A Relaxing Week in Playa Coronado, Panama

We left Panama City for a week at the beach in Playa Coronado, it was a colourful ride...

Most of the buses are old school buses which are individually painted, some have pictures of celebrities while others are honouring family members that have died. Using public transportation here is easy and cheap, it cost us 3 dollars each from the city to the beach. 

It was a only an hour or so by bus with some glimpses of Panama outside of the city...

Brightly coloured houses...

Small roadside towns...

And lovely green farms with mountains in the background.

Playa Coronado is a gated community which was established in the 1940s by a wealthy Panamanian named Robert Eisenmann. Near the beach there are mansions which are used on weekends and holidays by families from the city....

And this is not a hotel, but a family home...

All through the community are beautiful homes owned by locals as well as a large number of expats including Canadians and Americans....

We stayed at Panama Sarah’s Casitas, a property owned by a Canadian woman and it was a lovely place to pass the week. I don’t think we moved more than a few Kms from the place the whole week...

Don spent lots of time in the pool entertaining the other guests...

The gardens were lovely...

The main house had an awesome patio where the guests gathered to socialize and sometimes share a meal...one night we were treated to jambalaya by our neighbour from Louisiana.

The Coronado area is very modern with all the amenities you would need,lots of shopping and services...

Large grocery stores...

Apple, anyone?

Variety of seafood...

And lots of choice of beverage...

We found the wine we drink at home here for 9 USD while at home we pay 24 CAD.

Even with our very poor exchange rate still about half price, one of the only bargains here.

The currency in Panama is the American dollar, a bit wierd for a sovereign state. However there is a bit of history to this...

Officially, the Balboa is the currency of Panama which are minted coins with the same weight and dimensions as their U.S. counterparts.

However, in practice, the U.S. Dollar is the currency that everyone uses because Panama has no paper currency. Panama is the first country in Latin America to adopt the U.S. Dollar, having done so since 1904.

When Panama separated from Colombia in 1903, it was a weak, disorganized country. Panama was created out of American interest to build a canal that unites the Atlantic with the Pacific so naturally, it adopted many things from the United States, including its currency.

Therefore we find Panama to be an expensive country, not only because of the use of the US dollar but also the prices are so much higher here than other Central American countries we have visited. However there are many foreign investors here because of the safety and security they find in Panama. 

Don and I actually went on an International House Hunting excursion on behalf of a friend of a friend who saw I was in Panama in an area where she is looking at buying property. She had already made her contacts and asked if we would take a look. The real estate agent picked us up and brought us on a tour of a newly constructed condo development just down the beach from Coronado and it was very lovely...

The lobby...

The building...

One of the many beautiful views and the price is right! Hope she buys as she offered a free week! 

In every ex pat place we have visited there is a local hangout and in Coronado it is Picasso’s...

We went on Saturday night with our new friends from the Casitas and it was hopping with a great band and a very energetic singer...

She didn’t stay in one place to get a clear picture!

Great food too...sea bass and chips...

There was time for a 5 dollar buzz cut, the shortest hair Don has had in many years...

Lots of great meals prepared in our casita...

Great neighbours and hosts...

All in all a wonderful week in Playa Coronado and certainly a taste of why so many Canadians call it home!