Panama Travelogue

	Panama Trip By Raman Jalota May 23 - June 7, 2007
	It started as a Costa Rica trip. In February Monika called the Costa Rican consulate in Denver and they told her that the tourist visa to Costa Rica has to be used in 30 days of its issue and to call them when we were within four weeks of our trip. And so when we finalized the date of the trip, she called them again and all she got was a recording. I didn’t understand what the recording was saying either and contacted the Houston office and was told that the Denver office is closed for six weeks. This was a critical bit of information that the Denver office had not given us when we had called them earlier. The Houston office informed me that we couldn’t just mail the application to them. Rather, we must apply in person. To fly to Houston and stay in a hotel for a couple days and then go for the visa was going to add another $1000-2000 to our budget. While this was happening, between February and May; I had also read a lot about Panama and knew that Monika doesn’t require a visa to visit Panama. In addition, I had some credit ($300) left over on Continental from last year’s Costa Rica visa problems and needed to use it by June of this year. So when we came across the visa hurdle again, I decided to go to Panama instead. I asked about Panama on the internet forums and bought a book on Panama also. It wasn’t very clear if they had lots of beaches to explore or not, but they had at least some that I had found about. We just wanted to get a feel for Panama and enjoy some of its beaches and whatever else happened. I was able to book a hotel in Panama City for the first two nights and on the advice of some people on one of the internet forums I also booked a hotel with a view of the Panama Canal for the last two nights in Panama City. It was very difficult to book hotels in beach areas - everything was full or there was no internet supported booking available. I got one night in Playa Blanca and two nights in Santa Clara. Santa Clara is right next to Playa Blanca and I didn’t want to just stay in the same area for long. I had one more place - Playita that I had phone numbers for and a vague idea that we could drive to towns near or on the beach like Chitre, Las Tablas, Pedasi etc.(all on the pacific side) and try to find a hotel there. I also vaguely had a notion to try and go to David and Boquete area if we had lots of free days with nothing booked. We got to Panama City at 8.30. It was dark and wet. I had read that taxis should run about $20 from the airport but there weren’t any readily visible and the people that seemed to be procuring taxis were quoting higher prices, we got one for $28 (more about taxi prices later). The hotel Riande Granada seemed adequate but they didn’t have our reservation. I had already paid for it on Expedia and had printed their confirmation. The receptionist did give us a room after several minutes. The next day we went to the Albrook Mall as it was supposed to be cheaper than the other mall. It’s next to the Albrook airport that is used for domestic flights and is quite large and Monika liked it. In the evening we went to the new Mutiplaza Mall which is even bigger and looks very nice. Monika called the Playita resort and the woman said three nights there were Ok at $70 a night including breakfast. Playita was one of the web-based places that didn’t respond to my emails for bookings. The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and took a cab to the Thrifty car rental in the city. The hotel and Thrifty were both on Via Espana. The cabs charge you more if you take the one from the hotel, so we learned to step out of the hotel and hail a cab. Most cab fares around Panama City are $2 to $4 (it’s a small city in that sense) but in the evenings and depending on the whim of the cab driver, they may charge more. Thrifty had the car but it was not an automatic - I had reserved an automatic with air conditioning. I had the same experiences in Costa Rica before, so I didn’t argue too much. They insisted that I had booked a manual and that they didn’t have any automatics anyway. (When I got back I complained on their website and they sent me a strange letter asking me to send them my contract. I called them and tried to explain what was wrong with their system - that it shows that I am booking an automatic but it doesn't show it on the confirmation receipt (I had tried again and it was acting the same way even now). The customer service person was a little bit rude and transferred me to the IT people, who were as ignorant as they were rude. They transferred me back to customer service who finally said that some one will look at my complaint and get back to me in 2 weeks. Eventually I got an email from Thrifty apologizing and saying they are going to mail