Sunday, January 2, 2011

Last Thoughts......



Overall Impressions….the trip for all was amazing! The weather was hot hot hot, and the resort service was really great. The opportunity to spend the holidays with family is always the most important thing, but here are a couple of thoughts from the group of their favourites…..

Oliver – Ziplining, seeing the Panama canal and sailing were my faves! Of course the cheeseburgers were awesome too!
Mikhaila – Ziplining, the pools, and spending time with family were my favourites!

Zoe – My favourite part was swimming in all the pools and ziplining was my second favourite. The food was my third!

Mom – Everything – but especially the New Year’s party

Dad – The beauty of the resort and the great weather

Eleny – Beach volleyball, the endless supply of cappuccinos and the New Year’s Party
Jim - The New Year’s Party
Anastasia – Beach volleyball
Katherine – she was asleep – unfortunately Katherine wasn’t feeling very well

Paul – Watching the kids swim with greater confidence
Colleen – The Anton Valley market experience was great….I loved the shopping!
Harper – Spending all the time with family and Ziplining
Owen – Ziplining and the chicken on the airplane on the way down

Katina

Overall, I would have to say the New Year’s Eve party was my favourite part…I’ve decided I want to be Spanish as they have a beautiful language and the music and dancing are lots of fun. I loved watching the families all dancing together from Salsas to Mambo’s and seeing the children learn the steps from their parents.
The band was amazing and there’s nothing like dancing under the starts to live Latin music.
Of course the ziplining was awesome too….
Seeing all the children together is always my favourite…I have very fond memories of spending time with my cousins growing up and I hope our kids will be very close as they grow up together.

Happy 2011!

Panama Canal


When in Panama…see the canal! We didn’t want to go with a big bus tour, so we contacted a private company and we had a personal guide (Mike Freeman – an American) for the day.
During the ride into the city we learned a lot about Panama and their culture. Mike and his wife had retired and moved to Panama so it was interesting to hear his thoughts on making the move to a new country and culture.
He dropped us off at the canal and thought we would only need 1.5 hours, but we ended up there for about 3 hours! It was really interesting….as soon as we got there a cargo ship was going through the locks so it was awesome to see first hand how the locomotives steer the ships through the locks and keep it centred. Then we watched a video on the construction and history of the canal and then followed an interactive tour which focused upon different elements of the canal. For example, the canal’s history, water and wildlife with the canal, the canal and the world, and the new locks that will be built by 2014.
Afterwards, we went to visit the Old City of Panama which had been burned down to the ground by pirates in the 1500’s. The old city is really interesting as builders restore them to their former styles. The Embira Indians were also out on the streets selling their wares. I tried to take a photo, but they wanted us to purchase something first before taking a photo.
Of course, no city outing is complete without getting lost! Mike had a GPS, but decided to ignore it and see what happened. As a result, we had an extra tour through some of the city’s needier and seedier areas. It was a little tense, but finally we got back on track and headed back to the safety and familiarity of the resort.

New Year’s Eve





Wow! What a party!

After a busy day we were able to get the kids down for a nap so they had some energy for the evening. We
arrived at our table for 7:00 and were amazed to see the dining room transformed into an incredible party palace. Decorations were everywhere and the mood was super festive. The cook staff did an outstanding job of creating stations of beautiful foods. Volcanoes with fire coming out of the top were made out of bread and towers of seafood were everywhere. There were boatloads of sushi, lobster, huge shrimps, and all kinds of other delicious treats.
After dinner the band started their first set and played for about 30 minutes - the crowd was just getting warmed up. The day before, a large Columbian group arrived so they brought more energy to the group. All night we danced and enjoyed different Latin dances.
The countdown was in Spanish and when they reached 0 – the fireworks on the beach were explosive! It lasted for around 15-20 minutes! It was un grand spectacle!

Happy 2011!

Panamanian Dancers


On another night we watched some beautiful traditional Panamanian dancers. They wore beautiful outfits with each lady matching her shoes to her flowers in her hair and her dress decorations. Of course, when they sought people out of the audience for participants, Oliver was selected…it’s something about his height that makes him a natural target! He’s always a good sport about it all…

Beach Party



On one of the nights we had a beach party where they had the famous “Table Band” play their music while we lay back under the stars. We also had the opportunity o light a candle and put it in a paper bag filled with sand. We lined all the candles up and made wishes for the new year….it was beautiful to listen to the music, watch the stars and see the candles at the edge of the water….very relaxing.

Kids and Teen Club


There was a really nice Kids Club and the leaders were lovely ladies who tried very hard to make it fun for the kids – they did movie nights, mini parties, treasure hunts etc…
At the Teens Club, there were pool tables, ping pong, and arcade games that were free! It gave the kids a chance to take a break from the hot weather and have some fun with the many other kids at the resort (Miss Pacman rocks!). Would you believe there was another Harper from Toronto? Harper number 2 quickly joined our kids and added more to the fun!

