Travel in the Time of COVID: 2021 – Panama

Nueva Gorgona/ Coronado

Its only $5 per person to take the bus from Panama City to Coronado (and then a $5-7 cab ride to the hotel) – or a $55 taxi. We chose the more convenient and less environmentally friendly transport. 

Nueva Gorgona was resettled from Gorgona, a town that is now under Gatun Lake – part of the Panama Canal. The town itself sits about a kilometer inland, and has a few small grocery stores providing most essentials (including wine) and the recently re-opened restaurant called La Ruina.

La Ruina was built at the former US Army base and is operated by an American Expat and his Panamanian wife. The food was good, the atmosphere was friendly (and showed American Football on TV), but the portions were small (even by Panamanian and European standards). 

The volcanic sand beach has three new high-rise condominiums between the local beach bars, serving Atlas beer and fried fish. Our AirBNB was on the 22^nd floor of the Royal Palm, offering lovely views of both the mountains and the beach. At night, we could hear the waves lapping up on shore. 

Unfortunately, the elevation did not insulate us from the youth camp next door, who liked to run races and activities at 6AM, blaring music (“Highway to Hell” was a favorite) and blowing off firecrackers. Luckily, this was only an issue on the weekend. 

The region has a large Expat community in Coronado, 3 miles away. We thought we could walk it on the beach, but after about 2 miles we had to head inland due to large outcropping jutting into the sea.

The beachside of Coronado is a gated community with a few restaurants and small stores. The main town, along the Pan-American Highway (Highway 1), is a mile or more inland, and is where the larger grocery stores and other shops are situated. On our walk from the beach into the main part of Coronado, we ran across a local resident who had lived here for 14 years. He told us of the area, the expensive homes lining the water with their “private” beaches (technically in Panama, the government owns the beach, but don’t tell that to the beachfront owners), and of the gatherings at “Picasso” – a local resident hangout (on the beach side of the barrier). We went for the Wednesday night Happy Hour, another local, a Canadian who bought a teak farm, came over and chatted for a bit, but otherwise we just hung out and people watched. A local employee helped us flag down a cab to get us back to our hotel. 

 It is a pleasant area to spend a week or two by the beach.

The Pacific waters are warm, and a steady sea breeze keeps the humidity from becoming oppressive. If you are looking for an Expat lifestyle, be aware that unless you are shopping for local produce, groceries are not cheap (since we had a kitchen, I made chocolate chip cookies – the 12oz bag of chocolate chips and 8oz of pecans cost over $12). Eggs and cheese also cost as much if not more than in the US. Gas prices are similar to the US – about 80c per liter (so about $3/gal). 

Next up – into the mountain town of El Valle.