Avocado Tantrum

Eating sushi, Peruvian food, and typical food for breakfast-I did not get a chance to eat at the pricey Mondongo's. It's basically a pricier version of local food you can have half price. The waiters I made friends with were waiting for me, but I just ran out of time. Literally I was going around the hotel saying bye to all the staff- making my usual runs. Going around so fast that I misplaced my Colombia gold leaf necklace I bought in the gift shop. It was $50....wonderful. I didn't know I lost it until sitting down on the plane.

Anyways, I was rushing out and so disappointed about not getting this Colombian avocado. I was talking to the taxi driver asking him to stop and he was concerned about my timing; I was concerned about an avocado.

 

Sharing my sob story with the candy guy, he gave me some advice....

 He looked at me with a serious expression as if this was top secret information.

"You go across the street, down the elevator to the ground floor, cross the street again, and turn right into the building.   There you will find a great local restaurant. It's a secret only staff know about."

He smiles with his cute 20 year old dimples. He knocks on my backpack and passes some free Colombian candy in my hand.

 

Off I run downstairs like a 10 year old searching for her dad. There I see a lunch lady style food counter with  a larger Colombian woman with a big smile. She kind of looks like a Figure from Botero's famous work. She dishes out everything I want, but she says they don't have the avocado. I frown and shake my head thinking, "This is probably the one restaurant without avocado.

She does have all the other main necessities, but I am just missing the avocado.

I walk to the front with a big frown.  When I smile, I can touch hearts. When I frown, I can make people feel very bad. The man behind the register hear my disappointment with no avocado. He says, "Quieres un aguacate?"

 

I said, "Si, si- Me encanta aguates de Colombia."

 

He says, "Hold on let me go check."

 

Looking at my watch, I am realizing that I am pushing my time trying to get my perfect last supper.

Just in time, he comes out with a huge, perfectly ripe avocado. "Is this okay? It's the only one we have?"

"Okay? It's perfect." Pris

 

Avocado tantrum over and Priscilla is again spoiled by beautiful people.

           Lovely, Lovely, Lovely,  Locals!

 

Local Delights

Other side El Poblado chocolate 

Arepas

Oh how I love the Arepas

Let me count the ways

One-cheesy

Two-corn taste

Three-Crispy on the outside

Four-dipped in Mantequilla (butter)

Five- Per my friend Gabe-“pure deliciousness”

At breakfast, I would eat two each along with some eggs, fruit and yogurt. 

Every morning I looked forward to these Arepas. The Chef even made me some fresh ones to go on my way to the airport. The waitress (adorable) must have told him how much I like them. 

Karaoke and Spring Rolls

Sometimes when traveling, you want to feel like you’re at home. You may not be home sick and ready to go home, but you just want to feel it for a moment in time. As previously mentioned, fast food restaurants can be that place where I can relax and just restart my engine. The staff is so friendly, warm, and welcoming-a part of it does feel like home.

With this Mega plaza across the street from my hotel, I was bound to venture over there and check it out. Of course, they have the typical American chains, but they also have some nice restaurants. A Mexican restaurant and outdoor seafood restaurant on the patio, which circles around. It’s a pretty nice mall I must say.

One night, I was starving for something to eat that wasn’t fried or on the street (near the church food). I heard some music so I thought I would check it out. I sat at the bar with the friendly Colombian with the cool hair. Colombians or maybe just futbol players always have unique hair-spikey in all different directions. On stage, in front of me was a beautiful girl singing “Cuando Me Enamoro.” It was Spanish Karaoke and I loved it. These people were so lively and most of them knew how to sing, especially Mr. Julio Iglesias. It was a pretty good looking, upscale crowd. It was all open windows with a nice breeze coming in.  I ordered the Tuna tartar-absolute heaven. While everyone sang, I just watched until my favorite song came on and I danced. “Bailando” by Enrique Iglesias.


If I don’t dance to this song then I don’t deserve to be in Latin America. Everyone dances to this amazing beat. Everyone. It was nice, this whole getting older and not caring about dancing by yourself-enjoying without worrying about others.  This doesn’t really apply in Latin America because people of all ages, incomes, professions, colors, cultures- they dance. It’s truly beautiful just letting go of those inhibitions. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUsoVlDFqZg

The next night was not as exciting and I probably should have went back the same place, but I went to PF Changs. While most would not choose this, Panama is sort of Americanized so I did not feel so bad.   I couldn’t feel bad when it tasted sooo good. …. And I maybe ate something else that involves sugar, bananas, and spring rolls.

