Panama Living Newsletter

Flood relief project in Panama needs more help

2008-09-20T11:28:19-05:00

Last week I sent out a request to my readers in Panama for help with flood victims in Soloy, a region of the Ngobe Buble Comarca, who are displaced after a catastrophic flood occurred on September 3rd. Many responded and I received a letter from the organizers thanking everyone for the help. They are still working on relief efforts and could use additional help, so I'm sending this out to my entire readership in the hope that you may want to participate in this worthy humanitarian effort.

For more information please go to http://boqueteoutdooradventures.com/soloy

Catch the wave in Panama

2007-04-11T18:19:13-05:00

Continental Airlines inflight magazine is carrying this article about Real Estate in Latin America. There is a nice feature on Panama.

Excerpt;
“Both the ex-pats and the Costa Ricans themselves who live near the border were saying you should be looking in Panama,” he recalls. The reason: Costa Rica had been so successful at making its beachfront real estate appealing to North Americans that bargains were becoming harder and harder to find. Panama, on the other hand, has many of the same attractions as Costa Rica — including mortgage financing, title insurance, and an easy process for buying a second home — but at much lower prices.

Go here for the complete story.

Now you can bet on turtle races

2007-04-11T07:18:37-05:00

Here is a facinating science story of tracking Leatherback turtles and watching their progress on the internet. You can even bet which one will win!

From NSNBC

MSNBC staff and news service reports

Updated: 10:55 a.m. ET April 10, 2007

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Eleven leatherback turtles are swimming across the Pacific Ocean to the Galapagos Islands in a "race" that will be tracked online to draw attention to the plight of the critically endangered creatures, which have inhabited the oceans for 100 million years.

The turtles have been tagged with satellite communication devices that give their positions as they head south from their nesting sites on Costa Rica's Playa Grande beach to feeding grounds near the Galapagos, about 950 miles away.

Online participants can choose a turtle and then, starting on April 16, track the race at www.greatturtlerace.com. Corporate sponsors have adopted some turtles, and participants are asked to donate as well. The winner will be the turtle that travels farthest by April 29.

Story continues below ↓

"It's fascinating to consider that we are able to bring together these prehistoric animals with such cutting-edge science," said Stanford University researcher George Shillinger, one of the race organizers. "The data provides a nearly real-time ‘turtle’s-eye view’ of animal behavior in relation to environmental change."

The tags will transmit data every few minutes as the leatherbacks surface to breathe.

Conservationists say 95 percent of leatherbacks in the Pacific Ocean have vanished in the last 20 years due to human activity like fishing, poaching of their eggs and building near their nests, and that they could become extinct in the next decade.

Click for related content

View select profiles of endangered species

Thousands of leatherbacks nested at Playa Grande 10 years ago but the number has dropped to below 100 in the last five years.

Leatherbacks, which can reach a shell length of nearly 6 feet and weigh 1,500 pounds, often die after being entangled in fishing lines and nets. Others choke on plastic bags, wrongly believing they are jellyfish, which are a delicacy for turtles.

The Galapagos Islands, which lie west of Ecuador, are home to hundreds of unique animal species, including giant tortoises, exotic birds and iguanas. The variety of natural life there inspired 19th Century British naturalist Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.

The leatherback race will not be live because the turtles left Costa Rica at different times. Instead, the Web site will provide a day-to-day showing of the first 14 days of their journeys simultaneously as if they were racing.

The event will raise funds to protect Playa Grande. It is being organized by Conservation International, Costa Rica's environment ministry, the Leatherback Trust and the Tagging of Pacific Predators program.

Reuters contributed to this report

Colliers Int'l Pushing 167 Acres on Panama Canal

2007-04-06T12:53:44-05:00

Globe St.com
PANAMA-One of the world’s greatest engineering feats is now yielding a humongous commercial real estate opportunity. The 167-acre Isla Margarita is considered the last remaining developable waterfront parcel on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, according to officials at Colliers Multimodal Services Group, which has been retained as brokers for the property.

Port and terminal operators and similar firms involved in maritime industries are among those expected to pursue the one-time US naval installation, says John Carver of Colliers, executive director for the multimodal services division. “Furthermore,” he adds, “the Isla Margarita has more than 2,000 meters of pristine coastline offering the potential for other forms of development, such as beachfront hotel, restaurants, retail or entertainment.”

That multi-faceted vision certainly seems light years removed from the godforsaken, mosquito-infested quagmire through which the canal was forged a mere century ago, although Panama Canal Authority chairman Ricaurte Vasquez stresses that the waterway itself serves a far different level of ocean vessel than ever could have been imagined at the outset. “With an increase in ship size and the volume of cargo traffic, the existing canal has nearly reached capacity,” says Vasquez, prompting the authority to approve a $5.3-billion enterprise last year that will create another lane for traffic entering and exiting the canal.The expansion should further enhance interest in Isla Margarita, Carver maintains, giving marine operations an abutting base from which to service the new growth. International trading companies seeking to operate within the nearby Colon Free Trade Zone are another source of business who might utilize the Isla Margarita, suggests Carver, a notion backed by Mario Hoyte, secretary general of the Colon Free Trade Zone, which is the second largest of its kind in the world.

“We would welcome the opportunity to see the Isla Margarita site developed to help the Colon Free Trade Zone in accommodating the continuing growth of international trade and to provide the needed facilities to capture the new growth expected from the expansion of the canal,” says Hoyte. The canal project is set to begin in 2008 and be completed by 2015.

Among other services, the Colliers International Multimodal Service Group itself offers global analysis of free trade zones, as well as logistical support, tariff appraisement and importer compliance for the ocean, air and grown transportation sectors. Besides Panama, the multimodal team is presently representing all development within the Lingang Logistics and Manufacturing Zone in Shanghai, an assignment touted as the largest ever in Mainland China for a US-based commercial real estate company.

Banana train of Almirante

2007-04-06T12:37:35-05:00

Last Year John Goldrick of Ledbury, England visited Panama and rode the Banana train in Almirante near Bocas del Toro. John heard that the train would soon stop running and be disassembled and sold for scrap metal. Being a train buff he tried hard to find anyone who could forestall the demise of this historic relic. Unfortunately scrap prices and other costs made it impractical to save. Even so, John saved a bit of the history by photographing and making the story available on the net. Here is his note to me and his photos site. If you like trains you should visit.

