October 24, 2013 
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In This Week's Issue:

Panama Focus - Frequent Traveler: Patricia Z�rate

A saxophone-playing music educator has found a lot to love in frequent trips to Panama, the focus of much of her professional activities throughout the year.

  

By Mark Holston

 

A native of Santiago, Chile, Patricia Z�rate is the executive director of the annual Panama Jazz Festival, which was founded by her Panamanian husband Danilo P�rez, a noted jazz pianist, composer and educator. The first Chilean woman to graduate from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Z�rate has lived in that U.S. city for the past 18 years. 

 

Panama has an amazing selection of hotels. What's a personal favorite?

I love the Canal House boutique hotel in the city's colonial Casco Antiguo neighborhood. The environment is relaxed and very tropical. While it is luxurious in essence, guests are very close to the ultimate Panamanian experience, which includes the sea and the historic surroundings. You can walk to very important and diverse places such as the Presidential Palace, the Danilo P�rez Foundation and, very soon, a new jazz club with great music will open in Plaza Herrera during the Panama Jazz Festival 2014.

Tocumen International Airport

 

How is traveling through Tocumen International Airport these days?

In the past five years, the airport has gone through major renovations. Finally, the airport is a great place to wait for your flight. Now there's a massage center where you can get all types of services, including a 15-minute foot massage, [which is] so useful when traveling. A new food court features such things as sushi and great ice cream. It has become a totally new experience.


Panama has such a rich culinary tradition. Tell us about some of your favorite dishes.

I am really fond of fried plantain, mango salad, yuca frita and

Fried Yuca

patacones (also known as tostones). While plantain can be fried when ripe, as is the case with the sweet fried plantain dish, when it is green, it is used to make patacones (crispy and salty, like a very thick potato chip), which is a totally different experience. You can replace bread with patacones and make a cheese or turkey sandwich with them instead. Yuca frita replaces the repetitive French fries, and the mango season in Panama must be year-round, since you can literally find the mangos on the ground of the entire city. 

 

The restaurant I love in Casco Antiguo is called Las Clementinas. It is small and intimate, its food is great, plus they have a piano, and wonderful espresso coffee. I also like the Patagonia Restaurant in the San Francisco district, where they serve big, tender, imported steaks from Argentina.

 

When you travel to Panama, what do you always take with you?

Business travelers should always carry some cash since some ATMS may not work and many stores don't take credit cards or traveler's checks.


Time Out for Leisure

Though Z�rate could hardly be considered a tourist in Panama, she did share with us her favorite

leisure activities. 

Kuna Indian wearing Mola
A Top Two-Day Getaway

My top choice is to fly to the islands of Kuna Yala and get totally away from the city for a couple of days. 

 

Located on the Caribbean side of the country, Kuna Yala is the home of the Kuna Indians, and their homes are literally like a paradise set from a Hollywood movie. No phones, no roads, only boats. A trip like this recharges your batteries like nothing I have experienced before. And, it's only 30 minutes from Panama City.

 

Recommended Souvenirs

Three things I always look for are traditional Kuna Indian molas (a colorful cloth appliqu� construction rendered in striking tropical designs), the Panamanian tambor (a small hand drum) and the guayabera (a traditional men's tropical shirt).



 
Tocumen International Airport by Luis Paulo Vinatea Barberena via Wikimedia Commons; Fried Yuca by franzconde; Kuna Indian by Mark Holston
  
News from our Partners
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  Delta

Delta expands Atlanta to Freeport, Bahamas service: Service between Freeport and the airline's U.S. hub in Atlanta, Georgia will expand to daily flight between December 19, 2013 and August 18, 2014.

 

Delta announces new daily seasonal flight between Haiti and Atlanta: Between June 5 and August 18, Delta will fly daily between Port-au-Prince and its U.S. hub in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Latin Trade Group Proud to Present Annual Latin Trade Symposium On October 25: More than 400 guests from Latin America's top businesses, the public sector and key non-profits will discuss key topics in the hemisphere 

 

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The Latin Trade Symposium - October 25, Four Seasons Hotel, Miami. The Leading Forum for Discussion & Debate About the Americas
Travel News
Guatemala City

New Airline Routes and Route Changes

On November 1, Colombia-based Avianca plans to start flights between Bogot� and Guatemala City,

with four weekly flights.

