Author Topic: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]  (Read 12649 times)

Offline zow

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #20 on: March 09, 2019, 10:29:22 PM »
Part 11: Conclusion

We had an amazing time in Panama City and would love to return. The trip was a little heavy on the “doing” and a little light on the “relaxing,” so next time I think we would spend more downtime, maybe spend a few nights on Contadora Island, or even a few nights in the Westin Playa Bonita. A week was a good length for us.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me to plan this trip.  Happy to answer any questions.

Offline Dan

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #21 on: March 09, 2019, 10:32:45 PM »
Nice TR, thanks for sharing.

What's with Zika these days?
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline zow

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #22 on: March 09, 2019, 10:42:54 PM »
Nice TR, thanks for sharing.

What's with Zika these days?
Thanks.
Zika has certainly become less of a hot topic.
We thought it was very low risk for us in Panama this trip, given these factors:
1. None of us is in a pregnancy or pre-pregnancy situation.
2. No known outbreak at present.
3. Dry season, so mosquito risk low (we didn't see any).
4. We were compulsive with using Off! when we went to the rain forest.

Incidentally, our tour guide (Sorhay) thought we were a little crazy with the protective sprays, from Off! for mosquitoes, to sunblock to prevent sunburn, and even Rid (or whatever brand we had) sprayed into the helmets we used for ZipLining (to prevent lice).
We also got some weird looks from the staff there when we sprayed their helmets!

Offline saw50st8

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #23 on: March 11, 2019, 07:17:42 AM »
Part 11: Conclusion

We had an amazing time in Panama City and would love to return. The trip was a little heavy on the “doing” and a little light on the “relaxing,” so next time I think we would spend more downtime, maybe spend a few nights on Contadora Island, or even a few nights in the Westin Playa Bonita. A week was a good length for us.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me to plan this trip.  Happy to answer any questions.


We met some people who stayed at the Westin. They said the beach was really not great and wouldn't recommend staying there if you want to hang out at the beach.

Offline hvaces42

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #24 on: March 11, 2019, 01:11:41 PM »
Nice TR. I think I'm just gonna follow you around. London tips were great when we did that. Panama has been on my list for a while. Hope to get there sooner rather than later.
Fair warning - Any PMs sent in response to forum posts are fair game for ridicule in public.

Offline zow

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #25 on: March 11, 2019, 10:40:25 PM »
We met some people who stayed at the Westin. They said the beach was really not great and wouldn't recommend staying there if you want to hang out at the beach.
Good to know. I think someone on the Panama thread has good things to say about it, so it may be YMMV.
 

Offline zow

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #26 on: March 11, 2019, 10:41:56 PM »
Nice TR. I think I'm just gonna follow you around. London tips were great when we did that. Panama has been on my list for a while. Hope to get there sooner rather than later.
Enjoy. Now if I could only learn from you how to maximize my AA for premium cabin, we could be in business. 

Offline PNWBear

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #27 on: April 05, 2019, 09:50:00 AM »
Thanks for such a thorough report!  We’ll be grateful to have this thread to refer to for our family trip next year. 

Offline zow

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #28 on: April 05, 2019, 10:26:34 AM »
Thanks for such a thorough report!  We’ll be grateful to have this thread to refer to for our family trip next year.
Thank you.
Feel free to ask questions, though most of what I know I learned from @denverite and @saw50st8.


Offline zow

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #29 on: April 07, 2019, 09:43:10 PM »
I have a co-worker who grow up in PTY. I got a chance to show her my photos. When she saw the iguana, she asked if we tried it. I said, “You mean people eat iguana? You must be kidding.”   She was not kidding.  Said it tastes like chicken.   

Offline Divora M

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #30 on: July 30, 2019, 12:08:59 AM »
Thank you for sharing your trip report! Everything sounded amazing, do you think Anton Valley would be doable for kids 11,9,6 and 4?

Offline zow

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #31 on: July 30, 2019, 06:14:14 AM »
Thank you for sharing your trip report! Everything sounded amazing, do you think Anton Valley would be doable for kids 11,9,6 and 4?
You are very welcome!
Definitely fine for family like that.
Maybe no ziplining, or at least not the little one(s).
Can do very easy “hiking” and also can do waterfalls.
Maybe not horseback riding for the little ones either.
You should ask @denverite, as her children are younger than ours.
Enjoy!