Hi Sam,

It is amazing how my 2005 visit to Panama keeps on running………………….

As I understand it, the Almirante Railroad is now no more. It drew to its inevitable conclusion and went the way of most, if not all of the other Central American Banana Railroads, with the last of its locos being dispatched to Mozambique. Realistically nothing could have been done. Complete closure was inevitable.

However, I found the correspondence that ensued to explore the chances of alternative options very rewarding. I have particularly enjoyed conversing with Clyde Stephens of Bocas and Florida. I now have a copy of his fascinating Banana People book and copies of a railroad chapter from an earlier publication.

This has inspired to me document my visit in more detail and I have chose an Internet format to do this. It is my contribution to Banana and Panamanian History!

I wish to share it with you, too, because I also much appreciated your interest. Without it, this small contribution would not have happened.

I hope you enjoy it,

John

http://www.ledbury.plus.com/arra.htm

Cross the Panama Canal in just 2 minutes

2007-03-24T08:10:06-05:00

I stumbled on this interesting video on UTUBE that is a 2 minute time laps of a ship passing through the canal from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. Very cool.

Quetzal a symbol of Panama beauty

2007-03-11T09:01:59-05:00

This article is really about the Quetzal's of Costa Rica, but we have them near Boquete in the Quetzal's national forest. They are so common that almost all our visitors to the park get a look at them. Great story....

Here is a link to my photos of a hke through the park.
Excerpt; The bird signifies adventure in Costa Rica. To see a quetzal in the wild requires a journey to forested mountains at elevations of 4,000 to 10,000 feet.

I'm always amazed at how such a brightly plumed bird blends in with the rain-forest scenery. Despite the male's luminous green head and back, accented by intense tones of violet and offset by a radiant crimson belly, the quetzal can be virtually invisible as it perches against a forested backdrop.

New York post on Panama

2007-03-08T19:02:10-05:00

Panama Panorama
Beneath the towers ofthe capitol lies a historic nabe that is growing in leaps and bounds, write David Appel.
March 6, 2007 -- DON'T know about you, but when I think "stunning colonial architecture," Central America doesn't even crack the five that come to mind. And Panama? Isn't that the place with the big canal, some rainforests, and skyscrapers? Yep.
Read the whole story here...

Mirror of Panama

2007-03-04T07:52:22-05:00

Local opinion makers have taken to comment on the recent stories in major US publications and TV networks. Interesting take on things from this side of the border.

Machine English and Spanish follows.

Panama, Saturday 24 of February of 2007

The DESCRIPTIONS Of the COUNTRY HAPPEN from DIVINE to The RIDICULOUS SITUATION. The mirror distorted in the last days have appeared different articles about panama on US media. ` cheap paradise or a poor country, but less, are some of the headlines that are repeated.

La Prensa

Some medias measure the prosperity of Panama by the buildings that are built. More cement attracts more investors.

Being in fashion has its consequences. Panama is at its best and is around the world. The main argument: the real estate boom. The distortions: many in the last weeks, prestigious medias of the United States have published articles on the country. One is a mirror to watch Panama where the image is distorted by work and grace of the media, just as sometimes narrates war from a taxi, without many elements of judgment.

In order to order the sparkles of this mirror, we have chosen three categories.

First world disease

The first case is the one of Jose Cordova. This journalist published Monday 19 of February in The Wall Street Journal Americas - reproduced by La Prensa a titled article "A Panama in boom waits for the return of Noriega". Among other things, Cordova it assures that Noriega is the subject of fashionable conversation in the country and it explains us how, thanks to the Americans, is in transit of pathetic country to real estate project.

"Its return [ of Noriega ] has momentarily blurred the other subject of forced conversation: the boom of real estate impelled, partly, by the American retirees, which has transformed this city, well-known for refuge of spies, arms dealers and unemployed dictators, in an enormous urban project with tens of skyscraper in construction ", indicate Cordova.

Then he adds, like positive note, that Casco Antiguo - where "years ago, only to watch demolishing buildings made fear for I infect of the yellow fever" - has "a fashionable pair of apples full of restaurants". The comparisons if the "first world" is inescapable for some contributors, others cannot resist to compare, that yes, with that cautious style People & Arts, where the local customs are, in the best one of the cases, colorful. That happens to Ceci Connolly, of The Washington Post. Arrived in Panama, it crossed the country and, really, it was enchanted. As much that Panama is well because, as it suggests in the title of the published article the 18 of February: "The next South Beach Is the city of Panama". In the text, Connolly indicates two differences with the North American paradise: the lack of experience in the handling of tourists - but it praises the disposition of the Panamanians and the distance of beaches. And it notices that "still it is not like Miami". "[ Panama ] is more warm and manageable. And now it is the moment for going, before the Canal has built the third locks, before Donald Trump finishes its building of 65 floors, and before the prices go off ". Poor man but cheap.

The third category is already classic and is the one that the operators transmit who try to attract the American retirees. The basic message is: "yes is poor, but it is cheap". That’s how Jeffrey Kofman in an article published by ABCNews: "In Florida, the style of life of a gated community as the one of Panama he would be only for millionaires, but the mathematics are different here". Kofman is more explicit and continues: "USA has invaded several Panama times: with weapons. The present American invasion more has been calmed, but equal of surprise… Why Panama? There is a terrible poverty, but for the standards of Latin America he is and relatively safe stable politically ". As indicates Jayne Clark in the USA Today, the promise for the new residents is simple: “live better for less". That is the mirror of Panama.

Panamá, sábado 24 de febrero de 2007

IMAGEN. LAS DESCRIPCIONES DEL PAÍS PASAN DE LO SUBLIME A LO RIDÍCULO.

El espejo distorsionado

En los últimos días han aparecido dispares artículos sobre Panamá en importantes medios de EU.

El ‘paraíso barato’ o un país pobre, ‘pero poco’, son algunos de los tópicos que se repiten.
LA PRENSA / Demóstenes Ángel

‘BOOM’ de altura. Algunos medios miden la prosperidad de Panamá por los edificios que se construyen. Mucho cemento para atraer inversionistas.811748
Paco Gómez Nadal
fgomez@prensa.com

Estar de moda tiene sus consecuencias. Panamá lo está y se habla de ella fuera de nuestras fronteras. El principal argumento: el inmobiliario. Las distorsiones: muchas.

