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2004 - Panama |
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Dates:
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Feb 14-18, 2004 |
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Where: : |
Panama |
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Planned activities: |
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SATURDAY: Arrival for most participants.
People were transported from the airport, in many cases by cousins - not
just the tour company. Rene and family had to stay in Madrid overnight
because of flight delays and were picked up by Jimmy Maduro and/or Ann
Shirley Hernandez when they arrived at Panama in the middle of the
night. |
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SUNDAY: We traveled by bus from the
Marriott Hotel to Coronado Beach for hors' d'oeuvres and barbecue, and
where many of the cousins from Panama met those who had come to the
reunion from other countries: Curacao, Costa Rica, Israel, Canada, The
Netherlands, Aruba, Ecuador, and the US.. |
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MONDAY: Many of us toured the Panama Canal
locks, the old part of the city,
and the Intercontinental Canal Museum. We visited the ruins of Old Panama, burnt and sacked by
the pirate Henry Morgan. We had lunch at the new restaurant at the
Miraflores Locks Visitor Center. At the Panama City Hall, the
Maduro and Delvalle families were officially welcomed by Mayor Juan
Carlos Alvarro. (Cousin Sita adds: the bus drive from Panama Viejo to
the City Hall was hair-raising, as was most of the driving in the city
because the streets are so narrow and the drivers so crazy! ) At night, we saw various places of
interest on the “Chiva Parrandera,” a special antique bus. Chiva
Parrandera is the partying bus, and was specially designed to
carry a Murga Band (typical Panamanian band) playing Latin and salsa
music in the back. All the other seats have a bar system that holds
glasses and bottles in order not to lose even a drop of the open bar of
Rum and Seco (a Panamanian spirituous drink) included in the tour. (The
planned visit to the Gamboa Rainforest including an aerial tram
above the rain forest, a serpentarium, a live butterfly collection was
canceled, but some reunion participants went after the reunion closed.) |
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TUESDAY: We took the bus to Colon, stopping
on the way at the ancient fortifications of the town of Portobelo
founded in the 16th century by the Spaniards. Lunch was at the beautiful
Melia Hotel near Colon, followed by shopping at the Colon Free Zone. We returned to Panama City on the
transcontinental train; a very scenic and beautiful trip, bordering the
Panama Canal. The train itself was beautiful. |
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WEDNESDAY: We visited two Jewish
cemeteries, and visited the Kol Shearith Israel synagogue where a
special service was held specially for our group,
led by our cousin Lyanne Lindo Wasserman. A luncheon was provided by KSI,
and Dr. Alberto Osorio, a Jewish historian and a member of the
Delvalle family, spoke of the 500 years of Jewish presence in
Panama. At night, many of our
Panamanian cousins joined us for a farewell dinner, with music and
presentation of traditional Panamanian dances. |
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THURSDAY: Reunion concluded and many
returned home on Thursday, but others continued their vacations in
Panama & Costa Rica. Several of those staying on were treated to a tour
of the Santa Rosa sugar factory at the invitation of Raul Arturo
Delvalle. |
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Personal notes: |
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There was special surprise for the
descendents of Judith Maduro -- Claudio Brandon from Ecuador, who is the
grandson of Solomon Brandon, Judith's son. Claudio knew much of the
family history and shared with us history and photographs of all of his
family. This was especially interesting for the 13 attending
descendents of Stanley Brandon, Solomon's brother, who had also lived
in Ecuador. (Contributed by Lucie Brandon). |
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Photos from Reunion |
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Click
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this
reunion |
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