Offline Divora M

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #32 on: July 30, 2019, 08:28:23 AM »
@Denverite did you end up going with your kids to Anton Valley with Sorhay?

Offline Denverite

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #33 on: July 30, 2019, 09:47:27 PM »
@Denverite did you end up going with your kids to Anton Valley with Sorhay?

We did not do it but friends with you her kids did and Sorhay can customize the day so the hikes, etc. will work for your family.

Offline chuchem

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #34 on: July 31, 2019, 10:21:32 AM »
We did it. was amazing. We did zipline and horseback riding. you can do horseback with the little ones, zipline only the older ones

Offline Divora M

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 [emoji1194]
« Reply #35 on: July 31, 2019, 11:12:39 AM »
How much do the tours with Sorhay cost? I messaged her but haven’t heard back yet.

Offline Abey

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Re: zow’s Panama TR 2019 🇵🇦
« Reply #36 on: January 21, 2020, 11:03:14 AM »
Part 9: Day 7, Shabbat

We initially had two rooms at the Sortis -- one on 5 and one on 18. The higher floors are so-called “Elite,” I guess because they provide better views.  We had wanted to be on the same floor as our girls to facilitate Shabbat logistics, but we were told at check -n that nothing would be available until Friday. (Some big convention all week at the hotel.) When Friday afternoon came around, we actually leveraged a complaint from two days prior (our girls had been told they couldn’t use the pool late one afternoon due to a private function...there had been no such posting or notice about it) to get ourselves moved to a suite.  Unfortunately the suite wasn’t available on same floor, but we decided it would be fine being separated. 

The stairways have motion-sensitive lights and an alarmed door on the lobby level. The staff said they could turn the alarm off for a period of time if they knew when I was going to be coming down on Saturday morning, but they couldn’t put lights on all the time -- had to remain motion-sensitive, so we didn’t use.  I told front desk staff that we would not be able to carry key or ID on Shabbat and would need someone to accompany us in elevator to return to our room on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.  That worked out fine.  On Saturday morning, we just waited by the elevator for other guests to come and use it to go down to the lobby and tagged along with them.   The entrance to the hotel has electric doors but also has adjacent manual doors that worked fine.

We davened at Beth El (Ashkenazi) both Friday night and Saturday morning. Friday night was nice, had a little dancing after Lecha Dodi, brief dvar Torah from Rabino Laine (in Spanish, of course… I didn’t follow most of it), and then a beautiful dinner at the home of Rabino and  Rebbetzin Laine, along with two other (local) families.

Saturday morning, the davening was a little slow and long for my taste. Most of the sluggishness was during the Torah service, lots of hugging and downtime between aliyot, and Rabino (or, once, one of the other rabbis in the community) spoke for 5-8 minutes between each aliyah, rather than having a full-length dvar torah.   Seemed to me to drag a bit.  I also found that there was quite a bit of talking among the kahal during much of the service, especially after Aleinu.

We had lunch at the shul. Apparently they have lunch there every Shabbat, and our experience was typical. They ask for a donation (in advance, obviously) of $20-25 pp. The meal was excellent. Salads, chicken, brisket, cholent, dessert.  There wasn’t much alcohol -- pretty limited to the Rabino’s table -- but that was fine.

We walked back to the Sortis, and after getting out of our sweaty Shabbos clothes, we hung out by the pool for about three hours. We then returned to the room, had a little Seudah Shlishit, davened maariv, made havdalah, and then went to Kava.  After dinner, we Ubered to Casco Viejo, had yogurt again at Forever (because the more proximally located yogurt places were already closed for the evening), and walked around for a bit.  Took a while to get an Uber back to the hotel from there -- kind of congested with traffic, which must be an Uber disincentive -- but eventually got back fine.  Three of the four of us seem to have gotten some minor food poisoning from Kava, possibly from a side of spicy mayo, though not certain -- thankfully nothing serious.
arriving Thursday night and don’t think I will have time on Friday to bring passport to shul, is there an email or something where I can send them my copies? Also re shabbos meals can I rely on getting a meal Friday night for dw & kid ?