ANAMA- SUMMER 2010 SPANISH-SALSA—SIZZLE!

July 24-August 8, 2010 Two weeks of intensive Spanish in the day AND Salsa every night in Panama City, Panama

This is an unTour of Language-Culture-Salsa and so much more.  Take Spanish in the mornings (si tu quieres), immerse yourself in the culture and nature en la tarde and experience Panama’s exciting night-life: plenty of great food,  music, dance-salsa and folk, and the theatre of Panama en la noche. Price-$1600( or less) for 15 days and nights in Panama City, Panama. This started as an educational tour for teachers was planned to be tax deductable if you enroll in the Spanish classes-ask your accountant!  Special opportunities for psychologists, counselors and teachers to practice their Spanish with Panamanian students and teachers in local schools. Some salsa dance lessons are provided along with the Spanish classes. Great additional lessons by the winners of the 2009 Philadelphia Salsa Congress are available for almost nothing(I paid $40 for 20 lessons)  $2-$5 for group lessons. Some nights at the casinos have free lessons taught by unbelievably talented masters. Individual lessons can easily be arranged.   Food is excellent and cheap.  Night life is constant, varied, inexpensive, safe and close to hotel. There is Salsa at two hotel casinos 2 blocks from where we will stay. Big events happen Saturday nights at La Salsa at the Hotel Panama and the Via Veneto has a band most nights. Smaller salsa clubs populate the city and never more that a $4.00 taxi ride. Many clubs catering to locals don’t get going till after 1 am or 2 am and some don’t hit their stride till 3:30 am. The Casino at Via Veneto has a great breakfast starting at 2am for $3.00 so no matter how long you stay up, you don’t have to miss a meal. The bar at most casinos have great meals for less than $6.00 and ceviche for two is $5.00 at most restaurants. Beer is about $1.75 at casinos and a Cuba Libre is $2.00. For more information about this unguided trip to Panama contact Jack Sharpe at sharptpe@rocketmail.com, or jsharpe@sandi.net

Spanish-Panama is a small intensive language school located in El Congrejo, a great neighborhood in Panama City. (Check out their website-spanishpanama.com)
 Classes are with no more that 3-4  student given daily, except Friday and the weekend, with 2 instructors for four hours of language learning  including a break-4 days a week. Classes are arranged and structured to meet each individual’s language level and needs. A placement test will help determine the skills you will work on. When I attended the school, we had a tour of the city, salsa lessons and a visit  to the canal..

After class each day and on the weekends a choice of activities are available.  Great food   at reasonable prices is within a 2-5 minute walk from Spanish Panama.  Out door cafes, many with music on weekends, offer foods from many nations. New York Bagel is across the street and a great Columbia restaurant with a large outside terrace is 3 minutes down Via Argentina. Keep walking down to find El Trapiche , Manolo’s, Café Pomodoro and so many more.  Near our hotel are two large casinos with music and dancing nightly.  Two of the most highly rated restaurants are down the street from the  Veneto Hotel and Casino and some of the best Japanese food is located  between the hotel and the school-7 minutes. Great food at reasonable prices is available all over Panama City. My favorite lunch is available across from the school near Einstein’s Head( a local landmark for taxi drivers) for $4 for three courses of traditional Panamanian food.

Panama City is an exciting vibrant city of contrasts. The Province of Panamá is located on the Pacific Coast of the Isthmus where you will find the capital city of the Republic-Panamá City .  It is the center of economic activity including the commercial and banking sector, THE PANAMA CANAL-“THE EIGHT WONDER OF THE WORLD ,” ports, international and domestic airports, shopping centers, hotels, restaurants, casinos and nightclubs, all for the visitor’s needs and enjoyment.  Also, Panamá City is surrounded by exotic tropical rain forests, where you can find over 900 species of birds, tropical flowers, trees insects and mammals.  Beaches are 50 minutes from the city and beautiful islands such as Contadora are just 20 minutes by plane.  Taboga Island, just off the coast of Panamá City, is 50 minutes by boat sailing from the Panamá Canal Pacific entrances.  Panamá City is composed of many diverse cultures including descendants of Spanish settlers, Africans and Afro-Antilleans, indigenous tribes, North Americans, Europeans, Asians and a large number of people whose origins blended into “The Mestizo.”   

A morning   tour, for those enrolled in Spanish Panama, will  take off  from Spanish Panama and begins at the Miraflores locks, located at the Pacific entrance to the Canal where  you will learn the secrets and histories surrounding the building of the Canal while you experience this magnificent architectural masterpiece and have a breathtaking view of the ships transiting through the 8th wonder of the world. The Miraflores Locks is approximately 80 kilometers long between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. During our visit to this engineering marvel, we will get the chance to see the Canal gates of Miraflores Locks. The locks function as water lifts: they raise ships from sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake (26 meters above sea level); ships then sail the channel through the Continental Divide.

