Sunday, May 31, 2009

Resort Life

A resort, no matter how inclusive, is not very fun in the rain and not good for weight loss. Easy access to chicken fingers, french fries, pina coladas, all you can eat buffets and large dessert selections is more condusive to weight gain than weight loss. Since it was raining the whole time we were at the Playa Blanca Resort, we had no choice but to spend the day eating and drinking. Me and Tati would have breakfast, followed by mid-morning meal and drinks, lunch, followed by mid-afternoon meal and drinks, evening drinks, dinner, more snacks and drinks -- very unhealthy. But when one is in the presence of so much all you can eat, all inclusive food, no matter how low the quality, one experiences a very joyful and gluttonous feeling and soon finds self in vegetative, food-induced state. It's probably best to go with a boyfriend so you have something to do during your down time and burn off those millions of calories, especially during rainy season... I give the Playa Blanca three out of five stars...it's very pretty but the staff is less than communicative and it doesn't have a very attractive beach.

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However, while in Casco Viejo with Tati on Wednesday afternoon, I decided Havana Cafe is one of my favorite bars in Panama City, even if it's slighly overpriced. The menu wasn't that impressive, but the drinks and ambience were great. Tati really liked the mojitos and I can testify that they are VERY strong from her reaction. They have a lot of really cool photographs on the wall and old-time Cuban music playing in the background. The fact that it's in Casco Viejo and you're surrounded by dilapidated but colorful colinial style buildings makes you feel like you're somewhere special and channels pre-Castro Havana, not that I've been there, but it's how I imagine it...definitely a five star bar. There's this one picture I've been looking for all over the internet -- you can see it here on the side -- it's of the little boy smoking a cigar. I think it has to be a famous picture but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. Anyone know anything about it? P.S. These pics are courtesy of Rasha's facebook and taken by Rasha. Perhaps it's time to find myself a wealthy boyfriend to take me out and about. Casco Viejo is my favorite neighborhood in Panama City, and really, one of the only ones with any sense of history or culture.

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Other places we've eaten:

1.) Napoli: Italian, above average food, surprisingly good service. However, restaurant has undergone rennovation since Frommer's review, and now resembles happy yet peaceful zen-like place rather than loud Italian family restaurant. Fine if you're serving sushi, not fine for pasta and meatballs. What kind of Italian restaurant trades in checkered red and white table clothes for lime green? ***

2.) Sushi Express: Nice ambience, OK service, decent sushi, low prices. If you're not a food snob, very satisfactory. Most things taste good to me, so I was very happy: $20 for two, plenty of food. ****

3.) Mi Ranchito: Not the most amazing food, BUT lots of tourists means service is pretty good. Good view of Panama City, great first restaurant in Panama. Always busy and happening, serves traditional Panamanian dishes. It is a tourist's dream come true with thatched roof and nice patio.****

4.) Gamboa Resort Restaurant: Have never been overly impressed by Gamboa resort food, but the views are beautiful and it's relatively close to the Canal. The french fries were good...the rest was not.**
Maybe I will start reviewing places by category; instead of Frommer's Guides, Jijer's Guide: Most inclusive and hip guide to Panama.
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As I side not, I recently discovered that the gym I joined is known for the large number of prostitutes who go there during the day. So that's why there were so many fake boobs and all the women look so good. I don't have to feel inferior any more. They may be better looking, but at least I'm not selling my body to the night! Just kidding. I am sure it is very sad to be an tropical prostitute and they all have very tragic, heart wrenching stories. I wonder if the men are prostitutes too.




Resort Life


Pool at the resort


Resort-one of the only moments of sunlight




Tati at the Playa Blanca Resort




Casco Viejo, Panama City




Me in Casco Viejo with view of Panama City












Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Living Large in the Isthmus

How do you feel about that new title to my blog?

I can recount all my high class adventures in Panama...

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The Good and the Bad




This is me with Emilio in the truck yard. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be living in Panama City working for a dump truck company, I would have laughed...but here I am, keeping the company's books and doing other administrative-type duties. Me, keeping people organized. I bet I could impress a lot of guys with my truck knowledge.