Lemon Tree

All good things must come to an end and that is what happened at Hard Rock. Three days of amazing food, swimming, staff, relaxation-I truly did not want to leave, but hotels go on and on. 

The next destination was in one of the best areas of Panama, which was right near the Mega Plaza-the huge shopping mall. This was not exciting, but the area was adorable. It reminded me of a Gauthier in Morocco or a Beverly Hills in California. It was super posh with cafes, bakeries, an Arabic restaurant, Spanish restaurant, and various sushi spots. This is clearly where the rich people are hanging out and I could tell by how they were dressed-nice, but not impressed. It’s just money and you need to detach from it.

Again, I struck gold with this hotel.  I mean can I really complain about Panama attitude when I have these great experiences?

This hotel was small with only 10 rooms. It was full with a few Colombian girls, a few Americans, and a couple business men.

The room felt cozy and was well decorated like a room at home. The bed was super comfortable and the air was blowing cold(important in Central America). The breakfast was included in the $ 20. It’s funny when you go from $$$$ to $.

At the front desk sat Alfredo, a friendly, chubby Colombian guy. He became my new friend who I would share candy with and talk about life in Colombia.  His life was a difficult one with his ex-wife taking custody of their daughter. It’s hard for him to go back to Colombia because he is always working the graveyard shift. Despite missing his daughter terribly, he still has that smiling shining on his face. 

After excellent sleep (3 nights in a row), I would wake up to a breakfast of pancakes, peanut butter, nutella, eggs, coffee, and fresh fruit. I would sit and watch CNN with the newspaper and then I would head to the church.  This was the routine each day for three days.

On the second day, I met with the co-owner.  It was him, his brother, and his mother who turned their house into a hotel. It was a recent hotel only open for two years. His mother and sister were the designers as one can tell the rooms have extra racks and hooks for clothing. The rooms are extremely accommodating.

Unfortunately, their hotel was sitting right next to a construction site. This was the common site that doesn’t get things done on time. They are constantly standing around with nothing to do. It’s quite a sad case because the hotel had to tear their nice patio down because the scaffold was falling into their space. When you look at this construction building, it looks like none of it is finished. They started over a year ago and they have another year to go.

This is definitely bad for business especially when this is such a great hotel.  The owner is clearly frustrated in his voice, but he tries to remain optimistic.  He’s a nice guy, his brother his arrogant, and his girlfriend is dressed like a princess. In other words, he is a sincere, nice person and I wish the best for this small boutique hotel. There needs to be more places like this one. 

                  Buh Bye Panama

Chillaxing

Monday was a wonderful day. The breakfast buffet was excellent-especially the Stuffed French toast, smoked salmon with Brie and Figs, excellent Café leche, 

I had the hotel all to myself except for a few people. It was time to take advantage of the pool, hot tub, and sauna. 

Touch down! Best ceviche of the trip!

Swimming with my new ten year old Colombian friend. His brother and him are both from Medellin (where I am going). They are staying with their nun who is the babysitter. Another nun on an Iphone playing scrabble.  It’s funny seeing a nun in the Hard Rock pool, but again they are just people too.

The Colombian girls and I were dancing near the pool and being silly.  They had no one there so it was okay to let loose and have some fun.  They all invited me to Cartagena(where they are from) and I said, “Okay after Medellin I will stop there.” Oh boy, if I could I would-trust me!

After my swimming, I spent sometime exploring different areas of the hotel. They have some fantastic lounges where you can just get lost reading and relaxing. So that is what I did. I also went up to the Bling bar area to sit on the balcony.  

Finally, dinner at the steakhouse with impeccable décor and a Halibut to die for and a chocolate soufflé to write home about. It was my birthday time on overdrive.   

The best part about Monday and Tuesday was that everyone cleared out of the hotel. It was truly a time to relax and take advantage of the hotels nice spaces: juice café, Rock n Roll lounge, sushi restaurant, and great coffee café.  Bling Nightclub looked nice, but I did not attend because I can proudly say....It just doesn't hold the importance it used to, but relaxing and enjoying life always will.   

Hard Rock Surpises

It’s my party and it will rain if it wants to....

Rain if it wants to....
 
Rain if it wants to....

You would cry too if it happened to you...