me a check for the difference between the automatic and the manual.) Getting out of Panama City was a little difficult or tricky at best. The car rental people had given me a map and told me how to get on our way to Playa Blanca but not fully. They had told us to take a right next to the Shell station, head to Corredor Norte, then go toward Balboa and then to Punta de Las Americas - at that point we will be on the Pan American Highway and on our way. I wrote it all down and started driving. We took the right next to the Shell station and got on what seemed to be a major road and soon we saw the sign to Corredor Norte and I got in that lane, then we saw the sign to Balboa and we got in that lane also. However we didn’t see any signs for Punta de Las Americas which is the bridge as I understood it. We were near the canal area but we couldn’t see the bridge or any signs. There was a sign for Corredor Norte and we took it (I felt it was wrong but what the heck) and after driving around for a while, we got to a tollbooth. Monika talked to the woman who basically told us to back off our lane and then get in the next lane for an U-turn and go straight ahead to Punta de Las Americas, don’t make the turn like you did this time, just go straight ahead. So we made an U-turn, paid the toll and got the same directions from the woman in the other toll booth and headed straight ahead and I saw the signs again - Balboa; we got to that lane then there was a division again; Arraijan to the right and Colon to the left, we went toward Colon and then to the bigger chunk of the road (it seemed the right thing to do in absence of any other signs) and we went around and ended up at the same toll booth after 10 or 15 minutes of driving round and round it seemed. We were given the same directions - go straight ahead, don’t turn, go straight ahead - but they couldn’t tell us what road or names to follow or not. So we headed straight ahead and I saw the signs again - Balboa and Colon to the left and Arraijan to the right - no Punta de Las Americas or anything. We took the bigger road which was the Balboa/Colon road. After driving for about fifteen minutes and seeming to be on a small mountain road, I felt we had missed the boat ... I mean ... bridge again. We asked a woman working on the road for the way to Playa Blanca and she didn’t know. We drove ahead to what seemed like a country club and asked a man there. Monika asked him if he could tell me in English and he told me that we had missed the turn to the Bridge and were headed to Colon. He told me to go straight back and take the first right to the bridge. I asked him if there was a sign and he said just take the first right after you go around the hill, five minutes or so. We made an U-turn and went back. There were no signs but I took the first right anyway, we crossed some railroad tracks and saw a bus stop with a man waiting there. Monika asked him and he replied but he had a lockjaw type of condition and we couldn’t understand anything but he did point straight ahead. We headed straight ahead again and after a few minutes saw the bridge and we knew that we can at last; thanks God; hallelujah; we can indeed get out of Dodge. We joked about their directions - go straight ahead, then round and round two or three times and then straight ahead again! It was later when we were in Playa Blanca and I looked at the map that I realized that if we had gone toward Arraijan (a sign I had seen many times), we would have made it to the bridge and saved 30 minutes - that was the crucial tip that the car rental agent had missed - they assume that everyone knows this part and will go right instead of left (why; I can’t figure it out) - right is not straight ahead - nor is left but what the hell do you do when you come to this point if all you are told is go straight? However, if I had a map of Panama and had studied it a little and figured out that we will be headed toward Arraijan and then La Chorrera and then Capira and Chame Etc. then I would have made it without asking for any help. Note to self - Next time make sure to buy a god map of the place you are going to if you plan to drive. ... ... ... Playa Blanca was overcast and we ended up just taking a walk on the beach and around the swimming areas but never got in the water. The water was choppy and dirty (muddy). We left the next morning and headed back toward Panama City to Santa Clara. We saw the sign for the turn and the sign for Las Sirenas where I had booked two nights. When we rang the bell, a grumpy guy showed up and he was quite noncommital about everything. He took the copy of the reservations I had (email confirmation), looked at his books and seemed to decide that he had no choice but to give us a room and finally said the room wasn’t ready, come back at 1.30. The