 

Beginning November 8, Avianca will start nonstop service between San Salvador, El Salvador and Newark, New Jersey (U.S.). The flights will initially run four times a week, but will likely drop to fewer days by December.

 

U.S.-based American Airlines will begin flying between Miami and the Brazilian cities of Curitiba (Paran� state) and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sol state) on November 21.

Curitiba

 

Also beginning November 21, American will drop two round-trip flights between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Sao Paulo, Brazil, bringing the total weekly flights on that route down to 12. The airline is also moving to nighttime departures for both legs.

 

U.S.-based JetBlue Airways plans to launch new daily nonstop service between Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and San Juan, Puerto Rico on November 20. 

 

Germany-based TUIfly will begin flying between Hamburg, Germany and several Caribbean cities in November: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (beginning November 1); Cancun, Mexico (beginning November 2); Barbados (beginning November 22); and La Romana, Dominican Republic (beginning November 29).

TUIfly

 

Bahamas-based airline Bahamasair will begin flying nonstop between Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida (U.S.) and Nassau, Bahamas on November 11.

 

Airline Alliance News

U.S.-based Silver Airways and United Airlines reaffirmed their codeshare relationship for service throughout Florida and The Bahamas, with single-source booking and ticketing for more than 370 destinations.

 

U.S.-based airline JetBlue and Russian carrier Transaero signed an interline deal, set to begin this month, that will allow the two airlines to accommodate passengers and their luggage via a single itinerary that involves flights on both partners.

William P. Hobby Airport

 

Airport News

William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas (U.S.) broke ground on what will be its first international terminal. U.S.-based Southwest Airlines plans to use the new terminal to offer international flights for the first time in its existence. The US$156 million project will have five gates and customs and immigration facilities.

 

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas (U.S.) is the latest U.S. airport to purchase self-service kiosks for passengers clearing international customs. The airport plans to buy and install 32 kiosks.

 

Other Air Travel News

Gogo Inflight Internet and Magnolia Pictures signed a deal that will allow some airlines to offer first-run films for viewing over in-flight WiFi before they hit the local cinemas. Movies will be rented for 24 hours to a single device for US$10.

  

Southwest Airlines

Ground Transportation

Car rental company Silvercar, which leases only Audi A4s, will expand to Los Angeles International Airport on November 4.

 

Loyalty Program Updates

Southwest Airlines is offering double Rapid Rewards frequent-flier points on all new tickets booked between October 21 and November 21, with registration required for the promotion.

 

Hotel News

The Hilton Cabana Miami Beach will open December 16. The hotel will have 231 guestrooms and suites spread over Cabana-style buildings, as well as three small meeting rooms, two pools, a restaurant, a fitness center and a business center.

 

The Couples Barbados in St. Lawrence has been acquired by Sandals Resorts International and will reopen as the Sandals Barbados on November 6. Sandals plans to immediately begin renovating the 280-room property. Developed by Auteles Kalionchiz, rooms at the InterContinental Hotels Group property all include a sitting area with a lounge chair and a micro fridge. The hotel has fitness center, business center, pool and two meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 500 people.

  

Hotel Pipeline

InterContinental Hotels Group broke ground on a 20-story, 225-room Real InterContinental in the Piantini neighborhood of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Scheduled to open in 2015, the $70 million dollar property will be located next to the Acropolis shopping mall and will include restaurants, a fitness center, spa, an outdoor pool and meeting rooms. 

 

Guatemala City by Elder99 via Wikimedia Commons; Curitiba by henribergius via Wikimedia Commons; TUIfly by Lasse Fuss via Wikimedia Commons; William P. Hobby Airport by WhisperToMe via Wikimedia Commons; Southwest Airlines by quinn.anya
  

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