En las últimas semanas, prestigiosos medios de Estados Unidos (EU) han publicado artículos sobre el país. Se trata de un espejo para mirar a Panamá donde la imagen se distorsiona por obra y gracia del periodismo, que igual que a veces relata guerras desde un taxi, puede sentar cátedra sin muchos elementos de juicio.

Para ordenar los destellos de este espejo, hemos elegido tres categorías.

Mal de ‘primermundismo’

El primer caso es el de José De Córdoba. Este periodista publicó el lunes 19 de febrero en The Wall Street Journal Americas -reproducido por La Prensa- un artículo titulado "Un Panamá en auge espera el regreso de Noriega". Entre otras cosas, De Córdoba asegura que Noriega es el tema de conversación de moda en el país y nos explica cómo, gracias a los estadounidenses, se está en tránsito de país patético a proyecto inmobiliario.

"Su regreso [de Noriega] ha opacado momentáneamente el otro tema de conversación obligado: el auge de los bienes raíces impulsado, en parte, por los jubilados estadounidenses, lo que ha transformado esta ciudad, conocida como refugio de espías, traficantes de armas y dictadores desempleados, en un enorme proyecto urbano con decenas de rascacielos en construcción", señala De Córdoba.

Luego añade, como nota positiva, que el Casco Antiguo -donde "hace unos años, el solo mirar los fétidos y derruidos edificios hacía temer por el contagio de la fiebre amarilla"- tiene "un par de manzanas llenas de restaurantes de moda".

Las comparaciones

Si el "primermundismo" es ineludible para algunos articulistas, otros no pueden resistirse a comparar, eso sí, con esa mirada estilo People & Arts, donde las costumbres locales son, en el mejor de los casos, pintorescas. Eso le pasa a Ceci Connolly, de The Washington Post. Llegó a Panamá, recorrió el país y, realmente, estuvo encantada. Tanto que Panamá está bien porque, como sugiere en el título del artículo publicado el 18 de febrero: "¿Es la ciudad de Panamá la próxima South Beach?".

En el texto, Connolly señala dos diferencias con el paraíso norteamericano: la falta de experiencia en el manejo de turistas -pero alaba la disposición de los panameños- y la lejanía de las playas. Y advierte que "todavía no es como Miami". "[Panamá] Es más cordial y manejable. Y ahora es el momento de ir, antes de que el Canal haya construido su tercer jugo de exclusas, antes de que Donald Trump termine su edificio de 65 pisos, y antes de que los precios se disparen".

Pobre pero barato

La tercera categoría es ya clásica y es la que transmiten los operadores que tratan de atraer a los jubilados estadounidenses. El mensaje básico es: "sí es pobre, pero es barato".

Así lo transmite Jeffrey Kofman en un artículo publicado por abcNews: "En Florida, el estilo de vida de una comunidad cerrada como la de Panamá sería solo para millonarios, pero aquí las matemáticas son diferentes".

Kofman es más explícito y continúa: "EU ha invadido varias veces Panamá: con armas. La actual invasión americana ha sido más calmada, pero igual de sorpresiva. [...] ¿Por qué Panamá? Hay una terrible pobreza, pero para los estándares de Latinoamérica es relativamente segura y estable políticamente".

Como lo señala Jayne Clark en USA Today, la promesa para los nuevos residentes es sencilla: "viva mejor por menos". Esa es la Panamá del espejo.

Hacienda de Molinos receives praise

2007-03-02T07:55:03-05:00

Local press has done a nice story an a very nice project just outside of Boquete. Hacienda De Molinos is well planned and executed and deserves the praise. Be sure to visit them if you visit and check out the bar and view. Incredible! See my photo album here...

Machine translated to English. Spanish follows
Tourism today
They remove brightness to natural treasure in Boquete The volume of the visitors comes from all parts of the world, mainly of North America and Europe. Courtesy of the Molinos ATTRACTION. In the area there are footpaths to walk towards the tube, the gorge and jardines.
813914 Mario To Muñoz andresm@prensa.com

When journeying by the way that leads to Boquete, in the province of Chiriquí, hardley anyone can notice that to two kilometers towards the northwest there is an impressive cliff. He happens inadvertent through the visitors and single some villagers know it like "the tube". In the place, the river flows between the canyon from where several cascades at rainy time arise.

This natural treasure practically is not known even for residents of the province, because single it was possible to be acceded through private property and it did not count on highways nor footpaths that took to crystalline waters of the Cochea river. The Vista to the cliff is one of main attractive of the residential area the Mills, within as the House of the Risco has been operating for few months the tourist inn. Vista that is worth gold Courtesy of the Mills The inn is on the brink of madness risco. When staying itself in the place, the visitors can observe from their rooms the waterfalls, rocky crags and also the imposing presence of Barú volcano. One is a property of two plants, valued in a million dollars, that have swimming pool, piano bar, jacuzzi and tables of billiards game and chess. Little by little the inn breaks through as international tourist destiny and at the moment almost two hundreds of people per month are stayed in the site. "I have never lived an equal experience", said to the Argentinean Raul Edmundo Núñez. "he has been relajante to be here; they do not give desire to sleep to be contemplating the landscape ". The thickness of the visitors comes from all parts of the world, mainly of North America and Europe. "To the nationals to them it becomes difficult to think that a place in our country exists thus, and the foreigners are astonished and hit with the views towards the Pacific Ocean, majestic Barú volcano, the tube and the Cochea river", said to Juan Luis Duncan, senior coordinator of the management of Canyon Properties, property the Mills. Agricultural past Lupita Saval de Troetsh, the proprietor of earth, said that his father, Ricardo Saval, bought the property at the beginning of the last century in order to take advantage of fertile grounds to destine it to an agricultural use. "Memory how the Vista of the Pacific Ocean, to the south, enriched its long days of work in the property, and the dusk on Barú volcano, to the north, comforted it in the afternoons while it relaxed next to his family".

hostal La casa del risco.

