JW Marriott Resort Golf & Beach, Rio Hato (2 hour drive west of Panama City), see http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/travel/ptyjw-jw-marriott-panama-golf-and-beach-resort/
Source: ThePanamaNews.com This airport will allow visitors direct access to resorts/hotels like DeCameron on the beach area 1 to 2 hour drive west of Panama City & the Tocumen Airport & also access to the Pedasi peninsular & it's beaches. The David airport runway & terminal have also been extended & improved to allow international jet airliner access to this area near the Costa Rican boarder.--L.S.
Control Tower underconstruction
The new Rio Hato International Airport under construction
Municipal government in Anton demands payment of taxes, permit fees and a fine by the Costa Rican construction company
Work continues at the Rio Hato airport project, but... photos by Wendy Reaman, note by Eric Jackson
Meco, the Costa Rica-based multinational construction firm, is making slow but steady progress on its reconstruction of the World War II vintage US military airstrip at Farallon in Cocle province's Anton district into the Rio Hato International Airport. However, the company is in a dispute with the local government --- it claims that it is exempt from local taxes and the need to get local building permits. If the law actually means anything the company is probably wrong, and the city is threatening to stop work until taxes, permit fees and a $100,000 fine for non-payment of these are paid. It's a project dear to the hearts of the national government, including some of the real estate developers left in Martinelli's shrinking entourage, the Panama Tourism Authority and the seafood export business that the Papadimitriu family dominates and all of that diminishes the possibility that the city will actually shut the project down.
Panoramic view of the airport area
The Pan American highway will pass under the airport. Since the airport was closed after World War II the highway had cut the airport in two, passed through the center of the airport where this tunnel is being built.
Living in Boquete, Chiriquí, Panamá by Lee Zeltzer from Arizona, USA (Boquete is in the mountainous area north of David near the Costa Rica Boarder, a popular retirement area for "senior" ExPat):
Some
people have given voice to the complaint that Boquete is too noisy. The
Mayor seems to support them in their quest to close down bars and
restaurants with live music. The Mayor however has provided us with a
glaring exceptions, the Patriotic holidays and January Fair. Complaints
about the marching bands and discos playing until three in the morning
are from expats. Panamanians who also find sleeping impossible those
nights know the drill and although they might not like the noise, they
understand the reasons, these events inject money into the local
economy.
In reading the Lonely Planet Thorntree Forum about Boquete I chanced
upon a question from a person planning a Panama holiday. The question
was simple, he asked, I am in my twenties and want to party, should I
visit Boquete. The responses were few, but a clear, no; Boquete is a
drag, it’s a town for old people.
I might have more than sixty years under my belt but at times I still
like to dance the night away or listen to a good band. We in Boquete
have few options. Amigos is banned from having live music, Mikes Global
Grill has to request permission weekly in fact the only two spots with
dancing to live music are La Posada and Coca Cola. I like them both and
apparently the local community does also, La Posada is usually hopping
on Saturday nights.
Boquete has a three phase economy. Agriculture is in serious
jeopardy with the US free trade agreement, residential tourism, the
people who moved here and invest in the community and plain old tourism.
We lack beaches, we lack the architecture of Imperial Spain, what we
have is nature. The government of Panama is two faced on tourism. Panama
spends a lot of money promoting Panama as a tourist destination and
then the same government continues to pave the country, dam the rivers
and desecrate the environment. The mayor of Boquete has been more
consistent, he appears to do all things possible to discourage tourism.
Tourism is a potential replacement for the jobs to be lost in
agriculture. For this evolution to happen Boquete needs better education
for it’s young people and more noise! We need to have live
entertainment for all age groups all week. Tourists of all ages are
looking for a holiday, many of those of us who live here like
entertainment options. The Patriotic holidays of November and Fair in
January prove that when there is noise in Boquete we have tourists, with
tourists comes money and the local businesses rejoice. Boquete needs
more noise.