email had confirmed cabin number seven for us and as we walked to the near by restaurant on the beach I saw that there was a car parked in front of number seven. So I wondered if it was really available? We went to the restaurant - Las Veraneras and had some beer, changed into swim clothes and walked on the beach and then had our lunch and a couple more beers. We walked back to the hotel around 2.00, I noticed the car was still parked in front of number seven. The attendant/manager who was still grumpy said that the room wasn’t ready and to wait another 15 minutes. So we sat on a lookout point at the top and talked to a mother and daughter who had a tiny dog with them. After about 35 minutes I walked down toward the cabins and saw bunch of men walking out of cabin six. Cabin seven however, still had a car parked in front of it. The grumpy attendant finally showed up at the top and gave us the room keys, to cabin six. I was surprised to see five or six keys on the key-ring and wondered what they were for. The cabin was nice and had a back porch with a hammock and beach chairs. We drove to the local store and bought some tea, sugar, coffee-mate, beer, coke (Coca Cola) and scotch. Later, we walked to the beach, got wet in the sea a little and sat on the beach. We walked to the same restaurant for dinner and had a nice time. There were several mosquitos around and we tried to get rid of them without much success. We swam in the water a little the next day and had beer, lunch, dinner at Las Veraneras again. Monika asked the waiter if the tip was included in the bills that I had been adding a tip to each time (I had seen a 10% charge but assumed it to be tax). He told us it had the tip included so we stopped paying tips the second day! A little more about tips later also. The mosquitos and sand flies had feasted on our feet especially around our ankles, we started using mosquito repellent mornings, evenings and at night. The redness and itching didn’t end until we were back in Denver. I liked Las Sirenas but they do not provide any thing; no swimming pools (the owner has a pool that you can see but its private), no restaurants, no bars etc. The rooms are $110 a night so if you have a family and would like to cook, it is a good value. The beach is Ok, but the mosquitos and sand flies are a nuisance, the water is not so inviting either; overall an OK place. The keys - one for the front bedroom, one for the safe in the front bedroom, one for the sliding back door, one for the door in-between the front and the back room and I do not know what the other keys were for. We started driving toward Chitre in the morning. On the way, I saw a few vendors selling fruit but mostly Pineapples and green mangoes. I finally spotted a man with a small stall selling ripe mangoes, I stopped and Monika woke from her nap and bought two mangoes. I told her not to buy too many as we will buy from other places also and who knows how good these mangoes are or not. Those were the two best mangoes we have eaten in several years and the price - two for 25 cents! We stopped by in Aguadulce. Monika did a little shopping and we had a couple of cokes. We drove to Chitre and suddenly found a lot of small streets with hundreds of cars hurrying around. Monika wanted to buy some Avocados but I couldn’t find a parking spot for a while. I finally made a right and a few more rights and lefts (I had no idea which way I was going at this point) and parked at what seemed to be the center of the town. There was a hotel Rex right in front of us and we went in for our lunch. Monika found her favorite soup there. She had chicken soup with patacones and rice. There was another American couple there and I heard the man struggling with his order. I heard him say ‘two’ and wondered why he didn’t even say ‘dos’? Maybe he is one of those who refuses to learn Spanish or one of those who is struggling with it and can’t get to the next level. He complained, “How hard can it be to order a simple Burrito?” I looked at the menu and they didn’t have Burritos listed on the menu, though on the board outside they had a couple of Mexican dishes listed like Tacos. When we were leaving, I asked the woman if they lived there or were visiting. They had moved from Pananome to Chitre a couple years ago and liked it a lot. She told me to make a left and then a right onto the road toward Las Tablas/Pedasi and if we see the big Hospital on the left then we are on our way. I made a left and then asked at the next right if that was the way to Las Tablas and it was. And so we headed toward Playita Resort. Monika stopped me at a grocery store and bought some mosquito repellant incense. The drive was very peaceful, hardly any traffic and we finally started seeing signs for Playita. Eventually we made a left and drove on a fairly