After we left Las Lajas, we drove through some beautiful country heading east to the busy beach town of Coronado. Many expats have — “wait!”, you say? “What the heck is going on – you haven’t posted in over a year!!! Your last post was September of 2012! If you think you can sneak a post in on us exactly one year later and not have us catch it, you’re sorely mistaken!!”
You’re right, it HAS been one whole year. I can account for my absence. I’m not making excuses, just providing reasons. And here’s why:
1) I spent last Christmas in Park City, Utah and 6 weeks in Europe this past Spring
2) I am a lazy wench and have been having too much fun to write anything
3) I have dropped everything to produce a body of art of which I’m just beginning to be proud
4) I have held two art shows featuring my work and also entered Chiriqui’s first-ever
Juried Art Show in which I won 1st Place Amateur
5) I learned how to watch any TV program I want on my computer and have been
holed up with Dexter, Justified, The Walking Dead, House of Cards, Banshee,
Orange Is The New Black, House of Lies, Hannibal, ad infinitum
6) I have been abducted by aliens and probed and prodded mercilessly
7) I lost my downtown art studio and had to re-locate it to the house
8) I’ve been serving as President of Boquete Artworks and have been volunteering
as the Graphic Artist for numerous local charities and organizations
9) I’ve been focussing on my health, working out 9 hours per week and cutting
out lots of food that is bad for me. I’ve dropped 20 pounds.
10) I’ve held 4 Encaustic Art workshops in my new studio, each one needing publicity, preparation and follow up.
Nine of the above 10 reasons are true. It is your job to decide which one is false. I gotta keep you all one your toes, you know!
All that being said, I have no idea when my next post will be. I’m done making excuses, life is what it is and blogs are what they are.
On to Coronado:
John and I spent 2 days in this popular beachside community. Loads of expats live here as there are numerous golf courses dotting the beachside up and down this particular part of Panama’s coastline. Commerce has moved in to accommodate the population and loads of upper class Panamanians have gorgeous homes along “Millionaire’s Row” along the beach. But here’s the deal: it’s frickin’ hot. Wa-a-a-a-a-y too hot for this little greenhouse orchid. I need the cool, refreshing air of Boquete, thank you very much!
We found the Coronado Golf and Beach Resort in due time after getting lost, of course. Check in was easy and fast and we found our room easily enough. We were in the 2-story section of the resort, which is reserved for hotel guests. Other living areas on the resort include a village of villas and residential condominium tower. Here are pics of our room, which I loved, especially after the spartan surroundings of Las Lajas:
Living areas are comfy and spacious. Check out the TV stand — it swivels to face the bed!
The bed area has its own alcove
Bathrooms are nicely appointed and meet with the approval of this snooty chick!
Once we checked out the rooms, swiveled the TV around and jumped on the sofa beds in the living room, we went out to explore the grounds. There’s a nice looking golf course (we didn’t get to play), an okay restaurant in which we ate the whole time we were there (the “good” restaurant was under renovations) and a large pool which, frankly, has some deferred maintenance. Here are pics of the exterior:
Exterior of the Hotel
Aerial view of the resort and golf course from the condo tower. This is from their web site.
Lovely looking course. Wish we’d played it.
Photo of the pool — this photo is from their web site
This is my photo. Even with the deferred maintenance, the cool thing is lunch can be served poolside.
John enjoys the pool. Better get some sunscreen on that head, don’tcha think?
We never did make it to the beach. I understand there is a courtesy shuttle which takes you there and picks you up, but after Las Lajas, we were ‘beached out’. We never discovered anything to do at night, so each evening after dinner we retired to our rooms to jump on the sofa beds in the living room some more. That, and watch TV.
After two days, we were ready to hit the road and tour El Valle.
Who knows when I’ll post that, eh?
(Not A) Third World - Wife 
Sigh! It was a long wait. But worth it
Love you, darlin’!
Two things: “Deferred maintenance” swimming pools, the norm in Central America, scare the bejesus out of me. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a clean freak, but there’s just something about a pool that doesn’t look pristine–I just imagine all those bodies and bodily functions. Secondly, I can’t hear or say the phrase “well-appointed room” without getting the giggles. It just plain sounds funny. Does someone appoint a room?
Hahaha, Bonnie, I will never look at the phrase “well-appointed room” in quite the same way anymore!