Panama City

[QUOTE=ArchieLeach]Iguana Six,

I've come on here looking to get info on the PTY scene and have [b]sticker shock[/b]. I'm trying to figure out what I'm missing, these prices sound outrageous (sorry to my PTY brothers, no disrespect meant to PTY).

I want to come check out Panama, but at these prices I'm having a hard time. I mean, guys are throwing around $200-$300-$400 numbers without any hint of sarcasm.

PTY guys, help me out, I've read the last three pages or so today just to get a rundown, what am I missing? What don't I get? This looks like crazy money when CR is dropping prices daily. Again, I don't mean to slam Panama, I'm here because I want to come. But I'm missing something.

Archieleach, recent CR convert from LOS.[/QUOTE]

Panama is pretty basic. Fly into a modern hotel with decent air connections to Miami or Atlanta. You will pay stateside prices for hotels, although the 4-star hotels are a bargain compared to US big city prices. ($125-$200 a night, they are centrally located, and most are chica-friendly. In the case of the Veneto, you can bring a provider right up from the in house casino). Food is cheaper than in the states. Cabs are $1-3 dollars depending upon how far you go.

The Oasis has a $50 lunch special, but you will pay more ($65) after 2pm and have more variety after the early evening shift change. RecluseX ran a picture of their line up six months ago, and I've worked with 4-5 of the providers in his picture. Occassionally, a real gem will be in there, like Gloria the paisa, or the 1/4 Chinese Connie of a few years ago.

The MP's a half mile down Via Espana (behind the Blockbuster and down from the "other" Manolo's restaurant, have also had some diamonds in the rough. One Relax Oriental girl gave me a very jazzy week after she quit. A River Club girl who graduated to Miami Club has been a regular stop for me since 2004. Prices are about $60-70, although I once negotiated a two hours take-out session with Relax Oriental on a Sunday night and got my mind blown by a little Indian spinner with C-cups.

Habanos is a quiet cigar bar across from the Mariott. Many beautiful freelancer Colombians. Negotiate what you can, but you are paying an extra $20 premium built into the price just because they cater to the Marriot Hotel crowd.

Miami Club and Golden Times can both be walked to by telling the cabbie to take you to the Casino Fantastic. Miami Club is a strip bar with rooms in the back. I think there price is a little less than GT's. The gals will sit and talk with you without too much pressure for lady's drinks.

I regret not going to Golden Times sooner. The place is the best. Again, have the cabbie drop you off at the Casino Fantastic, go in and count to to 100. By the time you come out, your cabbie will have gotten another fare, and you can walk the block and a half to GT, thereby lowering your price from $94.50 to $84.50.

Sit down in the comfy chairs of the well-lit waiting room. Accept a free drink (that's what your 50 cents paid for), and reach for one of the handy pads and pencils next to the Barco-lounger. Prepare for the parade of beautiful ladies and start deciding which ones strike your fancy. They wear number pendants, so write down your favorite numbers and decide which ones you want to see again. Pick one and ask for the nice attendants to send her in to talk to you. She will sit next to you and you can talk. If there is no chemistry, politely send her back outside, and ask the attendant to send it your next choice.

If there is any chemistry, you ask her to join you upstairs, you go back to the front and you pay. Upstairs, the rooms are clean, have showers, 2 massage tables you can push together (or not), adjustable lighting, and a phone so she can call in the start of your hour. Towels are clean, fluffy, and thirsty. There are metal pipes running along the ceiling so she can walk on your back, and she has gotten some training in Thai-type massage.

The facility is first rate. Half the girls are pretty, and the other half are just plain gorgeous, and a couple will make love to you so energetically you'll wish the room came with a "How to do CPR" poster on the wall and cardiac paddles. "Clear!" and the price structure is very fixed. I wish they would have a discount card ("buy 9, and your tenth is free!"). There are a few Dominicans, some locals, but many Colombians. All the Paisa love without the Colombian danger. It opens at 7pm. What is there NOT to love about Golden Times?

Sure, sure. It will never match the Shangri-La that was Honduras during the 1980's (an hour for $20, or 6-hour, 5 "polvo" TLN's for $100), but I am not in my twenties anymore and really appreciate one or two crazed weasel encounters that leave me totally spent a night.

Leach, I've made maybe 5 or 6 trips to Costa Rica and 10 to Panama, and disagree with your interpretation of what you've read here. Expanding on what Iguana said, you'll run across stunners at Golden Time who are every bit as beautiful as any you'll find in the Del Rey. The cost is $85 in Panama versus $100 in the Del Rey. I'm talking about the ones that are the hottest in the DR, during the evening, that you can't negotiate down from $100.

If you're looking for freelancers in Panama, La Bodeguita and Habano's are good places, but you won't find the sheer quantity of women or as many stunners as in the Del Rey, and you need to go to both at peak hours. For LB, that means very late, by my standards.

While I can't think of anything in Panama that quite duplicates Zona Blue, or whatever it's called now, in that ZB has the bar and a lot of chicas. But the MP's in Panama do have women that are just as good looking or maybe a little better looking than what you'll find in ZB, and the price is only marginally higher. And there are the $20 options in Panama, although I haven't had much experience there.