The trip then takes you to the city, where you will be able to experience the modern and financial district and the beauty of the colonial city of Panama.  visit  across the bay where we will  find a contrast in the oldest sector of the city, which was founded in 1673, and named the Casco Antiguo. Look for the house on the bay used in the latest James Bond movie. This place has a charming mixture of colonial architecture, cobblestone streets and ethnic diversity. We will not spend much time here but plan to come back at night when the clubs are jumping and sound and light presentation in the walls of the old city. The old city is about a 20 minute taxi ride from the hotel and is close to the famous fish market where the food on the roof is fresh and inexpensive.

Other places to see:
The Pearl of Panama
Los Santos, the country's idyllic Pacific coast region, has spectacular rolling farmlands and blissfully empty beaches two hours from Panama City.
Even the most sophisticated traveler could be forgiven for thinking that there's little more to Panama than its iconic canal, seaside capital, and snorkeler-packed Bocas del Toro islands-not to be missed. But there's a more secret and equally spectacular side to the country about a five-hour drive west from Panama City: the Pacific coast region of Los Santos. Here, rolling farmlands and stands of mahogany and cocobolo trees hug an azure coastline, luring surfers, nature buffs, and, increasingly, travelers and second-home owners from all over.
Although roadside real-estate billboards suggest a far more developed future, Los Santos has managed to stay blessedly free of resorts. In their place are a handful of low-key—and far more affordable—boutique hotels. The most stylish is the seven-room Villa Camilla, just outside the fishing village of Pedasí. The red-tiled hideaway, located on an 800-acre parcel of the Azuero Peninsula, started out as a private escape for French interior designer Gilles St.-Gilles and his wife, Camilla. "The area reminded us of Tuscany," says St.-Gilles, who landscaped the estate with fragrant jasmine, plumeria, and hibiscus. In 2005, the couple opened their place as a hotel, and last fall they added 20 new seaside duplex lofts. As stylish as they are family-friendly, the setups come with full-size kitchens, extra guest beds, and mosaic-tile flooring. An in-house stable is ready for shoreline horseback rides, and you can sign up for snorkeling trips to nearby Isla Cañas, a palm-fringed refuge where thousands of leatherback turtles converge to build nests.
Farther inland, the center of Pedasí has a cow-town vibe: Picture low-slung cottages painted bright green and yellow, and ranchers wearing handmade Panama hats. Yellow is also the color of choice at the new Casita Margarita. This five-room B&B comes with locally crafted cocobolo furniture and a wraparound veranda overlooking Pedasí's main street. Perhaps best of all, it's within walking distance of local hangout Mano Surf Community, a pro shop that does double duty as a café and juice bar, and El Gringo Dusek, a no-frills, alfresco cantina run by retired U.S. Navy officer Joseph Dusek, which serves the best barbecue ribs in Los Santos.
Of course, beyond the culinary surf and turf, the region's big draw is its blissfully empty beaches: Some of Panama's most scenic—Los Destiladeros, Modroño, and the black-sand Playa Venao with its eight-foot breaks—are short drives from Pedasí. Closer to home, Pedasí's El Arenal is a good launchpad for day trips to Iguana Island. (Fishermen stationed by the pier rent their motorboats, captain included, for about $50 round trip.) The hotel-free and nearly visitor-free isle is named for its resident black and green iguanas. Sign up for an Iguana Island Foundation snorkeling and hiking tour; you might just get a good look at some hatchlings.
While it may be hard to top that sight, 77-year-old Dalila Vera de Quintero knows how to command equal wows. Her lemon-yellow bakery in a bungalow, Dulceria Yely, is famous across Panama for its home-style sweets, like almond queques (pound cakes) and creamy chicheme, a shake blended from sweetened milk, fresh corn, and crushed vanilla beans. She also stashes a cake or two in the kitchen for favorite customers, such as former Panamanian president and Pedasí native Mireya Moscoso. Swoon loudly enough and Quintero may just reward you with a thick presidential slice.
LODGING
Villa Camilla
Los Destiladeros, 011-507/232-0171, azueros.com, from $250
Casita Margarita
Calle Central, 011-507/995-2898, pedasihotel.com, from $99
FOOD
Mano Surf Community
Calle Estudiante and Calle Bolivar, manosurf.com
El Gringo Dusek
Av. Central, 011-507/995-2869, entrées from $5
Dulceria Yely
Calle Ofelia Reluz, 011-507/995-2205, from 3¢

ACTIVITIES
Iguana Island Foundation
011-507/236-8117, islaiguana.com, full-day tour $90