Cross it off the Bucket List!




Oliver and I have a list of things we would like to do before we “kick the bucket”, so one of them was ziplining through a rainforest. When we got to the resort, we quickly decided to book a trip and the rest of the group decided to join us. We rented a bus with our driver Sanchez who took us through lovely little towns as we made our way up the mountains. Of course being in the rainforest….it rained a lot! Luckily we had packed our raincoats (learned something from Thailand!) while the others used garbage bags to deflect the storm.
For the first line Oliver led the group so that he could take pictures, then each child went with a guide, I braked too soon and had to pull my way in…but I didn’t care…it was lots of fun! The second line the kids felt brave to go on their own and off they went zipping to the next canopy. The third line allowed us to hang in front of this beautiful waterfall…I just kept staring and thinking….my family all together zipping by a waterfall…….doesn’t get much better than this!
Despite our soggy clothes…it really was a great experience and now we can cross it off our list!

Kareoke


Kareoke

The entertainment at night was supplied by YouTube karaoke. Our group was quite active and sang a number of songs:
• Hit Me with your best Shot (Colleen and Kat)
• California Girls (Little Katie Perrys – Mik, Zoe, Katherine &Harper)
• Dancing Queen (Group)
• Behind Blue Eyes (Jim as the lead – Colleen and Kat in the background)
• Amore (Oliver)
• American Idiot (Paul and Owen)

• Money, Money, Money (Group)
• Halo (Mik, Zoe, Katherine &Harper)
• Living on a Prayer (Group)
And others that I just can’t remember! Overall, it was lots of fun for everyone and the kids enjoyed sharing the mike!

Daily Activities



The days were filled with swimming and fun for all. The resort has awesome pools on different levels along with a really fast water slide. All the kids, (including the big ones), loved it!
Marco Polo, diving for money, and the pool bars were just some of the highlights. I really enjoyed the water aerobics every morning, especially for the music. I tried to run on the beach, but the humidity was stifling so it was easier to hit the gym and then dive into the water to cool off…what a life! Oliver, Colleen, and Paul enjoyed just sitting by the pool and reading books as they often don’t have the chance to take in some fiction. Mom found the sun too hot so relaxed in the shade, while Dad took in too much sun and finally put on some spf midweek!

We fell into a routine of doing the pools in the morning, having lunch and then heading for the beach. Eleny and Anastasia were always playing beach volleyball while Jim enjoyed his daily beach walk and teaching the kids how to find awesome seashells.

The Pacific was different everyday so we had to watch for flags to see if it was okay to swim in the water. Once it was high tide the stingrays came in and someone got stung…luckily none of the kids, so some days were spent further up on the sand.
When possible, the kids had a blast jumping waves, building sand castles and hunting for crabs and frogs. We also had a chance to kayak and go out for a sail on a catamaran.

Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad!

It was an early Christmas morning as we were up to open our stockings and presents just after 6:00 am.
The girls were super excited that they received more gifts from Santa than last year. Zoe believes it was because they were so well behaved!
It was a lovely, but very fast Christmas morn!

We picked up mom and dad at 8:30am and made our way to the airport. The road was ours – it’s hard to believe that the 401 is usually at a standstill, but we were able to fly and get there for 9:00am.

Customs was a breeze although Jim wished he could have selected the officer to “pat” him down!

The flight was a good one and everyone enjoyed the meal and movies. The best part was when the kids all got to go into the cockpit and have their picture taken by the pilot.

Initial impressions as we make our way to the resort….

Panama is a family oriented culture who are very religious….lots of Christmas celebrations happening and the nativity is everywhere. The homes are small bungalow style with lots of colourful Christmas lights. Lots of gatherings are evident and a warm friendly feeling is everywhere. Our tour guide assures us that Panamanians are always friendly and that this is the safest country in Latin America.

Our hopes for the week include seeing the Panama Canal and hopefully zip lining through the rainforest. We’ll see what happens!

We’re staying at Breezes Panama, a resort in Santa Clara. We are currently on a bus taking us from the airport to the resort via Panama City (2 hours). The city is a cosmopolitan one with lots of skyscrapers, cinemas, casinos etc…

The bus ride has been a lovely one…the reps gave us water, beer and cake as we entered to make our ride a comfortable one. So far, I’m very happy with the hospitality!

The kids are singing Christmas carols and playing quietly it’s hard to believe Christmas morning was 12 hours ago.

The Balboa is the currency here which is equivalent to the American dollar. For more history on Panama, click on this link.

It appears that the rainy season is still with us due to El Nino and El Nina, but no problem….we brought raincoats and are ready for anything!