning as you entered the breakfast room. On weekends with fewer guests, the service people hover around your table to get you used plate, etc.: too attentive! The fitness room is a joke, no ac, and only half of the few pieces of equipment that there are functioning properly. I went for morning runs outside instead. During our stay, the in-hotel restaurant is not ready so is the business center, so no internet access unless you have your own laptop (Wi-Fi is available). The outdoor pool also seems to be out the commission the whole time. I think the fair price would be around $100-125.

On the plus, our room is spacious with big living room and sofa where I sleep – almost too much space. Bed is comfortable. The hotel is centrally located in the safe area of the city (not much help with terrible city traffic). There is a Rey supermarket very close by as well as couple good and cheap place to eat. We especial liked Jimmy’s Restaurant, we went there 3 times! It served yummy local food.

On the morning of our last day in Panama, after a quick breakfast, I went to wait in line at the nearby bank to get a chance of exchange some $1 Panamanian coin. I was told the National Bank might have it. I have tried goto the same bank couple times before, but both time I turned back because the huge long line inside and outside the door! I got there around 7:30AM, half an hour before it is to open, so I am only 4th person in line! I guess the 3rd time was the charm and I was able to exchanged $5 worth of the shiny big coins and some half balboa coins as well. I left the bank all happy and went next door to the internet café last email check.

The checkout time is 11AM, so we stayed in our room as long as we can, then we had the hotel store our luggage with the hotel, we took a taxi went to checkout a nearby indoor mall. It was not bad looking mall, not many people were there, I guess middle of working day keep the crowd away. I got myself a nice looking jean, ok price on it. One thing interesting about the mall is that the mall doesn’t seem to have AC, but the individual store has. With our quick shopping done, we got back to the hotel and walk over to Jimmy’s for our last lunch. Afterward we just wait in the hotel for our taxi to pick us up at three. I had negotiated another taxi driver the previous day, and he is older guy, and offered us even cheaper deal than others and his taxi looks new and with strong ac.

The taxi arrived about 15 minutes early and we are on our way to the airport. No traffic this time as we took the toll road, which we paid on top of the negotiated fare. We passed some nice developments and the taxi driver told us they belong to rich “refugees” Venezuelans. They are escaped the crazy and narcissistic Hugo Chavez.

We arrived at airport with plenty of time for our 7PM flight. So we walked around the huge duty free area and purchased some more rum. Even after that we still have time to kill, so I used my new Continental Presidential Plus card to get into one those airport lounges, which was nice with snacks, drinks, internet, and nice chairs.

Our flight home was delayed by an hour because they kept the door open for passengers on a late flight, but in the end those people never made it as our flight took off without them. I think it might because Dulles airport might have a curfew on last flight coming in. We arrived at Dulles well past midnight and didn’t get to my house until 1:30AM. We were lucky as when I got out, there were only 3 taxi waiting. We were the first people to get out from the flight.

Panama City

We visited Panama Viejo, the original Panama City, today sits among the skyscrapers. It was nice to walk around the ruins and there are souvenir shops. When we were there, Yanni’s group was setting a stage for concert that night. The ticket we told is $50. I was tempted because we have done nothing at night here in Panama. But we ended up on visiting Mi Pubelo (recreation various tribal housing from Panama) and the Causeway (the hip and trendy speck of islands connect by the causeway to the mainland), which both turn out to be a bust as the traffic was terrible and Mi Pubelo closed earlier than book said due to bad traffic and by the time we got to the Causeway, it was getting dark, so we didn’t have the chance of walking the path along the ocean. On top of that the taxi driver wanted more money for the traffic and extra distance to the Causeway even though we picked up a person on our way there. So we ended gave him couple more $ than what we thought was the rate, but less than what he asked for. After few photos, we hailed another taxi and were on our back to the hotel, hungry and disappointed. Luckily this time the taxi driver was honest.

One morning Wendy and I visited nearby Parque Natural Metropolitano to try our luck in spotting animals by ourselves. It was a short drive from the hotel, but traffic was, you guessed, bad. There aren’t other tourists while we were there. We did spot some monkeys, but too far to make it out, but since the park is known for its titi monkeys, we assume it was. We also spotted a frog and some rat like animals. But other than that we just have a nice walk in the forest.