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I was thinking of all the jobs I've held in my life: Grocery store cashier, Department store lingerie sales girl, college security desk, college multicultural office student aide, vineyard pouring room sales girl, preschool teacher, Frommer's Guides travel writer, political transcription copy editor, and now, multi-faceted administrative assistant. I'm probably forgetting a few things in between as well. At least I can say I've tried pretty much everything. Nothing can beat the travel writing though.

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Lately, I've been comparing the U.S and Panama a lot. It took me a while to feel like I was in a different country, but you start noticing things...not so much the big things like language and laws and weather, but small things like how paying a bill here can take all day because there is usually one person attending to 100 clients or five less-than-competent people taking care of one client. Both scenarios take just as long, and it's the kind of thing where you find yourself thinking, "This would never happen in the U.S." Here, if you're a girl, no matter how attractive or unattractive, men whistle and catcall and proposition you all the time. A 70 year old man thinks it's perfectly normal to hit on a 15 year old girl. Things we'd call sexual harassment in the U.S. are compliments and flattery here. There's not really a concept of "sophistication" and culture here; no amazing museums, no inspiring, European style cafes or cozy bookstores. There's one big bookstore in Panama City, and it pales in comparison to Borders or Barnes and Nobles. If you break a road rule, you slip a cop a $10 to avoid an official, $60 ticket. The paint job at even the most high-end buildings is lacking; dogs have to go up the cargo elevator in apartment buildings -- so does the maid; every corner is piled with trash and the whole "green mentality" is still a long way off.

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But there are good things too...otherwise I wouldn't be here. If I feel like ceviche at 3am in the morning, all I need to do is walk three blocks down to the 24-hour grocery store. I can eat at a top tier restaurant at mid-tier prices. No horrible winters to deal with. The mountains and beach are only an hour's drive away. Temperature varies not by distance but by altitude. Great bar scene. Everything is walking distance. Proximity to vegetated, natural beauty. Feeling that you're doing something new and interesting and doing it on your own. Great historic district reminicent of Cartagena but less expensive. Amador causeway. cool-looking canal style houses. When you actually find someone you can trust, they go out of their way to treat you well and do what they can for you. Convenience -- there's a key shop, empanada tienda, several bars, internet cafes and notaries within two minutes of my house. So I guess you have to take the good with the bad and hope the good outweighs the bad.







Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Travels Around Panama City


The Pacific Coast of Panama has a very strange vibe to me. Over the last five years or so, it has changed at rapid speed, becoming THE hotspot among North American retirees. There are luxury condos and Spanish style mansions overlooking the ocean, down a 100km stretch of Pacific, all built within the last few years. A few years ago, the Pacific Coast was home to poor fishermen who sold their land cheap to foreigners thinking they were getting a great deal. What sold for a few thousand dollars ten years ago is selling for half a million today as golf courses, spas, resorts, restaurants, and luxury living communities sprout up all over the place. It kind of let's you see why Americans are hated around the world -- they see potential and opportunity where other people see poverty and desolation. Imagine being the fisherman who sold your land for $10,000 and now it's home to a five star condo development with no condo going for less than $500,000. I think it's natural that this creates tension, distrust and envy, which I think is what's happening.

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But honestly, other than being near Panama City, I don't see the appeal of the Pacific Coast. The beaches are no more attractive than Virginia Beach and most of the time, the waves and riptides are so strong that you can't do much more than dip your feet in. Deforestation means it hardly ever rains here, which in turn means it's getting dryer and hotter every year. Maybe it's just the idea of having a place overlooking the ocean in a foreign country, but I personally prefer the Atlantic. I think they were just able to build cheap and call it paradise.

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Yesterday I went out with Neus, Carlos and Kate to Amador, and we ate at Lenos de Carbon, which was actually a pretty good experience. The restaurant has a great view of the Panama City Skyline and the marina, with its huge yachts. I love the Amador Causeway. I know it's cheesy and tacky and touristy, but the combination of the Panama City skyline, the Pacific Ocean and the "boardwalk" feel just give it a very pleasant, laidback atmosphere. Afterwards Carlos, Kate and I went to a few bars. There's this one restaurant/bar I have to walk by everyday, and the valet man always sees me walking alone and is overly nice to me. I think he feels sorry for me because I'm always alone. Anyway, I went there with Carlos and Kate last night just to show him that I do, in fact, know people, and HE DIDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE ME!!! I guess he only recognizes me if I'm alone.











