Photo of the Week

This week's photo is a great old black and white aerial photo of a very memorable beach in the interior of Panama - Rio Mar. This photo was sent in by Scott Williams, a long time surfer of this beach. The photographer and year is unknown, but Scott thinks it was prior to 1964 when he started surfing there. Rio Mar beach, restaurant, and rental cottages have been part of many Zonian's lives for years. Although not a surfer, I spent many a weekends there. The restaurant had the best French Toast ever!!

Well, as progress has it's course in life, this nice little escape from daily life is now going to be a thing of the past. Scott reports:

Last Saturday I participated in a gathering to bid farewell to Rio Mar as we knew it. The restaurant and cabins will be replaced by three 22 floor towers of apartments. Each apartment will cost $300,000.00.

Below is a photo taken by Art Mokray on that last day. What a shame that this piece of history is going away.

For other photos of Rio Mar, Dino Barkema has some nice shots on his "Dino's Panama Photos" web site. You can see them by clicking here.

If anyone knows the history of Rio Mar, please sent it on for publication.

Thanks Scott and Art for sending in these photos.