Isla Contadora!!!!

The object of our trip to Panama was Contadora Island Inn, Silvio's and Melinda's tropical joint venture into commercial real estate and tourism in paradise.  I have to admit, this is a beautiful place, as the pictures below will attest.  The album begins with our flight from Panama City, in a Cessna 208 Caravan belonging to Aero Perlas.  First, a couple of aerial shots of the new high-rise buildings of Panama City.

Trump Tower, with a sail-like superstructure.

I love the variety of the architecture, and the striking use of white.

After a smooth 25 minute flight, we saw the Pearl Islands emerging from the tropical morning haze..

Final Approach to Isla Contadora... a short field landing, please!

Here is the Contadora Island Inn's owner Melinda, a consummate professional hotel manager.  Our fellow guest shown here is from Switzerland.  Others were from The Netherlands and from Birmingham, Alabama.  We also met visiting folks from Israel and Ohio, and two owners of other hotels were German and American.

Both bicycles and golf carts are offered by Contadora Island Inn for their guests' use.

The Inn's tiny Chinese van was temporarily(?) out of commission with an electrical malfunction.

'Twas a Mafei Zhongyi.  Mean anything to you?

Contadora has many homes of great beauty.

This large home has four or five levels, 

and a baby Suzuki van, which has no headlamps.

Pretty nice, eh?

A closer view.

Two-stroke bikes are still allowed here.  There aren't many, but the young islanders who ride them do so much as I did at 19... with great gusto!

The main beach near the airport.  There are seven available, all open to the public.

This is another Trump project, but it sits empty and unfinished. We heard that The Donald's plans included a ten-story tower, but the property is adjacent to the airstrip.  The tower was not allowed so close to the flight paths, so Herr Trump has walked away from the island.

This is the largest beach.  The flat-bottom boat at the far end is permanently beached.  Just off this beach is the ruin of a once-luxurious hotel, frequented, so they say, by the likes of John Wayne, back in the 1970s.

Romanian+Panamanian+New Hampshirian Noncoincidence of the Day

Marion and Melinda

As I was about to take a dip in the rooftop pool at Melinda's building in Casco Viejo, Melinda and another woman came onto the terrace looking for me.  Standing in my swimsuit, I met Marion MacGillivray.  I soon learned that Marion is the woman who sold Contadora Island Inn to Silvio and Melinda, after operating it herself for about eight years.  Then, Meli told me that Marion used to live in New Hampshire.  "Where in New Hampshire?" I asked.  She replied, "On Stinson Lake. I used to drive often over Ellsworth Hill and into Campton."  We had lunch.  Marion, it turns out, is an American citizen of Scottish birth and South African upbringing, and has had a fascinating life.  Much of it has been devoted to education, especially of troubled former foster children, which is what her school did on Stinson Lake.  She is a friend of my PSU colleague Prof. Scott Meyer of the sociology department, who is also a friend of Shirl.  So, my Romanian former teaching assistant has bought a Panamanian hotel from my former New Hampshire neighbor.  Hmmm.