I'm getting hooked on the Esetelle tv travel channel. You've got Estelle who's quickly growing one of the largest grass roots campaigns for a travel channel on the internet. She's got something like 1 million people visiting her site every 10 days, plus her television show on 800 channels around the world.

Well this week she's covering Panama and her favorite areas in Panama are the Playa Bonita and the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. Even an interview with Ruben Blades the Minister of Tourism and a former movie star, but I didn't recognize him at first.

Panama is starting to get more and more international attention again both for its tourism but also for its business capabilities. Panama offers a number of economic free trade zones and the Intercontinental Playa Bonita resort and spa is only 15 minutes from the city.

Basically Panama offers the luxuries of some of the finest hotels and spas, the allure of the rain forest and mountains, plus the touch of history and culture from temples and ruins and local artists all close at hand to a very modern thriving economic center that caters to business from all around the world.

The Panama Canal may have been built in the 1930's, but it still serves today to bring centralized trade and industry offering a not only a gateway from the Pacific to the Atlantic but an international port serving both Central and Southern America.

You can travel there on business and still make time for a significant amount of peronsal experience and enjoyment.

The Gamboa Rainforest Resort is itself right at the Panama Canal. This is a 5 star resort located in the middle of a jungle. One of the things that looks pretty cool to me is the aerial tram through the rain forest. I've seen a number of resorts that offer zip lines and a bit of repelling, but how much can you really see when your zipping across a gorge or over the tops of trees at crazy speeds. If you want to absorb the landscape and look around, I can just picture taking a bottle of wine and some bred on one of these aerial tours.

Look at this resort, can you imagine staying on the lake there?


Now look at this view!



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