10th Panama Jazz Fest, Jan 14 – 19, Herbie “Watermelon
Man” Hancock leads the line-up of Jazz artist.I went last year & had a great time, I’ve been invited to be a
volunteer this year.Anyone interested
in going to the Jazz Fest this year drop me an email at llseldon@verizon.net ?For
more info on the Jazz Fest see:http://www.panamajazzfestival.com/artists/
Theater Guild of Ancon Updates (Get your tickets now for Christmas at the Guild)
Theater Guild of Ancon Updates:
**GET YOUR TICKETS NOW for CHRISTMAS AT THE GUILD!**
WHEN: November 29th, 30th & December 1st at 8pm WHERE: Theater Guild of Ancon HOW: RESERVATIONS: tgapanama@anconguild.com.
2013 Membership
Get your 2013 Season Membership for only Adult: $60.00 and Student/Retired: $30.00 on the porch or contact us for more information.
Wine & Cheese Night/General Assembly
WHEN: January 12th, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. WHERE: Theater Guild of Ancon HOW: RESERVATIONS: tgapanama@anconguild.com.
What: Join us for Postulating and voting for new TGA Board of Directors. Only Members are eligible to become a Board Member Wine and cheese to follow elections
Follow us on Facebook or Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/TheatreGuildOfAncon http://twitter.com/tgapanama
Family of Ottawa businessman missing in Panama hire PI
By
Doug Hempstead,Ottawa Sun
First posted:
| Updated:
Ed Moynan has been reported missing in Panama. He is the retired former owner of Centennial Glass in Ottawa. (Facebook image)
As rumours swirl about the disappearance of former Ottawa businessman
Ed Moynan, the family has hired a PI to help get to the bottom of it
all.
Ed Moynan, 68, the retired former owner of Centennial Glass, disappeared Nov. 8 in the beachfront community of Coronado, Panama.
His wife, Louise, was visiting Ottawa at the time, which is why the
disappearance wasn’t reported sooner. Their son Alex Moynan said she has
returned to Ottawa again and has hired a private investigator to work
the case as police continue to search for Ed and the rented Kia he was
driving.
Panamanian investigators searched Ed Moynan’s home Nov. 15 and
believe the case is suspicious because they found it in disarray — items
missing and his eyeglasses broken.
Panama-Guide.com journalist Don Winner continues to follow the case closely.
He said there were two arrests on Nov. 20, but it’s not known if
either man has been charged. The men were arrested at the El Rey
supermarket in Coronado — the place where Moynan was last seen. In fact,
according to Winner, the man who reported seeing Moynan there on the
night of Nov. 8 was one of the men arrested. Like Moynan, the man is a
Canadian ex-pat.
The other man is German.
Moynan’s house is only a few minutes drive from the supermarket.
Winner said the men were picked up in relation to a business dispute
but the manner in which they were arrested leads him to believe there’s
more to it.
“It’s not normal to have a 20-person SWAT team come in for a business dispute,” he said.
Winner said there is a bit of coincidence at play with the two men —
both are involved with a business that Moynan considered buying more
than a year ago.
“He decided not to buy the property,” Winner said.
The journalist said he’s been overwhelmed with calls and “tips” about Moynan’s disappearance.
“I’ve had 6 or 7 phone calls today,” he said. “The rumour mills are going crazy.”
He’s been told Moynan’s body was found in a burned-out car on three separate occasions — all false alarms.
“Police did find a burned out vehicle, but it was a Panamanian guy in
a pick-up,” he said. “And there’s another Canadian missing on the other
side of Panama which everyone thinks is connected, but it’s not. I’m
following both investigations.”
There is a Facebook group called “Find Ed Moynan” which has attracted 368 followers.
Gamboa is midway on the Panama Canal, and is home of the Dredging Division that keeps the Gatun Lake area open. This bridge is the only land route from Gamboa to the rest of Panama and crosses the Chagres River at that location.
Disaster Averted - Panama Canal Ship Almost Smashes Into Gamboa Bridge (Video)
Tuesday, November 20 2012 @ 04:29 PM EST
Contributed by: Don Winner
Views: 1,548
By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com
- The ships that transit the Panama Canal on a daily basis can be
difficult to handle. Yesterday afternoon a bulk carried named the
"Pacific Bless", 32300 tons, nearly slammed into the bridge over the
Chagres River in Gamboa, and the incident was caught on video.The
ship was Northbound in the Panama Canal, and has just about to clear the
area of the Culebra Cut and head off through Lake Gatun. For some
reason the pilot lost control of the vessel, and it veered to starboard
(right), and was heading right towards the bridge.
