Panama 1996 & 1997
Destination:
Hotel Contadora Resort
Arquipelago De Las Perlas,
Panamá, Panama
Hotel Contadora Resort
Arquipelago De Las Perlas,
Panamá, Panama
We went to this resort in the Gulf of Panama two years in a row - February 1996 & February 1997.
Contadora is one of the islands that make up the Perlas Archipelago in the Bay of Panama which is on the south side of the Panamanian peninsula - south east of the Panama Canal & near the equator somewhat guaranteeing hot weather in February.
This very small island boasts 13 sandy beaches. You reach it from Panama City via 20-seater de Havilland Twin Otters. The resort was 3 Stars going on 1. We first went in Feb 1996 & we got the heat we wanted. We got it. But by 1997 - our 2nd year, decay was setting in. The resort was pretty dismal. And that is a shame since the island is so unique. That beautiful beach picture we took above shows the beach at high tide. At low tide the water recedes about 300m exposing some rocks & dead coral. But it still was really nice as the largest beach on the island & the only one that was groomed.
The grounds. Burnt grass. Burnt golf course. A tennis court nobody used. But we didn't care, we were there for sun & beach. There was also 2 pools, one with a swim up bar. Meals were a normal (bad) buffet with 2 'theme' restaurants which you had to book the instant you arrived or you didn't get in. We didn't get in. The 3 story units of the Contadora Resort were pretty basic stuff but we had a ground-floor walkout which was nice for easy access to the beach. Their desalination plant quit while we were there in 1997 & we only had salt water showers for most of that week. Entertainment was non-existent our 2nd year too. Rumour has it that 3 of the TV show 'Survivors' were filmed in the Perlas & that the film crew stayed here. I guess they are used to roughing it.
Walking the roads of the small island was enjoyable with typical island look & feel & many beautiful deserted beaches. We saw most of them. On one expedition to find an elusive beach, I came face to face with a wicked spider by nearly walking into it's web. That & a suspicious human forest dweller on the same trail were enough to kill that adventure. Private villas dotted the shore outside of the resort owned by rich Colombians - one of which was temp housing for the exiled Shah of Iran. Probably a drug lord or two mixed in as well. All of the locals worked at the resort, local restaurants, one of the few stores, as maids & handymen at the villas etc. But they lived in houses in the middle of the island.
This very small island boasts 13 sandy beaches. You reach it from Panama City via 20-seater de Havilland Twin Otters. The resort was 3 Stars going on 1. We first went in Feb 1996 & we got the heat we wanted. We got it. But by 1997 - our 2nd year, decay was setting in. The resort was pretty dismal. And that is a shame since the island is so unique. That beautiful beach picture we took above shows the beach at high tide. At low tide the water recedes about 300m exposing some rocks & dead coral. But it still was really nice as the largest beach on the island & the only one that was groomed.
The grounds. Burnt grass. Burnt golf course. A tennis court nobody used. But we didn't care, we were there for sun & beach. There was also 2 pools, one with a swim up bar. Meals were a normal (bad) buffet with 2 'theme' restaurants which you had to book the instant you arrived or you didn't get in. We didn't get in. The 3 story units of the Contadora Resort were pretty basic stuff but we had a ground-floor walkout which was nice for easy access to the beach. Their desalination plant quit while we were there in 1997 & we only had salt water showers for most of that week. Entertainment was non-existent our 2nd year too. Rumour has it that 3 of the TV show 'Survivors' were filmed in the Perlas & that the film crew stayed here. I guess they are used to roughing it.
Walking the roads of the small island was enjoyable with typical island look & feel & many beautiful deserted beaches. We saw most of them. On one expedition to find an elusive beach, I came face to face with a wicked spider by nearly walking into it's web. That & a suspicious human forest dweller on the same trail were enough to kill that adventure. Private villas dotted the shore outside of the resort owned by rich Colombians - one of which was temp housing for the exiled Shah of Iran. Probably a drug lord or two mixed in as well. All of the locals worked at the resort, local restaurants, one of the few stores, as maids & handymen at the villas etc. But they lived in houses in the middle of the island.
Playa Ejectiva - a semi-private beach catering to the villa crowd in the photo above left. It was always empty. Except for us. On the right is Panama's only legal clothing-optional beach - Playa de las Suecas. Very peaceful place. And no she wasn't . . .
Isla de Bartolomé is the small island in the photo top left. After a $35 boat drop off we were marooned for 4 hours on this island - by choice. I will say no more. The photo upper right shows only 2 sets of footprints . . . ours. Think of it as a Robinson Caruso fantasy outing. The photo above is the view of Contadora from Bartolomé's main beach.
When the boatman came to pick us up - in a crumbling dugout canoe with an outboard motor & a dead fish - the sea had swells of 5 - 6 feet. He pointed at a plastic bucket & pointed at all of the water in the bottom of the boat that washed in when he beached it to pick us up. "Agua", he said. I bailed. B hung on for dear life wearing the only lifejacket. Pretty hairy stuff. The boatman was very, very tense. But he got us back.
When the boatman came to pick us up - in a crumbling dugout canoe with an outboard motor & a dead fish - the sea had swells of 5 - 6 feet. He pointed at a plastic bucket & pointed at all of the water in the bottom of the boat that washed in when he beached it to pick us up. "Agua", he said. I bailed. B hung on for dear life wearing the only lifejacket. Pretty hairy stuff. The boatman was very, very tense. But he got us back.
Top left: The view from Casco Viejo to the business centre of Panama City. We hopped to Panama City to see the sights. We hired George, a cab driver/tour guide to ferry us around. Our first stop was an attempt to cash a traveler's check. After being refused in the heavily guarded Chase Manhattan Bank (soldiers with machine guns), we ended up in a local bank. They grudgingly cashed it after a 1/2 hour lineup with lots of resentful stares & many line-jumpers.
Upper right: The market in Casco Viejo. George, insisted that we roll up the windows & lock the doors for this drive. We did. People pounded on the hood & trunk as we drove through this part. Not a nice place. We stopped at a store for a Coke & they pointedly ignored us until we left.
The bottom picture shows the villa where Noriega hid out during the US invasion of Panama. This is where they blasting loud rock music 24 hours a day to flush him out. That's George our taxi driver in the left of the photo.
Upper right: The market in Casco Viejo. George, insisted that we roll up the windows & lock the doors for this drive. We did. People pounded on the hood & trunk as we drove through this part. Not a nice place. We stopped at a store for a Coke & they pointedly ignored us until we left.
The bottom picture shows the villa where Noriega hid out during the US invasion of Panama. This is where they blasting loud rock music 24 hours a day to flush him out. That's George our taxi driver in the left of the photo.
Our highlight in 1997, was a trip over the spine of Panama to the indigenous Kuna (Cuna) Indian territories in Caribbean Panama. We flew out of Panama city to a grass runway in El Porvenir (top left). Our first stop (via motorized canoe) was picture postcard perfect Kwadule island with its 6 rooms on stilts over the sea. We had a fairly disgusting lunch & then it was back into the boat for a long ride to . . .
A Kuna Indian tourist trap. It was a seemingly 'authentic' village but- of course - it was staged as all of these package adventures are. The Indians sold their specialty molas out of bare hovels. A small school was underway which we were also trouped through. The picture of the cute girl below cost me a US quarter. It was interesting however . . .