Turismo al día

Sacan brillo a tesoro natural en Boquete

El grueso de los visitantes proviene de todas partes del mundo, principalmente de Norte América y Europa.
Cortesía de Los Molinos

ATRACCIÓN. En el área hay senderos para caminar hacia el cañón, la quebrada y los jardines.813914
Mario A. Muñoz
andresm@prensa.com

Al transitar por el camino que conduce a Boquete, en la provincia de Chiriquí, difícilmente alguien puede notar que a dos kilómetros hacia el noroeste hay un impresionante acantilado. Pasa inadvertido por los visitantes y solo algunos lugareños lo conocen como "el cañón". En el lugar, el río fluye entre los riscos de donde surgen varias cascadas en época lluviosa.

Este tesoro natural es prácticamente desconocido incluso para residentes de la provincia, porque solo se podía acceder a través de fincas privadas y no contaba con carreteras ni senderos que llevaran a las aguas cristalinas del río Cochea.

La vista al acantilado es uno de los principales atractivos del área residencial Los Molinos, dentro del cual opera desde hace pocos meses el hostal turístico La Casa del Risco.

Vista que vale oro
Cortesía de Los Molinos

El hostal está al borde del risco.

Al hospedarse en el lugar, los visitantes pueden observar desde sus habitaciones las caídas de agua, los peñascos y también la imponente presencia del volcán Barú.

Se trata de una propiedad de dos plantas, valorada en un millón de dólares, que tiene piscina, piano bar, jacuzzi y mesas de juego de billar y ajedrez.

Poco a poco el hostal se abre paso como destino turístico internacional y actualmente se hospedan en el sitio casi dos centenares de personas por mes.

"Nunca he vivido una experiencia igual", dijo el argentino Raúl Edmundo Núñez. "Ha sido relajante estar acá; no dan ganas de dormir por estar contemplando el paisaje".

El grueso de los visitantes proviene de todas partes del mundo, principalmente de Norte América y Europa.

"A los nacionales se les hace difícil creer que existe un lugar así en nuestro país, y los extranjeros quedan maravillados e impactados con las vistas hacia el océano Pacífico, el majestuoso volcán Barú, el cañón y el río Cochea", dijo Juan Luis Duncan, coordinador senior de la gerencia de Canyon Properties, hacienda Los Molinos.

Pasado agrícola

Lupita Saval de Troetsh, la propietaria de las tierras, dijo que su padre, Ricardo Saval, compró la propiedad a principios del siglo pasado a fin de aprovechar los suelos fértiles para destinarlo a un uso agrícola.

"Recuerdo cómo la vista del océano Pacífico, al sur, enriquecía sus largos días de trabajo en la finca, y el atardecer sobre el volcán Barú, al norte, lo reconfortaba en las tardes mientras se relajaba junto a su familia".

Everything you will want to know about cruising the canal.

2007-03-01T14:41:13-05:00

This article is from smartertravel.com.

Cruise destination spotlight: Panama Canal

by Erica Silverstein, SmarterTravel.com Staff - February 27, 2007

Cruising the Panama Canal is a once-in-a-lifetime experience reserved for only the most determined travelers. While anyone is allowed to go, 14-night itineraries and pricey one-way airfares have a way of weeding out many potential cruisers. Retirees with a lot of money and time to spare make up the largest part of this cruise audience.

The Panama Canal's cruise season runs from late September through April. The best time to visit Panama is in the winter and spring, especially since the country's rainy season lasts from March through December. For the best weather, cruise after November.

read the rest of the article here....

Crossing A Continent In 57 Minutes On The Panama Railroad

2007-03-01T14:38:00-05:00

Nice article on the Panama railroad with a bit of history thrown in. If you like trains you will love this ride! From Playfuls.com

Every day after 5 p.m. thousands of cars snake from Colon, on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, to Panama City, on the Pacific.

Many people who work in the Colon Free Trade Zone or at one of the big container terminals prefer to live in the Panamian capital. So they shuttle the 80 kilometres, on the country's only toll road, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

People have always used the Isthmus of Panama, the narrowest part of North America, to get from one ocean to the other - first on foot, then on horseback and with horse-drawn carriages. A railway line was completed in 1855, allowing the transit of bulkier goods from ships on one side to ships on the other.

Much of the line, the original Panama Railroad, is now underwater. The big seafaring ships sail over it as they proceed through the Panama Canal and Lake Gatun, which was created by damming the Chagres River.

The 19th century headquarters of the Panama Railroad, which directed interoceanic rail traffic across the Isthmus of Panama (then governed by Bolivia), were in a building that today is the Hotel Washington. The fastest and most convenient route linking San Francisco and New York in those days was via Panama.

The Panama Railroad proved so successful that at one time it was the highest-priced stock on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1913, a year before the Panama Canal began operations, it transported nearly 3 million passengers and more than 2 million tons of freight. Without the railway and its transport capacity the canal could never have been built.

Passenger service on a modest scale resumed just six years ago. A single train, luxuriously outfitted, travels from Panama City to Colon in the morning and returns in the evening. Travel time is 57 minutes - the quickest way to get from one ocean to the other.

Driving the distance can take two hours or more as the road is perpetually congested. And ships using the Panama Canal need about eight hours, after waiting for days to enter the waterway.

As soon as the train leaves the station, laptop computers are flipped open. For traders from the Colon Free Trade Zone, the air- conditioned coaches are an ideal place to work out final details with buyers and partners, to compare prices, and to make offers.

Through large windows they can enjoy the picturesque tropical rainforest, which continually opens up to reveal Lake Gatun and the big ships gliding on it. In some places the train seems to glide through the middle of the lake as it passes along an embankment just above the water's surface.

INFO BOX: Interoceanic journey by rail

PRICE: The train has first-class coaches only, all of which have bar and snack service. There is also a restaurant coach. Open-air viewing decks allow passengers to get a feel for the tropical heat and humidity. A one-way trip costs 22 dollars (about 17 euros).

Internet: www.ipat.gob.pa.

By Franz Smets

Alien object crashes in Rio Hato

2007-03-01T10:37:51-05:00

This just in from China view....

Geologists find meteorite on Panama beach

PANAMA CITY, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Panamanian geologists have found an meteorite at Rio Hato, a coastal town west of the capital Panama City.