The pilot
ordered full reverse and dropped the starboard anchor, in an attempt to
halt the ship as quickly as possible. In the video below, you can see
the smoke pouring from the front of the ship, thanks to the emergency
deployment of the anchor.
The ship came to a halt and then slowly backed away from the bridge, with about one meter to spare.
Join us at the newly reopened and pretty hip AltaBar Terraza for some drinks and good conversations! A choice of three welcome drinks, 2x1 drinks until 10:00pm, and free entrance to the club to continue the party, are being offered to all attendees!
As usual, Albatross members join for free!
InterNations Panama City November Get-Together - Winter's over !
Formerly designated as Sixth Air Force, the command's mission was the defense of the Panama Canal and for USAF relations, including foreign militarysales (FMS) and disaster relief assistance, with the Latin American nations. The command supported disaster relief to countries such as Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Colombia. It also assisted nations in Central and South America in purchases of United States military aircraft and trained their technicians in logistics and maintenance for the aircraft.
The squadron initially came under the control of Headquarters, U.S. Troops, Panama Canal Zone, and beginning on 1 July 1917, Army aviation units were assigned directly to the Panama Canal Department, which was the senior United States Army headquarters in the Canal Zone. During World War I, the 7th Aero was assigned to patrol for German U-Boats offshore of the Canal Zone under direction of Coast Defenses of Cristobal, from 1 June – 15 November 1918.
The 7th Aero Squadron was assigned to several fields during 1917 and 1918, those being Corozal (16 April); Empire (May); Fort Sherman (29 August); Cristobal (March 1918) before finding a permanent home at Coco Walk, which became France Field in May 1918.
A second permanent army airfield, Albrook Field, opened in 1932 due to France Field becoming too small for the numbers of aircraft being assigned to the Canal Zone, as well as having a poor landing surface; offering no room for expansion, and providing little defense for the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. A third airfield, Howard Field was built on the Canal Bruja Point Military Reservation, opening on 1 December 1939. By 1940, a rapid increase in the number of flying squadrons in both the Canal Zone as well as in Panama as a result of the pre–World War II mobilization of the Air Corps warranted a new organization, and thePanama Canal Air Force was created as a major command. After several organizational changes and the establishment of the United States Army Air Forces in 1942, Sixth Air Force became the controlling Air Force command authority for USAAF activities in the Caribbean, as well as in Central and South America. Through all these redesignations it was part of the Caribbean Defense Command, (10 February 1941 – 1 November 1947), which was the senior United States Army headquarters in the Canal Zone. The Caribbean Interceptor Command, was the Air Force component (10 February 1941 – 17 October 1941) of the CIC until being inactivated and replaced by VI Interceptor Command.
In early 1942 the German Navy, Kriegsmarine, began anti-shipping operations using U-Boats in the Caribbean. The subs sank several tankers in the harbor at San Nicholas, Arubaand even shelled an oil refinery on the island. It's important to note that the refineries at the island of Aruba and Curaçao possessed oil from wells in Venezuela and counted for one-third of the Allies supply of gasoline.
The first wartime mission of the newly created Sixth Air Force was to perform antisubmarine operations in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico areas and to cover Allied shipping convoys in the area. The Sixth Air Force expanded throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, stationing units from Cuba in the north to British Guiana and Surinam on the northern coast of South America to protect the Venezuelan oilfields. Air bases were established along the western coast of South America, in Peru, Ecuador as well as in theGalápagos Islands, Panama, Guatemala and Costa Rica.[1] In order to protect the vital Air Transport Command South Atlantic Air Route to Europe and North Africa, Sixth Air Force combat units were stationed in Brazil to patrol the South Atlantic air routes.
