Why Your Next Trip Should Be To Panama

January 27, 2012
Caroline Patek, Contributor
Forbes

Poised at the junction of North and South America, Panama possesses a laundry list of new attractions, hotspots and luxury hotels that are making it an up and coming travel destination—with the catalyst undoubtedly being the $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion that’s underway and scheduled for completion in 2014. The aim is to allow a greater volume and size of ships to pass through the historic, 50-mile long waterway. The result? Panama City is transforming into an energetic, modern metropolis, with investors preparing for moneyed visitors by upping its luxury quotient.

Donald Trump got in early on Panama’s growing popularity, opening Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower in summer 2011, making it the first international venture for Trump Hotel Collection (and the tallest building in Latin America). The hotel is uniquely shaped like a tall ship’s sail, and rooms have floor-to-ceiling views of Panama City and the Pacific Ocean. Panamanian touches such as wood-carved headboards grace the 369 guest rooms, and luxe services abound, including wardrobe storage assistance (so frequent visitors don’t have to lug baggage back and forth) and a complimentary catamaran to Trump’s private Beach Club (an island with white sand beaches, a pool, cabanas, watersports and beach chair service). But it’s the 1,830-square-foot pool deck that really caught our attention—it has a gorgeous infinity-edge pool, alfresco seating at the poolside bar and restaurant and expansive ocean views.Photo courtesy Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower Panama.

Waldorf Astoria’s The Panamera, the brand’s first in Latin America, is scheduled to open in June in Panama City’s fashionable Calle Uruguay neighborhood. Located less than 15 minutes from Marcos A. Gelabert International Airport and within walking distance of the massive Cinta Costera (the city’s version of Central Park), the luxury hotel will have a 2,500-square-foot spa, 130 guest rooms and an outdoor swimming pool. There will be a variety of restaurants, from the handcrafted sushi at Ginger Sushi Bar and Lounge to contemporary French-American at Brasserie Brillo. The Bungalo Terrace and Pool Bar will be the spot for poolside libations, and The Cristal Bar will serve as an elegant space for cocktails and mingling in the lobby.

There’s much more to do than lounge poolside in Panama. The once dilapidated but charmingly historic neighborhood of Casco Viejo has undergone a sophisticated makeover in recent years. While you can still spot the colonial-era architecture prevalent throughout its streets, the area now houses some of the city’s best restaurants, bars, galleries and hotels. DiVino Enoteca is a swanky wine bar, with hundreds of varietals to choose from (watch for the classic, black-and-white movies playing silently in the background). At tapas restaurant Manolo Caracol, there is no menu—once seated, you’ll be given a variety of small plates with Spanish influences, such as Andalusian gazpacho with cucumber sorbet and spicy tuna sashimi.

The Frank Gehry-designed BioMuseo is set to open in early 2013, and will focus on the country’s fascinating biodiversity and the importance of the isthmus—the narrow strip of land that makes Panama and its revenue-generating canal. And though the museum isn’t officially open yet, you can join the list of VIPs (Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jane Goodall) and stop by the site for a sneak peek.

Boquete Mourns The Loss Of Papa Ricco

Papa Ricco hanging with Panamanian Boxing Champion Roberto Duran - Photo © John Villegas

January 10, 2012

Boquete Panama mourns the loss of it’s most colorful character.

“Papa Ricco” died today in a two vehicle collision near Caldera Road on via Boquete.

A standout icon in this pueblito, Papa Ricco made fast friends with virtually everyone he met. And, if his deep Italian psyche sensed you were a little evil, he would call you out.

Gregarious, vibrant and soulful he whipped up some badass Italian cuisine in the spirit of  authentic New York eateries.

My life is richer for having met you.

We’ll miss you Papa…

The Editor

Award Winning Wildlife Artist And Conservationist Dr. Guy Harvey To Launch “Panama Paradise: Edge of Conservation”

JANUARY 9, 2012
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL

New Film Project – Panama Paradise: Edge of Conservation

Internationally known wildlife artist and conservationist Dr. Guy Harvey, who took audiences across the planet in the award-winning Portraits from the Deep documentary series, is launching several new film projects in 2012, starting with Panama Paradise: Edge of Conservation due for release this spring.