The meteorite fell onto Rio Hato's beach last Friday, geologist Juan de Dios Villa told the press on Wednesday.

The landing was witnessed by a security guard, who described it as a ball of fire crashing down from the sky onto the sand.

The 4.2 kg red object, measuring 20 cm in diameter, will be X-rayed for more details, said Villa, chief geologist at the National Mineral Resources Directorate.

The meteorite shows burn marks on its exterior, and appears to be mainly carbon-based, in contrast to most meteorites, which mainly contain iron.

Direct flights to Cali announced

2007-03-01T10:34:58-05:00

Passengers Will Be Able to Connect With 36 Destinations and 21 Countries Through Copa Airlines' Hub of the Americas in Panama City

BOGOTA, Colombia, and PANAMA CITY, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AeroRepublica, subsidiary of Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE: CPA) , began direct daily service from Cali to Panama City on February 14, 2006. This new route is served with one of AeroRepublica's brand new EMBRAER-190 aircraft with a 106 all-leather seat, single-class configuration.

Passengers Will Be Able to Connect With 36 Destinations and 21 Countries Through Copa Airlines' Hub of the Americas in Panama City

  AeroRepublica's flight schedule is the following:

  Route             Frequency          Departure         Arrival
  Cali - Panama      Daily             5:10 p.m.         6:30 p.m.
  Panama - Cali      Daily             11:20 a.m.        12:40 p.m.

"This flight will give Cali, a city of more than two million inhabitants, a much needed afternoon non-stop daily flight to Panama, plus instant access to the Americas through international connectivity with Copa Airlines' network of 36 destinations in 21 countries in North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean," said Roberto Junguito, President, AeroRepublica. "This again reaffirms our commitment to offer our passengers the most convenient way to travel, all enhanced with a superior product offering."

AeroRepublica now provides international service from three principal cities in Colombia into Copa Airlines' Hub of the Americas in Panama City. The alliance between AeroRepublica and Copa Airlines enables intra-regional connectivity for Colombian passengers, who will be able to benefit from code- share agreements between both airlines and connect through Panama with the most important business centers in Central America and the Caribbean.

AeroRepublica, Colombia's second-largest domestic carrier, provides service to 12 cities in Colombia, as well as international connectivity with Copa Airlines' Hub of the Americas from the Colombian cities of Bogota, Cali and Medellin. Copa Holdings, through its Copa Airlines and AeroRepublica operating subsidiaries, is a leading Latin American provider of passenger and cargo service. CPA-G

Website: http://www.copaair.com/

Security issues in the city

2007-03-01T09:23:03-05:00

I have posted several security stories in the last few months and this latest warning from the Embassy wardens office goes into detail on the tricks used by those who would break into your homes while you are there. There have been more than 20 of these incidents reported.

Date: 28 February 2007

To: U.S. Embassy Warden System

Subject: Security Update – Pre-operational Criminal Surveillance Prior to Home Invasion

Dear Wardens: Please disseminate this message to U.S. citizens in your area. Thank you.

The Embassy would like to inform all members of the U.S. Citizen Community to be aware of pre-operational criminal surveillance that local law enforcement authorities have identified in Panama City in recent months. The criminals appear to be clean cut, well dressed men. They are believed to be Colombian or Costa Rican. They gain entry into homes with ruses of: the word of God, sales of household cleaning supplies, carpet cleaning, etc.

While inside the residence, they take note of the surroundings. The subjects will attempt to find patterns or schedules as to when someone leaves/arrives. They gain the trust of the domestic help and get as much information as possible. This group will leave a symbol outside the residence where it is noticeable for the rest of their group. In the next step, the person who gained confidence previously will come to the house again; in about a week, and when the door is opened, the rest of the group follows inside the residence. Once inside, the victims are tied up and forced to tell the assailants where the valuables are held. When the subjects feel they have what they want, they flee the residence in a stolen vehicle awaiting them outside. At this point, authorities have no leads in these cases. There is no exact count of houses that have been hit. At this point, they are going on “victim testimonies” and believe that at least 20 residences have been the scene of this type of criminal activity. Attached below are symbols that they have been placed on the residences prior to the attack.

For updated information on the security situation in Panama, please contact the American Citizens Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy at 207-7030. The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy is located in The Clayton Building (formerly Fort Clayton Building 520) in the Clayton section of Panama. The Consular Section fax is 207-7278. The Embassy web site is http://usembassy.state.gov/panama <http://usembassy.state.gov/panama> and e-mails should be addressed to Panama-ACS@state.gov <mailto:Panama-ACS@state.gov> .

Hike Up Volcano In Panama Turns Into A Strange Adventure

2007-02-25T23:10:35-05:00

This is an interesting story of hiking to the top of Baru Volcano. My wife and boys have done this in a two day trip. It was tough going and I was happy that I had a previous engagement. If you are considering this trip you may want to read this adventure.

My father and I, in Panama for a week during Thanksgiving last year, decided to make the ascent of Volcán Barú part of our itinerary. It seemed like a snap, given our more strenuous previous excursions: hiking the Inca Trail over four days in Peru in 2004 and scaling peaks exceeding 16,000 feet in Ecuador in 2005.

Wrong.

Various guidebooks offer differing accounts of how challenging the hike up Volcán Barú is supposed to be. At 28 kilometers round-trip (more than 17 miles), the hike is plenty long, whether you decide it's a straightforward one-day walk-up or a trek best spread over two days. The idea, all the books say, is to the reach the summit at dawn, when it's usually still clear enough for climbers to see the Pacific Ocean to the south and the Caribbean Sea to the north. We first consider the two-day hike but opt at the last minute to avoid camping by doing the whole thing in one day with a local guide supplied by Panama Pete Adventures in Panama City (company motto: "No tours, just adventures").

Completing the hike in one day usually requires leaving Boquete at 2 a.m. We are unable to move up our pre-arranged start time, so we meet our guide outside our lodgings, Hotel Fundadores, at 6:15. We pile into an overloaded white Mitsubishi Montero - stuffed with the driver, a tour company employee, the guide, the guide's "assistant," another guy hitching a ride and us - for the drive from Fundadores to the ranger station at the foot of Volcán Barú. It's sunny and rapidly warming when we start up the rocky path at 7:15.

