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