“A critical part of the mission of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation is education and film is a superb way to deliver the messages of science and conservation,” said Dr. Harvey. “Only through understanding the issues can we hope to save our seas for future generations.”

In Panama Paradise: Edge of Conservation, Dr. Harvey and two-time Emmy Award winning producer George C. Schellenger takes the audience on an expedition where the jungle meets the sea in an explosion of life, an unforgettable vision of Panama and its surrounding waters.  The film will show how scientists are working against the clock to protect a land and sea paradise that attracts visitors from around the world.

To see a preview of Panama Paradise: Edge of Conservation, please go to http://vimeo.com/34422929.

“The film will feature massive storms, majestic marlins and even protective dolphins—all part of an adventure that takes place above and below the water,” said Dr. Harvey, whose latest documentary “The Mystery of the Grouper Moon” played a pivotal role in protecting one of the last know spawning areas of the Nassau grouper. An updated version of the documentary is in production. Also, a film revealing scientific breakthroughs in the study of migration patterns of satellite-tagged Tiger Sharks is underway for a 2012 release.

Dr. Harvey and Schellenger have collaborated on several projects recently, including “This is Your Ocean: Sharks”, a 44-minute documentary depicting sharks in their natural environment. This film captures the adventure and passion of shark diving and evokes a call for conservation and protection for the species that today is threatened by over fishing for a growing demand for shark fin soup.

About the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation
www.guyharveyoceanfoundation.org
The Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation funds inspired scientific research and innovative educational programs to encourage conservation and best management practices for sustainable marine environments. The GHOF will help ensure that future generations will enjoy and benefit from a naturally balanced ocean ecosystem where fish and other marine wildlife flourish.

Panama Tops New York Times Bucket List in 2012

Panama Makes The New York Times “The 45 Places to Go in 2012″ List

By NEW YORK TIMES
Published: January 6, 2012

1. Panama
Go for the canal. Stay for everything else.

Among the notable development projects is the Panama Canal itself, which is in the early stages of a multibillion-dollar expansion. The project will widen and deepen the existing canal and add two locks, doubling the canal’s cargo capacity. For those who want to see the waterway as it was originally designed, now is the time. The expansion is expected to be completed by 2014, the canal’s 100-year anniversary.

Other high-profile projects include the construction of three firsts: The Panamera, the first Waldorf Astoria hotel in Latin America (set to open in June 2012); the Trump Ocean Club, the region’s tallest building, which opened last summer; and Frank Gehry’s first Latin American design, the BioMuseo, a natural history museum scheduled to open in early 2013. Even Panama City’s famously dilapidated historic quarter, Casco Viejo, has been transformed. The neighborhood, a tangle of narrow streets, centuries-old houses and neo-colonial government buildings, was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1997 and is now a trendy arts district with galleries, coffeehouses, street musicians and some of the city’s most stylish restaurants and boutique hotels.

Across the isthmus, on Panama’s Caribbean coast, the Bocas del Toro archipelago has become a popular stop on the backpacker circuit, with snorkeling and zip lining by day and raucous night life after dark.
FREDA MOON

Photo Credit: Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Read original article here >>

Panama’s Counter-Development

Wednesday, 24 August 2011 15:50
Written by Matt Landau
The Panama Report

Marvin orders a café con leche and a chicken empanada. We are sitting at Boulevard Café in Panama City amongst a surprisingly large lot of other full-bodied men who look just like him. They all wear suits, have drivers waiting outside, and speak in loud, demonstrative terms. They are all exactly like Marvin except I can pretty much guarantee none of them are explaining how it feels to be part of a weird country—with freakish growth—that has somehow become one of the world’s most gossiped-about destinations.

Panama has done what all great countries are eventually supposed to do: they have reinvented the tropics.

“Panama’s in a bizarre spot right now,” Marvin tells me. “To be honest, I have a hard time believing all these people come here to invest and go on vacation. I have a hard time believing all the towers and the malls and the international flights and the banks. As the years go by, I start asking myself, ‘What are we getting from all this?’ You have to wonder where the true Panama went. Is all this so-called progress really necessary or even valuable? The answer is I don’t know.”