steep dirt road for about 10 minutes and got into Playita. The car seemed to be quitting, so I had to shift into first gear a couple of times. I realized that if it had rained a few minutes ago, the car won’t have made it up that hill. The man at the entrance waved us through and there really are no parking spots there and he said it was Ok to park next to what was the open-air restaurant. They had our reservations and we were shown into our room. Two dogs followed us around; a black female and a brown male. We settled in the room and walked down to the beach. It was very pretty. White sand and clear water with waves that were quite gentle. It’s a small beach and as we walked around, I noticed three or four small, clear plastic bags full of water. They looked like discarded silicone breast implants! We had some beer and a lunch of fish and patacones and went to the beach. We got in the water a little bit but not too much. When we got back, I mentioned the plastic bags to Monika, she knew they were jelly fish! And the chef in the kitchen confirmed it.‘Agua mala’. An SUV had just driven in and parked next to my Toyota, Yaris. It was parked nice and close to the wall, so I decided to move my car forward, about 2 feet; in order to leave more room for people to drive behind the car or reverse using that space. I used to have a standard shift, a VW Rabbit once and based on my experience with that, I pulled the hand break and put it in neutral. Oy ve! The car has no brakes if the engine is not running. I had no idea they made cars like this now. The car moved forward and while I slammed on the non-functioning brake, it hit the wall with a bang. I started the car and put it in reverse and let go of the clutch, it crept back and then forward and bang; hit the wall again. I tried again and got it off the wall - about two feet back (one foot ahead of where it was parked before)! There are two side panels on the car that sort of fit into each other and the top panel had popped out, I popped it back in. I then looked at the damage. When we had rented the car, we had walked around the car pointing out numerous small paint scratches and dinks all over the front, the back and the bottom of the doors etc. With two new ones added, it didn’t look much different and after a couple days of driving in rain and dirt even I couldn’t tell which scratches were mine. Playita is a fun place to be. There are several dogs (one of them had just had five or six pups); peacocks, ostriches, parrots, pigeons etc. It’s a small place (only five or six cabins) but the staff is very friendly and we enjoyed our stay there. The agua mala though was scary but a chinese woman - Caroline, who was staying there with her family told us its Ok in the morning and gets bad in the afternoon. On the second day; as we were coming back from a swim for lunch, we heard her daughter (maybe six or seven years old) screaming. I thought she was scared by the parrots but then I heard her say it bit her. There were several parrots and one of them had laid eggs in her nest and was guarding it. That’s the one we suspected of attacking the kid. I always carry a little bag with alcohol swabs, antibiotic cream, band-Aids, Tylenol, Imodium etc. and we gave that to the dad who didn’t want to use the alcohol swabs but washed her wounds (there were three claw/bite wounds) with cold water and applied antibiotic. I am glad we carried that - it helped out well - the nearest place with a doctor or hospital might have been Chitre - about 2 hours drive from Playita. Even though the place was friendly and pretty, Monika wanted to leave the next day and we headed to Pedasi. I was looking up stuff in the Frommers’ guide and trying to figure out where to go. We went to the Residencia de Pedasi and got a room. It’s very cheap ($22 a night with breakfast or $20 without) and the rooms are small but adequate. We were by now burning the mosquito repellant every day and night and using the repellant cream too. We went to the local store and bought a cooler with some beer, coke and a few chips etc. We had a Spanish couple as our neighbor and we talked to them about going to Isla de Iguanas. The man - Jose, said he wanted to go also. We had asked the motel owner to give us the name of the tour operator (a local man with a boat) and she called him. He came to talk to us at night and said he will meet us the next day at 8.00, in front of the gas station (a block or so away). I had the impression that he will have a van or something to take us to the beach. He was there at the gas station with a can of gasoline. By this time there were three cars with people going to the island. We rented life vests and some snorkeling gear from the shop next door. The boat guy got in our car and we drove to the beach. He got into a little boat and went