Research Paper

This research paper I know it is not the best since I have always struggled with writing essays all throughout school but here is my introduction.

Stephanie Bibiano

Why Tourists Love Panama
English Composition 1102-Section 58
8 November 2020

Why Tourists Love Panama

  Panama is famous for its canal but there is more to this beautiful country that should not be ignored. The country of Panama is located in Central America and the Isthmus of Panama with 4.2 million residents as of 2019. It has over 1,400 islands with several being popular tourist attractions such as Bocas del Toro, Isla Taboga, Pearl Islands etc, islands that are inhabited, protected national parks for example Coiba Island which holds a diverse amount of aquatic life, and 100 nameless islands. With 1.8 million people visiting Panama every year the travel and tourism industry accounts for 14.9 % of Panama's GDP and the numbers are projected to increase over the next couple of years to come. Therefore let's see what Panama has had to offer for it to become such a hotspot over the recent years.

There is no doubt with 1,400 islands available in Panama there are plenty of gorgeous ones that stand out from each other. Bocas del Toro is an island archipelago that consists of smaller islands such as Isla Colón and Isla Bastimentos which are the two popular areas that tourists love to visit most when traveling here. A little history fact is that in 1502 while Christopher Columbus was sailing on his fourth and last voyage to find a passage across Asia he arrived in del Toro to make repairs of his ships and named it Bocas del Toro because the waterfalls created mouths of bulls. Bocas del Toro in English means mouth of bulls and that is how the archipelago got its name. There are numerous activities in the islands of the Bocas that visitors can do such as sightseeing historical places, snorkeling, diving, surfing, hiking etc which is why these islands are well loved…..

Travel to Panama!

 HOW TO GET TO PANAMA:

When planning out a trip to another country the first things are planning out the list of items needed, your means of transportation, a place to stay, and what places to visit during your stay. First off you will need a passport that is still valid 3 months after your trip has ended, a return ticket back to your home place or to another destination because you can only stay in Panama up to 180 days without a visa, and cash available because not every place in Panama has ATMs to withdraw money. Also, Panama uses balboa coin currency and US dollars as their cash currency for their legal tender so 1 balboa is equivalent to 1USD. 

WHERE TO STAY IN PANAMA:

There are many choices of accommodations during your visit to Panama depending on what your location and budget is. First are hotels such as The Westin Playa Bonita Panama with the Pacific Ocean view for $170 a night and The Gamboa Rainforest Reserve for $149 a night using their official websites. Boutique hotels are smaller than a regular hotel and operated independently. These Boutiques offer an intimate atmosphere and operate around local communities which is awesome when you are trying to get to know the local places as a tourist. Las Clementinas is a boutique located in Casco Viejo southern Panama City which is surrounded by historical monuments starts off at $149 a night for two adults. 

 

                                      Las Clementinas Hotel

WHERE TO GO IN PANAMA: 

When doing your research and itinerary on places you will most likely visit make sure they are tourist friendly for staying safe during your trip. The first thing I did was search up where not to visit in Panama and it gave me El Chorrillo and Curundu. Locals have said that El Chorrillo and Curundu are both hotspots for violent crimes and that tourists have no reason to visit those two areas. 

Now it is time to talk about places you SHOULD visit! In the official Panama tourism website there were lots of options to choose from such as Casco Viejo located in Panama City. The history of Casco Viejo is very intriguing because back in 1671 the original Panama City was ruined by a pirate attack and in 1673 it was completely rebuilt and founded. It is also the center of Panama gaining its independence from Spain in 1821. Next up is the famous Panama Canal. How are you gonna visit Panama without going to the Panama Canal completed in 1914 by the United States. It links both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean and runs across the Isthmus of Panama. One more place because this blog post is turning out to be longer than I expected is the Biodiversity Museum which is the first ever musuem about the natural biodiversity in Panama. It is even better that its located next to the Panama Canal so that's two stops in one. 

WHAT TO DO IN PANAMA:

Again I am on the official Panama tourism website and the first thing that caught my attention was the beautiful Cobia National Park in the Panamanian Pacific. It is the largest Island in the Central America Pacific which is protected by Panama. The best season to visit is all year round and you can do activities such as scuba diving and snorkeling. Nightlife in Casco Antiguo is definitely where you should go if you're not tired from a long day of visiting places. There are pubs for drinking, nightclubs if you wanna have some fun with friends, performers around that play a mix of regae or reggaeton, salsa, and merengue. There is never a bad time to go to Casco so if you're up for a fun night might as well visit. 