What can I say about Panama City? Traffic here is terrible, ever where you go you get stuck in traffic. One saving grace is that the taxi around town cost about $3-5.

The city itself has lots new constructions. It certainly has lots potential as it is expanding the canal to accommodate larger ships. But it is still have lots room to improve. Beside the traffic, there are many poor neighborhoods with high crime rate. It will go a long way if Panama can build a metro to relieve the congested roads. And use some of the wealth generated from the foreign investments and canal income to reduce the poverty, therefore crime.

The price here is starting to get expensive, especially in the higher end area like hotel. But certain luxury goods/liquors are cheaper here because of the low import taxes.

We stayed here for 6 nights here. Could have visited more places if not for the bad traffic and my mom’s broken arm. But with the long stay, we got pretty comfortable walking around the hotel and getting around in taxis.

It is hard to say this is my last visit to Central America, but currently there is no plan to come back anytime soon. I am also not sure where to go from here. There are lots place left in the world.

So until next time I come back to Central America, happy travel everyone!

Panama Canal & Portobelo

We hired a taxi driver/barber for a day of sightseeing from Panama. We had him for our ride to Panama Viejo ruins in the city and he seems to be an honest guy from San Pedro Sula Honduras. We negotiated $8/hr. But apparent he thought we are just going be around Panama City instead of all the way across to the other side of Panama to Portobelo on the Caribbean side even though I told him before that we wanted to visit Portobelo. It must be my poor Spanish. He also had us pay the gas, which we weren't expecting. He arrived at hotel 20 minutes late and in a beat up Landover with no ac, but it was ok since was careful with driving and good smooth ride, very important for my mom.

We set out for Panama Canal’s Miraflores gate on the Pacific side; it has very nice visitor center and display as well as view platforms. What can I say about the canal? It certainly a modern engineering wonder with genuine human toll. Also just think some of items in our house passed through these locks. We arrived shortly after the visitor center was open, but there were some tourists already. But just enough room to get good pictures (and still decent lighting). We watched few of the big ships (as well small ones) transit through the lock and on its way to Atlantic side. The rise and fall of water in the lock is all by gravity, no pumps! The cost of transit is very expensive, you can even swim across, but that will cost you as well.

As a kid I have seen the photos from my dad when he transited through the canal on the ship he was working on, so it was especially nice to see what my dad saw and experienced. After hand over of the canal to Panamanian government, the Canal Authority has planned for expansion for deepening and widening of the canal and as well additional lock to accommodate the modern mammoth ships. The expansion work is already underway. China is said to looking for an alternate transit beside Panama Canal, it will be interesting to see if it did go ahead with alternative project.

After the canal visit, I told the drive we want to goto Portobelo, but he insist we goto a nearby place called Gamboa. So I figure, it is on the way anyway, so why not. But he forgot to make a turn (I saw the sign, but didn’t tell him) and we ended near the toll road to Portobelo. He wanted to head back to Gamboa, but told him forget about Gamboa and just take us to Portobelo, that when all the misunderstanding came to ahead. He finally agreed and head for the toll road, but got on the wrong direction toward Panama City! There are no exits between where we got on and Panama City, so he made an illegal turn in tiny opening in the medium divider. I was ok with that. We pass through few toll booths and he wanted us to pay for the toll, which I was ok with it since the fast road save us time. Then as we approached a turn off for Portobelo, he pulled into a gas station and asked for money to pay for the gas, we all kind upset, since we didn’t expect it. He lost our confidence and appreciation as a result after that.

Anyway we arrived at Portobelo without further incidents. Portobelo was once a greatest Spanish port in Central America. It was destroyed by British admiral Edward Vernon in 1739. It was rebuilt in 1751, but never achieved its formal glory. Today it is a sleepy fishing village with ruins scattered around the town. It is a nice and quiet town to explorer for half a day. There was flooding in Panama back in December 2010, and part of town and part of the ruins were destroyed again. It also has couple beaches nearby as well as offshore island Isla Grande for more R&R, but to do all that one needs to stay here for couple nights. We skipped lunch and just walk around the town and ruins while dodging rain showers. We stopped by Lobster beach on the way back to Panama.

One way back our hotel, we hit major traffic jam again, Panama City traffic really sucked! The driver wanted to know if we still want transport with him to the airport on Wednesday, and I told him if we do, we will call him the night before. After the communication fiasco, we are reluctant go with him again.