chugging ahead to his other boat and brought it back. I lifted the cooler with the beer and food and it broke and everything was covered in dirt. I picked the stuff up one by one and washed it in the sea and put it in the other people’s cooler. The boat had arrived and we got in for the ride to the island. Isla de Iguana is very pretty with a beautiful white sand beach. The island has some green Iguanas and is a bird sanctuary. There is a lot of coral and we both got some cuts on our soles. We tried snorkeling but couldn’t really do it at all - I don’t know swimming and was scared of breathing through the mouthpiece that you hold with your teeth and Monika didn’t like it either. But we had fun in the water, we walked around and had our sandwiches and beer. The other group had cut open a pineapple and asked me if I wanted a slice. I did. It was the best pineapple I have ever tasted. Pedasi is a very small, quiet place with a few small restaurants that serve very nice and very cheap food. However, it’s not a place that you can do much in. We left the third day. Before leaving Pedasi, we bought a few souviniers from a French woman who sells handicrafts out of her home (she is an artist who settled there 14 years ago). Pedasi has three beaches, they are all dirt beaches and the water is muddy. The night before we left Pedasi, we bought a phone card and tried to make reservations in several hotels in Panama City (Monika didn’t want to go to David as it was too far - making the drive back to Panama City a very long one) - we called the hotel we had stayed in, and several others from the book and they didn’t have any vacancy! We then tried a couple of beach hotels in Coronade and nearby - no vacancy. What the hell? Are we going to be stuck in Pedasi, we wondered? Finally we tried Playa Blanca and they booked four nights. We stopped by in Chitre and Monika had her favorite soup again. We tried to find mangoes in many places including Pedasi and Chitre. It seemed like they were either not stocking any fruit at all or they had only green mangoes. On our drive, Monika decided that she wanted to go to Panama City a day earlier to get her nails done from the same place that she had them done on the second day of our trip. When we got to Playa Blanca, we called Country Inn and told them we want to add another night and they said OK. So we paid for three nights at Playa Blanca - I had earlier heard from the father of the little girl in Playita that he likes Playa Blanca and it’s not too expensive as he gets ‘local’ rates. Turns out they have two rates in hotels - one for foreigners and another one for locals (this guy was young so I know that he doesn’t get the pensionado discount). For us the charge for Friday and Saturday was $99 a night per person; for the locals it is $52 or $54. We enjoyed our stay in Playa Blanca, avoided going into the sea and mostly stayed in the swimming pools and drank at the swim-up bar. On Sunday, we decided to go to El Valle. The Spanish lady in Pedasi - Rosa, had told Monika that they have a handicrafts market there on sundays and I had read that in the Fromers’s book also. I had earlier received an email from a lady in El Valle on one of the forums advising me about umbrellas and clothing to wear. She had ended her email with an invitation to stop by if we were in Playa Blanca. Since we were going there anyway, I called her. A woman answered and after I explained who I was she told me that ‘they’ have gone for breakfast but will be back in an hour or so and she gave me the directions to get there. They have a very nice house with a small swimming pool on top of a hill with a great view of the pacific ocean and the Panama City. They had a friendly dog and were quite hospitable, showing us their house and talking about Panama and how they liked it a lot. I asked the woman who answered the phone (she sounded very much like the woman on the phone so I thought she might have a daughter or sister). She told me that she did but because she couldn’t see our id she gave me that story. When we left to go to the Handicrafts market in town, she gave me two of her calling cards, she is a real estate agent. On the back of one card it says “Feel free to stop by ... ... on the way to El Valle for a cold Panama beer from the tap.” Funny they never offered us a beer or coffee or even water. The handicrafts market, though not very large, is very nice and they have a large variety of things made of wood, paintings, jewellery, clothes etc. We did some shopping there and bought Monika’s favorite piece there - a wooden box with a monkey on top that contains dominos. We got back to Panama City four days before we were leaving. The hotel is very nice but the view is really not that great in my opinion. You do see ships waiting in the great distance for