That was the title of the first feature report we ever published on Panama back in 1999. Today, the old dream has finally come true. The Excelencias del Caribe Group has set out to a new journey throughout Panama to little by little scour the Central American Route, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reveal the beauty of this region from a different standpoint: through Central American Excellencies. In a region that goes the extra mile to elbow its way into the European market with the help of CATA (Central American Tourism Agency) –an office headquartered in Spain and led by Angela San Miguel- this willingness would bear no fruits without the agreements inked with several airlines, two companies that have built a hub in Madrid to fly European travelers to the Central American region, thus generating multi-destination tourism perfectly in sync with other accords signed with COPA and TACA airlines. The Excelencias Group wants to take the lead in this initiative, providing the region with informative support. Our publications –present in all of the world’s major travel tradeshows- will be our modest contribution to put people in the know about these destinations. With this special issue devoted to Panama –and others coming to you soon- the Excelencias Group wants to share this experience with these people. To that aim, we hope to count on the support of advertisers, impresarios, authorities, journalists, writers and artists in a bid to make this a long-lived project. We’d like to thank you all beforehand.

José Carlos de Santiago