Golden Triangle days gone by
I did a quick visit to Panama. The flight landed at PTY airport on time. The customs area had no lines. I did not remember to fill out the customs form ahead of time to get the friggin QR code. There is no good internet connection in customs. This is for guys in similar situations. At the back wall of customs is a bunch of people clicking away on tablets and laptops. I went to them and showed him his vax card and passport. He gave me a small green poker chip. A get out of customs chip. I used that to speed out customs without showing a QR code or uploading info. Of course, having the QR code is the fastest way. The passport guy immediately recognized the green poker chip. Cool. I left them grabbed to hop in a uber to Cangero. There are a bunch of generic low to mid-price places in the cangerjo area. Some of the formerly Habanos ladies, escorts, Colombianas, and freelancers stay three to a room in Cangerjo. In the olden days that was the golden triangle: walk to Veneto casino Habanos, Azul restaurant was all a guy needed.
I booked a guest-friendly Marbella hotel for $44 a night including tax. It's a two-star kind of place. No frills. I lined up five or six wassap Habanos chicas to fall thru and hook up there. The first three walked over to Marbella, and went directly to my room. No checking ID or stopping the chica garotas. Of course, each was dressed appropriately. By the fourth Colombiana, chica coming through the hotel decided to charge a $15 guests fee. What? I booked reservations for two people. No one staying overnight. They insisted on the fee. The Marbella security guy would accompany the girl to my room, stand there waiting to collect their $15 fee. Bummer the place is changing. Veneto is gone, DonJulios instead of Habanos, or the little bar next door to find jewels that could not afford the entrance fee. Watching the street action from Azul. Checking out the ladies with captured prey going in and out of the San Roque hourly hotel. Doing the short walk to Hyatt and Marriott with their guest fees at ground zero. The police raids checking ladies' IDs rounding them up. Including an unlucky guy or two with no passport or ID. Hahaha, jajaja, kkkk. All those stories are repeatedly posted on the Panama city forums. The action has moved on to Sun ocean casino, and Trump casino, and spread out to other locations. No more walking the golden, triangle of fun times.
I did an afternoon stop at La Bocatoreña. That low-end high mileage placed is the same. A Gin & Tonic for $1. 50 USD. Good to see they made it through the "pandemy" unchanged.
Many hotels are closed in Panama City
[QUOTE=JackMiami;2724540]Hyatt site says it's closed due to Covid until Nov. 15, 2022. Not aware of any other Panama City hotels still closed.[/QUOTE]The Hard Rock hotel, the Marriott near Don Julio's, plus the Hyatt are all closed.
All of them deserve to be closed, all had outrageous chica fees which I call a hooker tax!
Contintental on Via Espana
Still closed, possibly the largest hotel in Panama City.
I never stayed there but they had a good casino and the best seafood buffet every Friday.
Several good size hotels on Via Argentina are still closed.
The economy is still suffering greatly as tourism has not even started to rebound.
Along with high inflation, I don't see it getting better any time soon.
Come on down & bring money!