their turn through the canal but there wasn’t much shipping activity near the hotel area. The next morning, I wanted to return the car as I didn’t want to drive around the city with its one way streets and strange traffic patterns. I could drive there if I know the streets but there are no signs and it’s hard to make turns when other traffic basically blocks you.We asked the front desk people if they could tell us how to get to Thrifty, but they didn’t know well enough and suggested that we hire a taxi that we can follow. They called a cheap taxi for us (we didn’t take one of the hotel taxis). Monika asked the taxi driver a couple times but he just wouldn’t say how much it will cost to go to the car rental and then to Albrook Mall. We went to a nearby gas station, filled the car up, then we followed him slowly to the Thrifty on Via Espana. The car rental people checked out the car and they didn’t see anything on the car either. We got in the taxi and went to Albrook Mall. He demanded $25 which was way too steep; grudgingly, we paid it - bad guy. The next day, we went to the dock and took a nice big ferry boat to the Isla Taboga. We had to catch it early at 8.000 A.M. as there is only one ferry on certain days. The island is quite pretty but is not overrun with flowers as the name seems to imply. Andr there is a lot of debris and garbage around town. The beaches are nice, very small but nice; the water is muddy and we didn’t get in the water. After a few beers and strolling through the town, we ended back at the restaurant near the dock and drank more beer. We didn’t know what to do next - it was only 11.00 and there wasn’t anything more to do on the island. The ferry took people back at 4.30 P.M. and not before. Monika started talking to the restaurant worker/manager/owner and he said a boat is leaving around 12.00 and we can go back to Panama City. We ordered packed lunches and drank beer waiting for the boat to be ready to go (I assumed it had arrived or was arriving soon). Monika finally decided to eat her fish lunch there and I shared it with her. Finally around 1.00 the people started leaving and so did we. There were seven in all in a small boat and we all sat on the wooden planks in the middle of the boat; one guy at the back running the engine and steering, and one guy in the front holding a rope that held the boat out of water and on course. We went around the island and saw thousands of Pelicans - it’s a sanctuary for them (closed to visitors so we couldn’t have seen any on foot). We arrived at the foot of the Americas bridge and got a cab that two others shared with us. The cab dropped us at our hotel and charged us just two dollars - good guy. We took a cab to the salon for Monika’s nails - a few blocks further from the Thrifty office - three dollars - good guy. We went to the Albrook mall to exchange some clothes Monika had bought and to buy a memory card for the camera. The cab driver charged us three dollars - the regular fair. (SO basically the fare to Thrifty and then from Thrifty to Albrook mall should be % ir 6 dollars not 25 that the other guy charged us.) From the mall, we took a cab to our hotel and again we were charged three dollars - we liked this cab; it was relatively new and air-conditioned and he agreed to take us around the next day. The cab was there around 9.30 A.M. and we went to the Miraflores locks, Panama Canal. A ship had just entered the gates as we walked to the observation area. The water slowly filled and the ship rose to the level of Gatun lake; the gates opened and it proceeded into the lake and toward the Atlantic ocean. We saw the documentary and then walked through the museum. There is a simulated ship control room that rocks a little as videos are shown on screens of the ship entering the locks. It was very good. From there our cab driver took us to the El Parque Natural and we had a nice walk talking to a parrot who said ‘hello’ and ‘agua’ but refused to say ‘jubia’ when it started to rain. The rain became quite heavy and we were almost soaked even though we had an umbrella. From there we went to Casco Viejo which is the old section of the city and the cab driver told us that we couldn’t stop or get out of the cab as the area was very bad. At one spot, he said we could take some pictures and as we were walking around taking pictures a little girl with her dad started shouting ‘photo’ ‘photo’. I asked Monika to pose with them and took a picture. I showed her the picture, she was very surprised and didn’t utter another word. We then went to the ‘nice’ area where we shopped, had lunch and walked around taking pictures of the old churches, national Theater etc. We finally came back to the hotel for our final night. From 9.30 to about 4.00, the cab driver charged us $35 (previously agreed). He also picked