Marvin is, without a doubt, the smartest Panamanian (and probably one of the smartest non-Panamanians) that I know closely enough to comfortably answer my cell phone while we are hanging out. He makes his living as a political consultant (whatever exactly that means) and he meets regularly with the country’s most influential figures (whatever that means) consulting them on what is good (whatever that means). Marvin is large, articulate, and smelling vaguely of shaving cream. Marvin’s name is, of course, not Marvin. (I have found that these kinds of guys are much more revealing under conditions of anonymity so I request to give him an alias. Marvin happened to be the name of our waiter.)

As we talk, Marvin speaks in full, confident sentences, occasionally lowering his voice, leaning in, and sharing controversial messages, which the politicians around us – the same ones he greeted upon walking in – probably shouldn’t hear. Marvin is unique in this country because he’s something of a closet-conspirator. This is why I like him and why a lot of people don’t.

Marvin – Panamanian-born and US-educated – thinks that if you ignored Panama’s canal, the country would be nothing more than a novelty act: it has all these real estate projects that no one lives in, explicit corruption, no sense of the past, plenty of malls, and its built its public persona around a fabricated premise (it claims to be “where the world meets,” but the world doesn’t meet there. “The world meets in London and New York and Hong Kong.”) The last thing you do is base your branding on delusional positioning, but what concerns Marvin most is the false sense of success brought about by cranes and hard hats. He believes that the effects of hyper development could be ruining Panama not only because debt is piling up: but the country is simply not equipped to handle this kind of influx.

“The last ten years have been filled with projects. Projects, projects, projects. People interpret this stuff as good when they see the economy “growing” and metro stations being built. Panama has become obsessed with progress, so now you have all these evolution-fools who want to turn the place into the new Miami. But we cannot win that race. That wasn’t the idea.”

Marvin’s argument could easily be construed as regressive or closed-minded or maybe even hippie. But what Marvin won’t argue, and that which we pretty much all agree upon, is that Panama represents a breed (cosmopolitanish) from a specific place (the tropics), and it’s packaged within a deliberate mix of unrealistic promises and severely undersold natural resources. Panama has done what all great countries are eventually supposed to do: they have reinvented themselves.

The world is full of sunny, consciously cheesy destinations all vying for the same type of consumer. But Panama remains the most conflicted of media sweethearts: unlike the rest of the competition, they have a legitimate infrastructure, a relatively blank canvas, and a tradition that makes the Canal a concept as much as it is a waterway. But what really makes Panama the biggest little country since Kazakhstan is more difficult to explain: people see something in its progress that’s so confounding it almost seems clear.

According to Marvin, what they’re seeing is decline (or at least, Marvin’s version of it).

“I grew up in the 50s and 60s and Panama didn’t have any of this stuff back then. I’m not saying that progress isn’t good, but it’s a certain type of progress that’s best. It’s an order of progress that is necessary. Which comes first? The car or the horse?”

“Cart,” I say.

“What?”

“The word you wanted was cart. The cart or the horse.”

Marvin doesn’t even hear my correction because he is standing up to warmly greet a small posse of businessmen who are all dressed super smart. I would later learn that these men represented the top management of a construction conglomerate in charge of the President’s new proposed Cinta Costera Phase 3, which would destructively wrap a highway around the historic peninsula of Casco Viejo. It’s this type of weird moment that makes Panama so confusing yet so compelling.

In and of itself, it’s not so strange that a Panama purist hugged the reps from a company actively trying to renovate his country. But this small gesture emphasizes Panama more than words ever could. Everything has a price tag. Image means a whole lot. And in order to beat them, you have to join them and simply wait until no one’s looking.

An Interview With Local Legend Ryan Grassley: Around the World at Half Throttle

July 6, 2011
Written by Daniel Evon
All About Bikes Magazine

Click on photo for full size version - Photo Credit © 2011 John Villegas

The world is full of armchair warriors. People who dream big and dream often, but rarely get the chance to live out their fantasies. Ryan Grassley was one of those people, and then he hit the road.

Grassley, who you might know better as “HalfThrottle,” has made a living by fulfilling his motorcycle fantasies. With his camera and his KLR 650, Grassley has been shooting motorcycle videos for the last four years throughout the Americas. It hasn’t brought him fame or fortune yet, but Grassley is one of the few, lucky people, who truly loves going to work every day.