Sixth Air Force had the responsibility for tracking down submarine wolfpacks, which consisted of groups of three of more subs attacking Allied shipping using a strategy now known as "Search and Destroy". As most shipping in the Caribbean was not in defensive convoys, aerial surveillance of the area was crucial to their safety. However, in the fall of 1942 the German Navy changed tactics and reduced their submarine activity in the Caribbean region to concentrate its activity on the North Atlantic convoy route and the approaches to northwest Africa. With the withdrawal of submarines from the Caribbean region the Sixth Air Force concentrated its efforts as a striking force on its primary function of guarding against possible attacks on the Panama Canal.
With the end of the war, most of the wartime Caribbean air bases used for antisubmarine patrols were returned to civil authorities in late 1945 or early 1946. The Lend-Lease air bases from Great Britain, which were on 99-year leases were reduced to skeleton units and used largely as MATS weather stations. They were all closed for budgetary reasons in 1949.
The postwar Sixth Air Force, redesignated Caribbean Air Command as part of the 1946 USAAF reorganization, and its successor units returned to its prewar mission, the defense of the Panama Canal; support for friendly Latin American air forces, and to provide support to Latin American nations engaged in anti-communist activities during the Cold War. Howard Air Force Base became a focus for military air support, with many surplus USAF aircraft being transferred to Latin American air forces there, as well as the establishment of the Inter-American Air Forces Academy, which provided technical training and education for airmen and officers from approximately 14 Latin American countries.
In the post Vietnam War drawdown of the USAF, the United States Air Forces Southern Command was inactivated in 1976 for budgetary reasons. Most of its functions and resources passed to the Tactical Air Command, which established the USAF Southern Air Division (later 830th Air Division; Air Forces Panama) as the USAF component of the United States Armed Forces in the Panama Canal Zone.
STRI Tuesday afternoon seminar for November 27, 2012 at 4:00 pm in the Earl S. Tupper auditorium:
Speaker: Richard Cooke, STRI
Title: Mid-Holocene human settlement of Pedro González Island, Pearl Island archipelago, Panama (5550-4900 BP [6100-5600 YA]). Relation to sea level change, and interactions with fauna
Upcoming seminars:
December 4: Ken Feeley, Florida International University
Running from the heat: Can tropical trees shift their distributions to remain at equilibrium with climate?
December 11: Camilo Zalamea, University of Illinois
Cecropia growth pattern periodicity: could a Neotropical genus be a good biological clock to estimate the age of recently disturbed areas?
On December 18 and 25 STRI there will be no seminar due to Holiday Season.
The Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas will launch a new MBA program in Panama beginning in March and will continue its entrepreneurship certificate program there, it announced Monday.
The program is a collaborative effort between the UA, the Arkansas World Trade Center in Rogers and the Panamanian government. Started in October 2011, the certificate program teaches Panamanian entrepreneurs how to start a successful business.
"Developing such skills in local entrepreneurs can make a big difference to emerging economies such as those in Panama," said Vikas Anand, the interim MBA director for Walton College, in a news release. "Programs such as this certificate are a testimony to the expertise of our faculty."
Anand said Walton College faculty members have benefited from the program.
"Continuous exposure of our faculty members to students in countries such as Panama further increases their insights into how individuals think and transact business in different cultures, and this further augments the richness of their instruction here at the Walton College," he said.
Marion Dunagan, assistant dean for graduate programs at the Walton College, said some of the college's best faculty members are involved with the program, including Carol Reeves, associate vice provost for entrepreneurship and a professor of management in the business college.
Reeves said the caliber of the students in Panama far exceeded her expectations.
"Panama plays an important strategic role in the world’s economy, with the Panama Canal impacting shipping for many international companies," Dunagan said. "The experience Walton faculty gain by teaching in this environment is invaluable as we work toward the globalization of our curriculum in both graduate and undergraduate programs."
By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com
- The ships that transit the Panama Canal on a daily basis can be
difficult to handle. Yesterday afternoon a bulk carried named the
"Pacific Bless", 32300 tons, nearly slammed into the bridge over the
Chagres River in Gamboa, and the incident was caught on video.The
ship was Northbound in the Panama Canal, and has just about to clear the
area of the Culebra Cut and head off through Lake Gatun. For some
reason the pilot lost control of the vessel, and it veered to starboard
(right), and was heading right towards the bridge.
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