About your comments about crazy money, yeah, you'll spend $350 for TLN with a woman from GT, but that's about what you'd pay at the Del Rey for the same woman. And the owners of GT are getting their cut. And then there are the crazy prices at Le Palace and Elite. But nobody pays them, they negotiate to meet the girl after work or the next day. And I'm sure there are high end gentlemen's clubs in San Jose where you'd pay the same.

I don't think Panama is superior to San Jose, though. It's just different. Mongering in Costa Rica is a little easier -- there's more of a mongering infrastructure, like there is in Thailand. The Del Rey is there 24 hours a day and you have some great daytime MP's that are easy to get too. The daytime options in Panama are more spread out. I like the climate and the small city feel in Costa Rica better. Panama has better hotels and restaurants. It's probably worth going to once, just to see if you like it.

Tiny and IG,

Thanks for your information. It encourages me a little.

The Golden Times $85 deal doesn't sound terrible. GT is a little more than you'd pay in CR, but it sounds like the talent may justify the increase.

And the Columbianas for $85 are a good deal (if only $15 different) if they aren't as hardened as the top notch Columbianas in the Del Rey which are almost invariably starfish. The girls that are the most fun in CR are generally around $60-80.

I think you're probably right about the fact that you CAN pay higher prices, and listening to what some of the guys here were talking about I got the impression that it was the baseline for the scene and that sounds inaccurate. I know there are some lunatics spending $200 in the Del Rey. As you said it sounds like the options are just a little more limited or less convenient in PTY, but probably not unmanageably so.

I look forward to trying it out sometimes soon. It's on the list, but with constant trips to CR, the diversions list, which already included Rio, BA, and MDE is getting long LOL.

I do think the hotels and food are more expensive in PTY though, a good hotel in SJO will run you $80 with tax, and you can eat dinner for $15, no problem. But I hear the city is "nicer" in Panama, or at least more cosmopolitan, and more what we think of as a city compared to SJO, which is an unappealing dump (but certainly small and manageable).

Leach, Hotels like the Marriott and Veneto are more expensive, but they're also a lot better than any girl-friendly places in San Jose, including Hotel M. If you want to compare apples to apples, Hotel Ejecutivo or Plaza Paitilla might be equivalent to Presidente and will cost you around $100 to $130. Panama hotels used to be a better bargain than San Jose, but the economic boom has pushed prices way up.

Food is cheaper in Panama.

[QUOTE=Hooboo]I looked at tiny's fantasy map but can't locate bodeguita. Can someone give me the direction there from Veneto or an address of this place.

Thanks[/QUOTE]Hooboo, It's better to take a cab, unless maybe you want to wander by Elite, Le Palace, Habano's or some of the nightclubs on Uruguay, which are on the way from the Veneto. La Bodeguita is south and a little west of Fantasy's map. Anyway, on Fantasy's map, starting at the Hotel Ejecutivo, go south. From Calle 52 and Hotel Ejecutivo, you'll go one long block on your left and I think two blocks on your right (because there's a road that dead ends into the long block.) Take a right on the major road you come to and walk west. Keep a look out to your left for Calle Uruguay, which will be just before you get to Elite nightclub. Hook a left on Calle Uruguay and walk south. La Bodeguita is at the end of the nightclub district on the right side of the road (Calle Uruguay). Happy hunting -- and remember LB doesn't really get going until about 11:00 PM.

BTW, I enjoyed all your informative posts.

for any locals here, I pose these two questions:

1. What do you think was going on with the 3 chicas and the dude that gassed themselves in the pushy-push? Is it related to the mongering scene here?

2. Has anyone bagged some chica, 'specially una azafata, that is a regular on dealante punto com or el cuara punto com or any of the other bar scene websites in pty? I recently read a comment there that suggested that many of the models earned special money on the side, so I am wondering if anyone has partaken, and if so, how it was accomplished.

[QUOTE=Tp Horn]for any locals here, I pose these two questions:

1. What do you think was going on with the 3 chicas and the dude that gassed themselves in the pushy-push? Is it related to the mongering scene here?

2. Has anyone bagged some chica, 'specially una azafata, that is a regular on dealante punto com or el cuara punto com or any of the other bar scene websites in pty? I recently read a comment there that suggested that many of the models earned special money on the side, so I am wondering if anyone has partaken, and if so, how it was accomplished.[/QUOTE]1- I don't think you need much imagination to figure out what were 3 girls and one guy doing in that push button room. <G I don't believe that it was related to the mongering scene. The impression I get from the local press is three "high on something" girls and one "high on something" guy decide to do the "nasty" in the afternoon. They go to the push button, and forget to turn off the engine of the Land Rover they were on. No one who is sober could possibly forget to turn off the engine of their car.

2- Add me also to the list of those curious about the "azafatas". There are some which I would definitely love to partake in. While I'm sure that some do earn extra money in that way, I'm also not sure how to go about it.