us up for the airport the next morning at 7.00. He charged us $25 to the airport and we tipped him another five bucks. At the TGI Fridays restaurant at the hotel where we ate twice, the first time the waitress said the tip is added and the second time a different one said its not added to the bill. When we looked at the bill (I hadn’t looked at the first one closely) it didn’t have any tips added. We charged these to our room both times. When we checked out and looked at the hotel bill - there was a tip of $31 added - for everything; room, phone calls and restaurant charges! Getting out of Dodge wasn’t quite over yet! We had a couple of hours in the airport and we bought some liquor from one of the duty-free shops and some perfume from another. It was supposed to be delivered to us as we entered the plane, but there were no packages near the door to the plane. When we asked, an official looking attendant (not a steward) told us they will deliver it in the plane. But the way he said it, we didn’t quite believe it. We took our seats and waited. When barely 15 minutes were left before takeoff, Monika got out of her seat and left. A couple minutes later I walked after her. She spoke to the hostesses, left the plane and walked toward the shops. The attendant told me, only one person can leave the plane, so, I stayed back in the boarding area, inside the boarding chute. After six or seven minutes, as I watched through the door; Monika came running with the two packages and got into the boarding area, into the boarding chute and then we got on the plane! All of the security related to liquid being carried onto the plane had just been violated but no one cared! Maybe it’s a regular thing at the Panama City airport, pretend to have great security but let it be violated fairly routinely for eighty-three dollars! Overall impression we have is, Panama is very hot and humid except in the central areas (there are two mountain ranges running through the middle of the country). The beaches are not very pretty or fun. The cities other than Panama City and Chitre (and a few others that we didn’t visit, e.g., Colon, David etc.) are way behind in services and options as compared to Costa Rican cities. Also it seemed that unless you lived in a bigger city, there wouldn’t be too much to do and could be quite boring, but Panama City itself is too big and crowded but has lots of nice malls and casinos ($2 and $3 black jack tables). Our hotel staff recommended the Panama hotel casino ‘Fiesta’ but I liked the ‘Veneto’ better and our first hotel (Riande Granada) had a small but fun casino also. I also saw the perfect couple in the Veneto casino. I was sitting at a $3 blackjack table along with an Australian and a couple of locals. The Australian was learning to play and was having fun. A couple of times the locals tried to tell him that he had played his hand ‘incorrectly’ and he asked me. I told him that generally speaking he had done it incorrectly but its his money and he should play as he pleases and who knows he could get lucky and beat the house on an incorrect play and lose if he played correctly. He did that on subsequent hands and had pretty mixed results but he was having fun and so was I. Sometimes during this, a young (in her twenties) woman sat down next to me and started complaining even before she started to play. As it turned out, she would shout out loud when she won or when the house busted and would complain when she lost. A few times she complained of how the Aussie was playing or how I was playing and I just ignored her. She won some and lost some, and left the table. As she left the table her boy friend/husband took her seat. He was exactly the same except he knew a little English and at one point he said to me, “You are playing it wrong and making me lose.” I looked at him in the eyes and said, This is my f...ing money and I will play the way I like it. I have my style of playing and I will play the way I play. You can play the way you want to with your money. Intiende?” He shut up and didn’t say anything any more. These two were loud, obnoxious and ill-mannered. The woman would shout ‘Ass’ (for ace) And every time she would say ‘Ass’ I would mutter, “You are the biggest”. I did wonder, how the two most obnoxious bastards had found each other and thanks God they were not going to screw up any lives other than their own. ... ... ... Panama can be fun to visit but not specifically for beaches - maybe try David, Bocas Del Toro areas the next time and a few islands like Islas Las Perlas, Isla Grande etc. It is too hot and humid for our tastes at this point but we had fun and may repeat. I had read that Panamanians are very friendly but found them to be the same as everywhere, some were friendly, most were polite and a few nasty.
	The End approx. 6600 Words