The hike is immediately grueling, thanks in large part to the humidity. Our roguish guide, Eduardo Miranda, is out of shape (later, after informing us that this is his first ascent of Volcán Barú in five years, he tells me his hobbies include "mujeres, fumando y cerveza" - women, smoking and beer), and we pause frequently to catch our breath during the first portion.

The path goes on and on, and parts are quite steep. Wooden signs inform us of our progress, though they soon start to seem like taunts as we huff our way slowly toward la cima, the top: "9 km a la cima," or "4.5 km a la cima." We trudge along, pausing now and then to eat fresh raspberries off the vine or to admire the view. Soon, though, clouds begin rolling in from the west, and they are ominously dark.

Rain And Rum

When we're "2 km a la cima," it starts to rain. This is a bad sign, given the deep, muddy ruts we've been seeing, but we're getting close to the top. So we don rain gear and hunker in brush by the side of the path. Eduardo smokes a cigarette while we wait for the rain to subside.

After a few minutes, the rain tapers to a chilly drizzle, and we continue on to the "base camp," where we would have spent the night. It's a flat area, marked by a dilapidated open-walled hut missing part of the floor, and by a large mound of garbage scattered near a perfectly serviceable trash barrel. It's 11 a.m., and suddenly our decision not to spend the night - and all of this afternoon - seems inspired, despite the rain.

Finally, after another steep, torturous stretch, we reach the top, but there are no oceans in sight. In fact, we are enveloped in fog, and the only water we see is falling on us from above as we wander gingerly around the murky summit, which is growing steadily colder.

The top of Volcán Barú is anything but pristine. Its altitude makes it an ideal transmission point for television and cellular phone signals, and a large flat area just shy of the summit hosts a small forest of towering antennas looming over squat concrete bunkers housing equipment and the engineers that maintain it.

The prospect of hiking back down the steep, muddy path is not pleasant, and Eduardo happily obliges us with a diversion: He knows one of the engineers working atop the mountain, and soon we are seated in the makeshift kitchen in a bunker as the engineer, Froilan Miranda (no relation), boils water for coffee.

We gratefully gulp it down, shivering in our wet gear as the temperature drops, and carry on a conversation as best we can with our broken Spanish and their broken English, in between peeks at a soccer game on a little TV in the tiny bunkroom next to the kitchen. Before long, Froilan produces a bottle of harsh Panamanian rum, which Eduardo tipples with gusto and passes around to the rest of us.

We're sitting on top of a dormant volcano, in pouring rain, drinking rum with complete strangers. Now that's adventure.

A Rocky Road

It soon emerges that two technicians repairing equipment on the mountain are heading down soon, in a pickup truck. Eduardo secures us a ride, which sounds brilliant until the truck pulls up around 4 p.m.

It's a double-cab pickup, which means we all ought to fit. We don't. There's room for just one, in a back seat largely taken up by two huge boxes of electronic components that can't get wet. My father is twice my age, so it only seems fair that he rides in the cab.

That leaves Eduardo and me to hunker down in the bed, wedged in precariously with a bag or two of trash, a box of salvaged copper wire, coils of thick rope, a pickax and various bits of machinery. Leaning up against the back of the cab isn't much of an option: There's a convex satellite dish strapped upright to it. Eduardo has scrounged a filthy tarp, which we pull over ourselves as we brace against the frame of the truck for the ride down.

And what a ride. The truck makes slow progress, bouncing jarringly over rocks and into tire ruts. Every jolt sends shock waves up my spine, and my head is positioned disturbingly close to the dirt-encrusted blade of the pickax. The one benefit of crouching under the tarp is that we can't actually see the makeshift road to which the truck clings. My father later tells me the view from the cab was harrowing.

After 40 minutes and only 4½ kilometers, we stop, but only because the pickup has become stuck in a deepening morass of mud. Rain teems down, the light is starting to fade, and we still have 9 kilometers to go.

Eduardo and I hop out of the bed as the driver attempts to gun it through the muck. No dice. Next, he and Eduardo take machetes and hack away at the brush by the road and stuff the branches under the tires in the hope of building traction. This doesn't work, either.

Attempts to dig out the pickup, or to pry it out with a log, also prove unsuccessful, and the torrential rain isn't making things any easier. The truck is outfitted with a winch on the front bumper, and finally, after two failed attempts to pull the pickup out with the winch, an opposite-angle approach works, and the truck is free.

The Journey's End

Each of us resumes his place - Dad in the cab with the TV technicians, Eduardo and I in the bed - and the truck continues swaying and lurching its way down the mountain. Eduardo and I are tossed from side to side, groaning and uttering oaths in Spanish and English. There are moments when it hardly seems far-fetched to think I could be thrown from the truck and end up stranded in deep underbrush, in the rain, in the dark, on the mountain. Yet I hear myself laughing between curses. Eduardo seems less fazed: He smokes the occasional cigarette and even answers his cellphone.

We finally reach the ranger station around 8 p.m., and Dad, Eduardo and I transfer to the waiting Montero for the ride back to Hotel Fundadores, dinner and a much-needed shower.

It took us five hours to reach the summit, and nearly as long to get back down.

We saw plenty during the rest of our stay in Panama, including Spanish colonial ruins in Panama City and a portion of the Panama Canal, which is truly a marvel of engineering.

Those were only tours, though. We had already completed the adventure.

Contact Eric R. Danton at edanton@courant.com.

What's up in the Azueros?

2007-02-25T20:31:12-05:00

Here is a machine translation of a local article on the Pedasi area in the Azueros.

In Pedasí winds of change blow:

By the streets they are intermingled the artisan fishermen, the producers of corn and the cattle farmers with the new renters of the place. One treats, in his great majority, of Americans, Canadian French and, who got tired of the low temperatures of their countries and preferred the tropical climate located coastal district only five hours from the capital city. The foreigners are arriving in order to acquire second residence or to invest in a tourist project.

Some predict that this zone could reach the same tourist and residential height that has had Boquete. But the development could also bring with some disadvantages. The improvements of the highway from Las Tables to Pedasí, - made during the government of ex- president Mireya Moscoso, native of the area and the repair of the runway of the district in the route towards the beach El Arenal, have served as stimulus, or rather as last impulse so that the tourists appear like champiñones during this summer. In the town it is rumored that actor Brad Pitt and the retired player of basketball Michael Jordan already bought their small piece of land in the area, but there is no registry.