Spontaneity

Grassley grew up in Springville, Utah, and bought his first motorcycle in 2005 with big dreams of the open road. But Grassley wouldn’t be able to seize the moment, as he was shipped off to Iraq with the US Army. But a few years later Grassley would get his window of opportunity, and he jumped at the chance.

“We didn’t do too much planning for the trip,” Grassley said. “We were both very inexperienced motorcycle riders. But we didn’t care. We wanted adventure.”

Grassley and his friend, Mitch Curwen, decided on a whim to head for the Panama Canal. It would mark the first adventure for HalfThrottle, and the first true long distance trip for Grassley.

“The longest trip I’d ever been on was probably a three-hour drive,” Grassley said. “Until we left for Panama.”

So without experience, guidance, or training, Grassley and Curwen headed out onto the open road.

“People will try to plan a trip for years,” Grassley said. “I need this, I need that… we just went.”

Half Throttle

The biggest flaw in most long-distance trips, is that the rider feels like he has to abide by a certain timeline. With only so many days to see so many things, it’s easy to skip sights in order to make up miles. If you fall behind your schedule, you could find yourself hopping on the highway where all you can see are license plates and speed limit signs.

But Grassley doesn’t fall into that trap. He travels at half-throttle.

“The point of our trip, was to see everything. We figured that we were never going to do this again, so we were going to take it slow. We were going to take our time. We stopped at every waterfall, beach, Mayan ruin, everything.”

Grassley spent three months traveling to and from Panama, but for some people, there just is no cure for the travel bug. After the Panama trip, Grassley went to Canada, Thailand, and France. He brought his KLR 650 to Italy, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates. Grassley has been to more than 20 countries in the saddle of his motorcycle, and there will be plenty more in the future.

“Traveling by motorcycle leaves you exposed to everything. The environment, smells, people, smelly people. If you are going to visit a country then experience that country. Don’t cut yourself off by staying in an all inclusive resort. Traveling by motorcycle lets you get in touch with the real side of the places you’ll visit.”

Photo & Design Credit © 2011 John Villegas

Experience

The Half-Throttle channel is about a lot more than just bikes, it’s about people. Grassley uses his motorcycle as a tool to dig deeper into unfamiliar cultures. “I never wanted a motorcycle so people would think I was cool,” Grassley said. “I wanted a motorcycle so I could go cool places.”

And Grassley has done just that. The army vet is currently living in Panama with his wife, exploring the jungles, rivers, and beaches of Central America. He’ll be heading back to the US soon, but he won’t let himself get too comfortable.

Grassley has a few more empty boxes on his places to ride list, and he’s inviting everyone to come along for the ride.

“There are so many arm chair warriors out there that wish that they were on the road,” Grassley said. “So many people sitting in an office dreaming about somewhere else. You’ve just got to do it.”

Grassley has turned into a bit of an adventure touring guru, fielding questions from his fans about everything from how to do laundry on the road, to how many spare tires you should bring along. If you’re planning a trip in the near future, check out Grassley’s page. You might learn a thing or two about being on the road.

You can check out HalfThrottle’s Youtube Channel here.

All photos © John Villegas 2011

Panama – Where The World Meets – Video Of The Week

What Do You Know About Panama’s Famous/Infamous Red Devils? – Vid of the Week by Ryan Grassley

Tuesday June 7, 2011
Editor

The Red Devils, just who/what are they anyway?

Nope, they are not the national soccer or baseball team. And they are not a cheerleader or glee squad.

Affectionately called “Diablo Rojos”, they’re Panama’s Bad Boy, smoke-belching, people moving, bumper car, get-outta-my-way, pimped up retired USA school buses.

And they will soon be going the way of the T Rex.

Get the full back story from Video Guy Ryan Grassley:

Panama’s Martinelli outlines efforts against crime, drug trafficking

Martinelli Jumps On YouTube – Launches First Video

March 5, 2011

Yesterday, Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli fired up his Panama Public Relations machine on his new YouTube channel and uploaded his first video – a PSA (Public Service Announcement) entitled “Mensaje de Carnaval 2011“.

Get his Hot Scoops as they roll out – subscribe to his YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/PresidenteMartinelli

You can also follow him on:
Twitter: @Rmartinelli
and
Facebook: Ricardo Martinelli

It will help if you know Spanish.

Felicidades Presidente!