The Miss Takes on Panama

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama



<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">Her mango drink and my great sangria.

I wasn’t able to take any pics of the food b/c we ate under candlelight. The food was awesome. We had mussels in garlic sauce as our appetizer. For dinner I had the pork chop which was stuffed with apples and mushrooms. The Miss had chicken with a papaya chutney and a coconut sauce. They were both excellent. I would definitely want to go back there!</span></span>

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">More later.

Peace and Blessings </span></span>

[QK13]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

Outstanding!! Shug, you must be an incredible Mom!!
The &quot;Mess&quot; looks like she is quite a character. You are both adorable!!

[BELLE50]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

Hey Mis Shug,

You are a woman after my own heart! I went to Panama in 2006 for carnival and can't wait to see your pictures. I did love it there but felt at a disadvantage of the language barrier. I too was often mistaken for Panamian and was hit with that rapid fire spanish that you speak of and my spanish 101 was not getting it. I'm going to do Rosetta Stone before I go back there just to increase my comfort level. I must say this was the first time in my travels I did not feel safe, not that anyone did anything to me but I wouldn't know if they did because I didn't understand. I found it amazing that there were few people that would speak english especially after the long presence of the US on the penisula. I'm thinking of places to retire and Panama is high on the list, so come on girl with the pictures and the stories.

BELLE

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">After we finished dinner, I asked our waiter to call us a cab. The cab never came. The waiter told me that if I went back out to the main street I could catch one. After waiting around outside for a while, still no cab. I asked a man in Spanish-Ayuda me. (help me). I asked him where was the best place to catch a cab. He gave me directions in Spanish. His directions led me to the outside of the Tourist Police building. On the way I kept asking the Miss to hush. I wanted to be walking around at night as a Panamanian and not as a tourist. I walked up to an officer that I saw outside of a building and told him my problem. He directed me inside to the police station. I explained what was up with the police officer. There goes that rapid fire Spanish. I didn’t understand all that he said, but I did understand-Espera-Wait in front of the building. A cab will eventually come. So I waited in front of the office. A couple of cabs passed and weren’t going to our part of town, El Cangrego(the crab)-It’s also the financial district. I see some cabs crossing up at the corner (la esqina). We walk up there and finally catch a cab back. The driver is nice and we talk about Panama and being downtown. I have to explain to him by the restaurants and buildings where our hotel is located. Las luces(the lights) on a Wyndam nearby were really prominent. From the travel book that I read I knew that I needed to know where I was by places because all the cabbies know the city and know the name of the major street, but not necessarily the smaller calles(streets). He was able to find it by my directions. We headed in. I went to sleep, the Mess watched the Cartoon Channel.</span></span>

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">Thanks Belle and QK. Belle-It wasn't so bad for me. I was almost fluent about 10 years ago. I still remember lots of vocab and verbs. It was more about my own insecurities about speaking incorrectly. I didn't have to always use the exact tense to be able to have others understand what I meant. They usually did. Once I said despacio, I could understand them. It was great, but you do need more than in flight spanish in certain situations b/c other than at the hotels and the tour company, most people I met knew very little English. Now if you only know in flight Spanish, I think you will be OK. Most people were happy to try to figure it out. On those first two days, I didn't really try much and the drivers and people in the street were always very helpful.

Peace and Blessing </span></span>

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">The next day we were going to visit the Embera Indian Village. B/c it was rainy season and we were going to visit a waterfall a raincoat was suggested. We were never able to find one. In the morning I headed to the front desk to ask if they knew of anyplace to buy a poncho. The front desk clerk didn’t speak good English. I asked her to switch to Spanish. Sugar’s Spanish mojo was kicking in. Last night gave me a boast of confidence. We are wondering around, I’m asking questions and understaning what’s being said to me. Anyway we get the directions and we have to cross Via España. This is no joke. 4-6 lanes of fast traffic. I grab the Mess’ hand and tell her you HAVE to pay attention to mommy. We cross the street and find the store the hotel manager suggested. No poncho, but I grab an umbrella for the Mess. We head back to Dunkin Donuts. I need to feed the child and she wants to go there. As we walking back to the hotel, I see a van outside. Dang-they are early. It’s Robert!! We are excited. Hugs given all around. I run back upstairs so the Mess can use the bathroom b/c we have an hour and a half ride before we get to the Village. Before we get to the village we will be going to Gamboa Rainforest Resort. I was excited b/c that was the resort that we would be switching to the next day. I gave the Mess my ipod and Robert and I talked.</span></span>

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">On the way to Gamboa I didn't take any pics. This was the exact same way that we had travel the previous day. The rainforest is right off of the Canal. We arrived at Gamboa and it was beautiful. Robert found out that the person that was supposed to also go onto the tour had to cancel b/c of changed flight plans. We wandered around the main lobby and bar and got to check it out. The Mess wanted to move IMMEDIATELY to the hotel.


Look at that view. This is the view from off of one of the main bars. I was awed and amazed.

</span></span>

[Sugar Shug]

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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">The Miss was so excited when she saw the POOL!!</span></span>

[Sugar Shug]

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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">One cool thing that Robert pointed out to us was how the building is made. When you enter into the main lobby you are on the 4th floor. So from every room you get a spectacular view. The resort is built into a mountain on a large slope. To get to the restaurants and the pool you had to go down to the 3rd and 2nd floors.</span></span>

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama



<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">The hotel lobby.

We got back into the car and headed out to the Indian village. Robert and I had the best conversation. He’s a history buff, so he’s telling me all this information about the Canaland Panama’s fight for independence from the US.</span></span>

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama

[Sugar Shug]

Re: The Miss Takes on Panama