What yes it was possible to be confirmed is that the heiress of emporio Estée Lauder, Aerin Lauder, invested in lands near the beach the Destiladeros. Pedasí is in the map of those of developers and those that they want "to buy" tranquillity.

But although this district, on a surface of 384,5 square kilometers and population of at least 3 thousand 640 inhabitants, counts on great extensions of land in front of the attractive sea and an endless number of tourist, it was not until recently that more foreign investors risked to settle in the place. The basic infrastructures are not the best ones, but this did not matter to the French Philippe Athanatiades 16 years ago. From the island the Friars, where he practiced fishing, descried the land in which nowadays raises the project Posada los Destiladeros.

He bought 600 hectares of land next to other investors, resold some and he reforested the area with seedtime of 250 thousand trees of theca. "Before only there were weeds, scorpions and snakes in this land. Nobody was interested in these dry land, that were not good to raise cattle ", remembers this French with a noticeable Portuguese accent, product of the many years that lived in Brazil. The little value which they saw the owners of these properties allowed that Philippe bought lands to very low prices. Between three and five dollars the square meter? "No. To much less than that ", it says without wanting to give more details. Now, the 13 hectares of land, where a property of theca trees is raised, have a value of between 10 and 25 dollars the square meter.

Although the installation of the service of potable water, electrical light, the improvements of the highway and the construction of the tourist project could duplicate their original price. When Philippe bought land, it was focused in his project of reforestation, but the visitors requested a place to stay near the sea and not in the center of the town. For that reason the construction of the posada in 2001 began. Monthly arrive between 300 and 400 European and American visitors. It has invested a million dollars and continues working in the expansion of his project. In means of his property, that has 8 thousand seeded trees of theca, he has raised in an area of 2 thousand 700 square meters cabins done with own materials of the region of Azuero, but with a French touch.

The costs of the lodging per night can vary of 75 dollars to 200 dollars, if it is a cabin in front of the sea. "This it is not a massive project. Hardly they are 10 cabins, each one different from the other ", also clarifies the owner of the company of real estate Panama Bamboo. Between his plans it has projected to construct a hotel of 50 rooms in the Cane Island for tourists interested in the observation of turtles. They discover the destiny Philippe is not single in its adventure. The promotion of Panama as tourist destiny and the local real estate boom that occupies editorial pages and of newspaper publicity like the New York Times, brings with himself to other investors with ambitious projects. Close to the Posada los Destiladeros is, protected by a great wall, Villa Stretcher. A hotel located in a land of 24 hectares with seven luxurious rooms. Villa Stretcher comprises of the masterful plan that Gilles Saint-Gilles has made, a French architect that has designed palaces in Saudi Arabia like the Jeddha, and apartments in Manhattan and Paris, among other projects around the world. Villa Stretcher is part of an ambitious project much more designed in the area of the Destiladeros in Pedasí and baptized with the name of Azueros. In the 357 Gilles hectares he constructs villas, ocean lofts, a small commercial center and a natural reserve. Until the moment 17 million dollars, but esteem have been reversed that the project will have a total cost of 60 million dollars.

Business of real estate or tourist height? With these and other projects walking in Pedasí, a great tourist height without precedents in the zone glimpses. According to Pliny Garci'a, mayor of the district, which right now is being seen is a business of real estate. In his opinion the tourist development goes a little slow. "There are many foreigners residing in the area and visiting us, but the tourism has still not been operated as it must be. Hardly it is starting ", thinks. By its office they have passed Spanish, French and American investors who are interested in the construction of hotels in the order of the 500 million dollars. But many of these have not taken shape. Irregularities? These cannot lack. By the area supposed real estate agents arrive that sells "nonexistent, ghost" lots or that have litigation problems. In order to avoid this situation, Garci'a is promoting an agreement of zonification in the Municipal Council. The objective is that the investors present to the Mayorship a report of the projects that wish to develop to have a greater control of which it is constructed to borders of the beach. "In this agreement certain areas for the construction are restricted, although there is nothing no written in stone and some things can be modified, if proposals appear that respect the “environment", it admits. At the moment nobody is forced to present the documentation of its projects before the municipal authorities. It is enough with certifying them in the Direction of Catastro of the Ministry of Economy and Finances. In the sight In Pedasí the price of the land has increased on a par of the interest of those who visits and invests in the zone. Panama Realtor promotes in its page Web a property located in Pedasí that was Vista 279 times. That impressive it is for Allen Blaney, one of the proprietors of the company of real estate, the attractiveness that as much has the place for the premises as for the foreigners. In its page they for sale appear lands to borders of the beach that can get to have a cost of eight million dollars. It makes 10 years land in Pedasí little, mainly near the sea had a cost of the one to two dollars square meter. But with time the price has raised between five and eight dollars, depending on the terrain featureses. "When the area with highways is developed, access to potable water and electrical light, the value can raise between 30 and 35 dollars the square meter, and in some occasions it can get to cost 100 dollars", assures Jonathan Ferro, executive of Panama Realtor. All this height has had a direct incidence in the mechanisms of earth sale. In the past it was difficult to obtain small lots in Pedasí, because the majority belonged to cattle dealers who had properties in front of the sea with great land extensions.