Saturday, May 9, 2009

I've gone to the gym

So yesterday was my first day at the Power Club, Panama’s fancy gym, and I felt like I’d walked into a 1980s SNL skit. Or maybe just L.A. It was the largest gathering of fake boobs I’ve ever seen, and most of them were bulging out from sports bras a few sizes too small. I don’t know why a 90 pound woman would get double Ds but I guess subtleness is not appreciated here. There were trainers in tight mini spandex shorts standing around (mostly checking out the ladies), and the male patrons mostly had poofy John Kerry/John Edward-esque hair and wore mostly black unitards. One guy even had purple stripes on the side of his. The only fat people at the gym were us Americans. But despite the comic surroundings, it’s a pretty nice gym. Plenty of classes, flat screen TVs on every machine and open pretty good hours. Hopefully this will be my first step toward excellent physical fitness…
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The picture of the lady on the left gives you an example of typical workout gear. And of course, no woman wears a pony-tale -- hair is always blow-dryed and voluminous.
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Today I went to the Marriott and had a cappuccino for breakfast. It's only $2 and I really like being around tourists for some reason. Hotels offer a pretty nice atmosphere. Too bad there's no internet. I am looking forward to my visitors tomorrow!!!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

I've Joined the Gym


Dear Friends and Family,


It is with great excitement that I inform you that I have joined the gym. It is with less excitement that I recognize that one actually has to GO to the gym in order to get in shape. If only joining were effort enough and cheesecake wasn't so readily available. I would really like to take a Tai Chi class, but probably the only friends I'd make there are in the flexible/limber over 65 category and it would be kind of embarrasing to be more than 40 years younger than everyone else. Maybe I will peak in the room and scan for under 40s.
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Lately I've been daydreaming about my bike and all the places we could go. It's very romantic. We would bike through the rainforest listening to birds, frogs and streams, we'd bike to cafes and have cheesecake and diet coke and we'd even bike to the supermarket for daily groceries. I would put a cute little basket in front of my bike and fill it with flowers, while slowly pedaling through a field of sunflowers in a summer dresss and hearing upbeat/springlike classical music in my head. But alas, no bike and no where to bike right now. Hopefully that will change soon.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

One Month in Panama.




















Have been in Panama just over a month.

Above is the apartment I'm currently living in. However, I want to start looking for a room in the outskirts with more rainforest, animals and birds. I think downtown isn't for me. I could live surrounded by concrete and traffic anywhere, but if I'm living in a tropical country, I might as well live somewhere that resembles the tropics. Also, I need a bike. I don't know how much longer I can live (happily) without a bike and biking around downtown is only something you should do if you're feeling suicidal and being hit by a taxi is a better option than staying alive.

  • My area right now has a lot of good restaurants and bars, but when one doesn't have friends, restaurants and bars are no good! My only friends right now are the security guys who go psssssss psssssss everytime I walk by and it doesn't make me feel very special because I realized lately they do it even to old American women with inappropriate beach dresses and hats who look like they partied a little too hard in their youth. What's happening in my life:

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1.) I'm taking a professional Spanish writing class because it didn't take me very long to realize that my Spanish writing skills are on the same level as 12 year old who doesn't pay attention in English class and that's kind of embarrasing.

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2.) I'm thinking of joining the gym. It's expensive and I have one in my current building, but I need to start meeting people, and the gym is a good place to do this. I was thinking of joining a $60 a month yoga class, but for the same price, I can join an entire gym that offers yoga classes. Plus, my boss said he'll subsidize half of it as a job perk.

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3.) I found two cafes I really like, just in case you guys come to visit. One is called PetitParis and they have excellent coffee and pastries plus I can steal the wireless from the Chinese mini-mart down the road. The other is called Cabeza de Einstein, has a very industrial feel, offers free Wi-Fi, a pleasant atmosphere, and is supposedly one of the best places to meet people, but I must be doing something wrong...maybe I should start taking a couple shots before going there.

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4.) I am actually doing work. It is a new feeling as had never happened before.

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  • Well, right now, I am looking forward to Neus's visit, to going to the beach, the rainforest and the Amador Causeway. Haven't really had a chance to get out of Downtown since I got here, so it will be very nice to have visitors!