 

Okay nice lyrics, but no one was crying, especially not in the Hard Rock. It was my birthday and I was in my favorite mid-range hotel. I just felt so thankful with Saturday and the beginning of the day. When you add on the luxury, I become so thankful because I worked towards it. People stay in the 4 to 5 star hotels all the time and sometimes don’t leave.  This was not my life and staying just sometimes made it pretty special.
 

When I arrived at the front desk, they were dressed in adorable Michael Jackson uniforms. The front desk agent was a sweet girl from Colombia who lived in Miami. We had our nice little conversation and I was extra nice to her, especially to get the room I wanted. I did mention it was my birthday and I was staying alone(hey good to pull out all the stops-it was the truth). I had just paid for a standard room, but all I really wanted was a great view from the 15 floor or something.


She smiles at me, “Okay I have your room. I hope you like it.” She gives me a wink and I was thinking, “Hmmm.”

I take my heavy, travelers backpack (not common luggage for the Hard rock) and I take a look at my card to check the floor and it says “56.” 

Excitement is coming over me as I rush through the elevator doors. 20, 30, 40, 56. I walk out the elevator doors to the end of the hallway. The door opens and there is a Junior Suite with sofa, kitchen, table, and television. 

The balcony immediately attracted me as it appeared to be pretty big. I couldn’t open the door, probably out of pure excitement. I went in the bedroom to open it there and “Voila.”

It was a Penthouse view that went 360 all around. I felt like Pretty woman and I jumped on the bed like a 10 year old. It was my birthday and I had this spectacular view. It was exactly what I wanted. It was truly mesmorizing and if I lived with that view I would write everyday and all day-amazing.

It sounds sad being alone for your birthday, but I’m never alone with my higher power. Also, with my personality and character, I can always make friends with staff and guests. It happened to be the weekend with all the Colombians visiting-perfectly satisfied with that and met some great Colombians. In this hotel, I was never alone. I spoke with pretty much every staff that worked there-the Colombian staff and a couple of them from Panama.

                      Lychee soda yes please  

Exploring the hotel......

Pre-dinner   Photos

 

When it came to the night, my friend Marco from last night insisted on meeting me for dinner and I accepted. 

There were 5 or 6 restaurants at the Hard Rock and I checked out a few before he came. 

    

When I walked into the beautiful buffet room and saw the selection, I was set on eating there. It felt like all eyes were on me and that’s the way I like it on my birthday. The star attention and compliments-Leo enjoys this very much. I spent some time talking to the adorably cute manager and making friends with the staff. They weren’t aware of my birthday until it slipped out that I turn 30 today. 

As we became more comfortable, I was joking that we can take a full cake from the desert table with a few candles (I would settle for a few). The staff would come around and I would say to him. “What happened did someone took a bite from my cake?”

“Make sure you guard it or bring me a full one.”

Then I would tell the manager that someone ate my cake and he would just smile. "Tell these people to please stay away from my cake." I was definitely interested in making him smile. 

At this point, I am still waiting for my friend, but I am eating and talking so I am content.  Crab, Sea bass, capri mozzarella, roasted potatoes, and all kinds of salads/gourmet cheeses-yeah I’m good. What was a bit annoying was that he kept saying he would "come in five minutes"(this just triggered my Moroccan experience) This expression pretty much sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me...so I focused on the present moment and ignored my phone.

Anyways, he finally did show up an hour late, but he was on the other side of town. I totally forgave him and was thankful he did make the effort to come. He is truly like a teddy bear and his face is so sweet and kind. He makes me laugh and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner together. 

At the end, they all come up for the cake and “Happy Birthday.” They sing in Spanish and English. It’s a happy moment for me. These people are so wonderful and not just some random people, but people I took the time to get to know a bit.

              

Off we went next to the Rock and Music lounge where they had amazing live music each night. This night was “The Old Times.” The place was filled with Colombians and I was rocking out as if I was one of them. Everyone was typical Latin America singing along with the lyrics, hands up with glasses inside their palms. 

There were two of the Spanish songs I recognized and loved. Marco did not seem very interested, but he said he was just watching the music.  Perhaps, he was watching the girls because these Colombian girls are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. They all have this long, straight dark hair that is down to their butt. They wear huge platforms and tight jeans or pants with a dress top. The men are not as attractive, but if this is a taste of Colombia I like it. 
 

The band ended about a half an hour after and we called it a night. With or without my friend Marco, it would have been a great night for me because I loved the people I was around and that’s what matters on a birthday… okay, okay and sometimes the ritz and the glamour.=)