HOW MUCH IS THIS ALL GOING TO COST?

So this hypothetical trip will happen on March 14th-20th 2021 which is our spring break. I hate layovers so I chose a nonstop flight with Delta for $646 for just one passenger. 

I chose to stay at Hilton Garden Inn Panama for $70 a night which in total is $420 but since I plan on bringing a friend to share a room it will be $210 each. In total I spent about $856 for this trip. The rest will go to places I will dine in and other places that require to pay for entrance.

INTINERARY:

Links:

“Panama International Travel Information.” U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Panama.html

 “Where to Stay in Panama: Lodging Tips.” SmarterTravel, SmarterTravel, 31 May 2017, www.smartertravel.com/stay-panama-lodging-tips/

“Safety - Panama.” In Panama of Mexico and Central America | Fodor's Travel, www.fodors.com/world/mexico-and-central-america/panama/travel-tips/safety-89531780.

“Casco Antigou.” VisitPanama, VisitPanama, https://www.visitpanama.com/destination/casco-antiguo/

“Panama Canal.” VisitPanama, VisitPanama, https://www.visitpanama.com/destination/panama-canal/

“BioMuseo.” VisitPanama, VisitPanama, https://www.visitpanama.com/destination/biomuseo/

“Coiba National Park.” VisitPanama, VisitPanama, https://www.visitpanama.com/destination/coiba-national-park/

“Vida Nocturna.” VisitPanama, VisitPanama, https://www.visitpanama.com/destination/vida-nocturna/

Blog Post #6 (Panama)

Before the Spanish colonization period indiginous tribes such as the Cuevas and Cocle occupied Panama. Cities and evolved cultures were not developed like the Incas did and there was an population estimate of 200,000-2 million before the arrivial of the Spanish. The arrivial led to a decline in population of the tribes with individuals dying from conflict with the Spanarids, diseases, and fleeing away.

I wanted to give a brief summery of the indiginous tribes because I am going to dicuss more about the topic in my research project.

In 1501 Rodrigo de Bastidas from Triana, Seville, Spain was the first to set foot in eastern Panama on his journey in trying to find gold. Bastidas discovery led to conquests of Panama and the Isthmus of Panama was now in the eye of expeditioners. 10 years later in 1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa decided that he was going to find a route in the Isthmus of Panama because he heard of of the Pacific Ocean and vast amounts of gold being located there and successfully explored the Isthmus. Balboa ended up claiming the Pacific Coast for Spain and connected the Pacific ocean with the Caribbean Sea which held importance as those two waters now being known as the bridge of world and gold transportation was used in the Isthmus.

The idea of a canal is nothing new with King Charles I of Spain in the 16th century trying to build a canal but his team deemed it as impossible and ultimately in 1880 France began the construction. The Panama canal was going to connect the two bodies of water of the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean across the Isthmus of Panama but complications arose with high mortality rates with workers debt so the US bought the project in 1903. The US purchased the canal for $40 million and in 1910 it was finally completed. 

These 3 topics are going to be in my research project which is why I gave brief summaries about them and will go more in depth along the way. I am also going to write about their independence, their culture, population, more in depth information about the history and etc.

American History USA. 2020. The Building Of The Panama Canal. [online] Available at: <https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/building-of-panama-canal/>\


Vacationtopanama.com. n.d. History Of Panama: Overview & Highlights. [online] Available at: <https://www.vacationtopanama.com/travel-guide/history-of-panama/>


Frommers.com. n.d. History In Panama | Frommer's. [online] Available at: <https://www.frommers.com/destinations/panama/in-depth/history> [Accessed 22 September 2020].

El Caribe Gris

When I read El Caribe Gris it was kind of hard to understand the main idea because of the poor translation that was given. I had to read the Spanish version as well to get a better view of what they were trying to say about Caribe Gris which did help somewhat but my spanish is rough. I had my dad help me translate most of them after I read the English translation and it was clearer the third time. The main ideas that I originally have are still the same with Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean with the Natives living there with creating a more biased view which impacted how people see the Caribbean now and how he added false depictions of his voyages and encounters which is why the writer called the journal unecessary and usless in the Spanish version.