Hey Guys,

Like a previous post, I'm a frequent traveler to CR, first time to PTY coming up next month. I'm traveling with a couple guys who've been there before, but they're not as eager as I am to get a taste of the local culture. Can you chime in on where the most reasonable places are to hook-up, either on-site or take out? I'm not looking for 10s, a good 7 is fine with me. And keep in mind that I'm not looking to pay $200 a pop. I just want maybe 5 places to score a decent time at a reasonable price. As to pros in the casinos...what is the going rate?

Onr last thing, I'm staying at Tower House Suites...anyone know their guest policy?

Thanks!

[QUOTE=Rick Anderson]1- I don't think you need much imagination to figure out what were 3 girls and one guy doing in that push button room. <G I don't believe that it was related to the mongering scene. The impression I get from the local press is three "high on something" girls and one "high on something" guy decide to do the "nasty" in the afternoon. They go to the push button, and forget to turn off the engine of the Land Rover they were on. No one who is sober could possibly forget to turn off the engine of their car.
[/QUOTE]

sad to say 3 of the deceased were friends of mine, not too close but friends anyways. Right now everything is just theories and especulations, but the actual truth I think is not going to be known.
As the most accurate version that I've heard from more close friends of them, they were listening to music with the engine running, and yes either they were either too drunk or heavy on something else and they passed out or got hit by the CO coming from the car.
That everything that Id say about that incident, it depresses me

I regret not going to Golden Times sooner. The place is the best. Again, have the cabbie drop you off at the Casino Fantastic, go in and count to to 100. By the time you come out, your cabbie will have gotten another fare, and you can walk the block and a half to GT, thereby lowering your price from $94. 50 to $84. 50.

I'm a little confused about this golden time thing. Where are you taking a cab from if it costs 94. 50? Columbia. Or does that include anything else. Thanks for the info though, good stuff!

[QUOTE=Fatso35]I'm a little confused about this golden time thing. Where are you taking a cab from if it costs 94. 50? Columbia. Or does that include anything else. Thanks for the info though, good stuff![/QUOTE]

Fatso, you are indeed confused. The cabbie will charge you the usual $2-3 to take you from the hotel/casino district to the El Dorado neighborhood. If you have the cabbie take you to Golden Times, he will follow you inside, and while you are sitting on the Barcoloungers in the waiting room, GT will pay him the $10 bounty they offer to any cabbie who brings in a customer. This expense is added to your bill and you will pay GT $10 more, than you would have if you just walked in by yourself.

So, if you want to pay $84.50 instead of $94.50, ask the cabbie to take you to the Casino Fantastic. It is located within a block and a half of Crazy Horse, Miami Club, and Golden Times. Very convenient, and by the time you step into the casino, use their rest room, and step back out, your cabbie will have found another fare and left.

I once made the mistake of telling a cabbie to take me to the Bodeguita, then changed my mind and asked him to take me to the Popeye's Chicken in the same strip mall as GT. He already figured out what I wanted, so he stopped right in front of GT, got out, pointed me out to the doorman, and even though I immediately went into Popeye's, he still got his $10. I stood around in the inside of Popeye's until I could feel the chicken fat smell start to permeate my clothes and returned to GT, where I still had to pay the higher price.

Hotel Benidorm is a decent place. Been there a couple times for TNL, but you need to pay for a double room.

You can find some street action one block south at Avenida Cuba, but the quality is not high. Also, you may wanna check the casino at Hotel Soloy.

[QUOTE=Iguana Six]Turns out I will be going to PTY this month, after all, since someone else will be paying my way to Miami.

Made the plane reservation, so now I am trying to find a decent hotel.

Has anyone had any recent experience with the Benidorm?[/QUOTE]

"Sorry for your loss -- The girls were pretty fuckable, do you agree?"

Sexy boy, alias Pty Sexy or KOS, I'm taking donations to send you to charm school. That's pretty tasteless.

[QUOTE=LatinJaguar27]Hotel Benidorm is a decent place. Been there a couple times for TNL, but you need to pay for a double room.

You can find some street action one block south at Avenida Cuba, but the quality is not high. Also, you may wanna check the casino at Hotel Soloy.[/QUOTE]

How much is the "chica fee" at the Benidorm? Would I have to pay it for all of my stay, or just the nights I have TLN?

Hotel Soloy? Didn't know it was so close to the Benidorm. I had actually stayed in the the Soloy back in 86-87. Such great memories. It wasn't bad back then. Has the Soloy and the neighborhood turned into a dump since then? I remember that on the first or second night I was there, a girl with a sexy voice called up and tried to talk me into a short time. I was younger, more idealistic back then, and I was spooked by the anti-terrorism briefs we got at Fort Bragg, so I didn't even ask her to meet me in the lobby so I could check her out. Besides, that night, my buddy and I were going to hit the clubs. We hooked up with a tall brunette and a shorter, curvier black girl at one club. I got talked into buying a bottle of champagne (for $50!). I had danced with the black girl, but handed her off to my buddy when I met her friend. Big mistake. He wound up with TLN with the black girl, the brunette was morning the loss of her boyfriend.