Blog Post #4

When I found out that this class was going to be more blog based I was worried because I do not have much confidence in my writing skills yet excited that it was not the typical writing essays every month about whatever topic is assigned. Writing and posting my blogs I feel like it meets most of the rubric criteria but I still lack on the grammar and mechanics. The aspects of writing assignments on a blog that creates stress is just trying to start my posts because at times it is hard for me to process my ideas and type them down. In my point of view I am putting my best efforts into my assignments and blog writing even if at times I tend to get confused with the assignment, I make sure to answer them as best as I can. With having a semester fully online for the first time, the month of August I made sure to complete all my assignments on time but I have been experiencing burn out from having to finish 20+ assignments every week so now it is getting harder to turn in assignments. I review and revise my blog posts because then the format when it's typed and posted tends to look different when I press the viewing option. I look for grammar errors, and readability too. I am okay with having other students read my blog since with the peer-reviewing they can tell me what I can revise on things I missed when I revised the post myself. What I would like for us to discuss about improving our blog writings is other students' writing process with their blogs. What I have learned is blog posts are written in a day because that number surprised me.

Honduras History

The history of Honduras goes back to individuals migrating from North America, traveling through Central America to arrive in South America and along the way some did end up staying in Honduras and there are artifacts that date back to 12,000 BC from the migration. Then the Mayan civilization was prevalent with the ancient city of Copan but it collapsed in 800 AD. In 1502 Christopher Columbus arrived in the Guanaja which is part of the Bay Islands and gave the name Honduras which means depth because of the deep waters in the Bay Islands. With Spanish conquistadors now trying to gain the country of Honduras such as Cristobal de Olid who was Hernan Cortez man and Gil Gonzáles dávila led to conflicts which ultimately had Honduras gaining its independence. Its culture relfects with the conquests and colonization Honduras endured in the 16th century. Honduras ethnic makeup is mixed with mostly Mestizos (having European and Amerindian descent), Amerindian, Afro-Honduran, White-Honduran, and other ethnicities included.
Its official language is Spanish with 63-65 percent of the population being Romen Catholic.


Its foods are baleadas which is a flour tortilla filled with fried red beans, cheese, and butter but you can add other ingrediants.

Pastelitos de perro which are made from corn flour tortilla with ground meat inside topped off with cheese. 

 

Nacatamales which are mostly eaten on festive occasions like Christmas.




Three Regions I would like to adopt are Honduras, Panama, and Costa Rica.

Work Cited:

“Culture Of Honduras.” Centralamerica, www.centralamerica.com/honduras/culture/.

Nag, Oishimaya Sen. “The Culture Of Honduras.” WorldAtlas, WorldAtlas, 6 Mar. 2019, www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-culture-of-honduras.html.

“Honduras.” Countries and Their Cultures, www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Honduras.html.

Next Travel Destination? Why Not Puerto Rico!

When COVID-19 is finally over don't you want to go on vacation rather than still be homebound? Why not travel to the beautiful island of Puerto Rico! Plus you do not need a passpart to travel there if you are an American citizen since it is US terriory that is one less thing to worry about when planning out your travel.

#1 Warm weather
The pleasent tropical climate already has people hooked especially during the winter time since most travelers tend to go to escape the cold weather back home. Imagine just being at the beach enjoying the scenery, sun hitting your face, tanning, or swimming in the warm ocean water. 

#2 The people 
Puerto Rican's are known for being very warm and welcoming to visitors so expect a handshake and lively expressions when interacting with the locals living there.

#3 The savory food
The variety of food to try such as mofongo, arroz con guandules, and pernil. One bite and you will be addicted to the local food served. Their dishes are so diverse since it is a mix of Caribbean, Spanish, and African there are plenty of opitions to choose from.

(Mofongo)

#4 The places 
The pretty beaches for relaxation, exploring at the El Yunque rainforest which is one of the only tropical rainforests the United States has near the city of Rio Grande, and the Historic sites in San Juan such el Castillo San Felipe De Morro which is a citadel and La Fortaleza (Old Fortress). There are more historic sites or just general places to explore but these two have to be my favorite. 



(La Fortaleza although you actaully cannot tour the inside of the place the outside is very pretty)

Next time you want to plan out a trip when Covid-19 is gone why not go to Puerto Rico. You will not regret it at all!