Now groups of investors buy great lots, they divide them and they sell them to other people interested in investing. Their market is English, Canadian, Irish, Dutch, American, Colombian and Venezuelan Germans, Spaniards, whom they love to buy a land to develop or to resell. Little by little the potreros that someday were of farmers are developing with residential and tourist projects in areas like the Destiladeros, and Venao beach. The beginning of other constructions in beaches is expected the Sentry box and the El Arenal. Although there is many clients interested in buying in the place, Eurípides Galástica, administrative manager of Resort Realty, a company advises and consultant of real estate located in the main route in Pedasí, affirms that there are people who are getting to speculate with the prices or to sell lands that have legal problems. Galástica says that "they are cured in health". Before selling a land it investigates that the property is not mortgaged or in the middle of a legal problem. "100% Must be adjusted". It next to Algis Barahona mounted the company Resort Realty in association with the French industralist Claude To Coirier and the Thom American W. Lane. This opened year ago and means in Pedasí. On the other hand, local environmentalists, investors and authorities met last Tuesday to decide that first that any tourist development is the conservation of the flora and the fauna of the region. In order to obtain it he hopes himself to initiate a feasibility study to determine the possibility of developing to a biological runner who connects the coast of the peninsula of Azuero, from the National Park Hill Hole to where the Achiotines in Pedasí is located the laboratory. Ovid Diaz, member of the Azueros Foundation, created to protect the environment, assures that what looks for is that the tourist height that is occurring in the area does not affect the ecosystem. While the development in Pedasí follows its course, rich and famous they continue arriving at the place. The baseball player Carlos Lee, prince Maximilian von und zu of Liechtenstein married with the Angela Panamanian Brown, and the American industralist Paul Stelin bought their piece of land.

The salesmen of real estate already have in the sight their next tourist destinies: Santa Catarina in Veraguas and Cambutal de Tonosí in Los Santos. Data of interest Time of transfer The trip from the capital city to Pedasí in automobile him can take maximum five hours.

Martes 13 de febrero de 2006

En Pedasí soplan vientos de cambio. Por sus calles se entremezclan

los pescadores artesanales, los productores de

maíz y los criadores de ganado con los nuevos inquilinos del lugar.

Se trata, en su gran mayoría, de estadounidenses, franceses y canadienses, que se cansaron de las bajas temperaturas de sus países y prefirieron el clima tropical del distrito costero ubicado a cinco horas de la ciudad capital.

Los extranjeros están llegando con el propósito de adquirir una segunda residencia o para invertir en un proyecto turístico.

Algunos predicen que esta zona podría alcanzar el mismo auge turístico y residencial que ha tenido Boquete. Pero el desarrollo podría igualmente traer consigo algunos inconvenientes.

Las mejoras de la carretera desde Las Tablas hasta Pedasí, –realizadas durante el gobierno de la ex presidenta Mireya Moscoso, oriunda de la zona– y la reparación de la pista de aterrizaje del distrito en la vía hacia la playa El Arenal, han servido de estímulo, o más bien como último impulso para que los turistas broten como champiñones durante este verano.

En el pueblo se rumora que el actor Brad Pitt y el retirado jugador de baloncesto Michael Jordan ya compraron su pedacito de tierra en el área, pero de eso no hay registro.

Lo que sí se pudo confirmar es que la heredera del emporio Estée Lauder, Aerin Lauder, invirtió en terrenos cercanos a la playa Los Destiladeros.

Pedasí está en el mapa de los de - sarrollistas y los que quieren “comprar” tranquilidad.

Pero a pesar de que este distrito, con una superficie de 384.5 kilómetros cuadrados y una población de al menos 3 mil 640 habitantes, cuenta con grandes extensiones de terreno frente al mar y un sinnúmero de atractivos turísticos, no fue hasta hace poco que más inversionistas foráneos se arriesgaron a instalarse en el lugar.

Las infraestructuras básicas no son las mejores, pero esto no le importó al francés Philippe Athanatiades hace 16 años. Desde la isla Los Frailes, donde practicaba la pesca, divisó el terreno en el que hoy día levanta su proyecto Posada Los Destiladeros.

Compró 600 hectáreas de terreno junto a otros inversionistas, revendió algunas y reforestó el área con la siembra de 250 mil árboles de teca.

“Antes sólo había maleza, alacranes y culebras en este terreno.

Nadie se interesaba en estas tierras secas, que no eran buenas para criar ganado”, recuerda este francés con un marcado acento portugués, producto de los muchos años que vivió en Brasil.

El poco valor que veían los dueños de estas propiedades permitió que Philippe comprara los terrenos a precios muy bajos. ¿Entre tres y cinco dólares el metro cuadrado? “No. A mucho menos que eso”, dice sin querer dar más detalles.

Ahora, las 13 hectáreas de terreno, donde se alza una finca de árboles de teca, tienen un valor de entre 10 y 25 dólares el metro cuadrado. Aunque la instalación del servicio de agua potable, luz eléctrica, las mejoras de la carretera y la construcción del proyecto turístico podrían duplicar su precio original.

Cuando Philippe compró las tierras, estaba enfocado en su proyecto de reforestación, pero los visitantes le pedían un lugar de estadía cerca del mar y no en el centro del pueblo. Por eso empezó la construcción de la posada en 2001. Mensualmente llegan entre 300 y 400 visitantes europeos y estadounidenses.

Él ha invertido un millón de dólares y continúa trabajando en la ampliación de su proyecto.

En el medio de su finca, que tiene 8 mil árboles de teca sembrados, ha levantado en un área de 2 mil 700 metros cuadrados cabañas hechas con materiales propios de la región de Azuero, pero con un toque francés.

Los costos del hospedaje por noche pueden variar de 75 dólares a 200 dólares, si es una cabaña frente al mar.

“Este no es un proyecto masivo. Apenas son 10 cabañas, cada una diferente de la otra”, aclara el también dueño de la empresa de bienes raíces Panamá Bambú.

Entre sus planes tiene proyectado construir un hotel de 50 habitaciones en la Isla de Caña para turistas interesados en la observación de tortugas.

Descubren el destino

Philippe no está solo en su aventura. La promoción de Panamá como destino turístico y el boom inmobiliario local que ocupa páginas editoriales y de publicidad en periódicos como el New York Times, traen consigo a otros inversionistas con ambiciosos proyectos.

Cerca a la Posada Los Destiladeros se encuentra, protegido por un gran muro, Villa Camilla. Un hotel ubicado en un terreno de 24 hectáreas con siete lujosas habitaciones.

Villa Camilla forma parte del plan maestro que ha realizado Gilles Saint-Gilles, un arquitecto francés que ha diseñado palacios en Arabia Saudita como el Jeddha, y apartamentos en Manhattan y en París, entre otros proyectos alrededor del mundo.

Villa Camilla es parte de un proyecto mucho más ambicioso diseñado en el área de Los Destiladeros en Pedasí y bautizado con el nombre de Azueros.

En las 357 hectáreas Gilles construye villas, ocean lofts, un pequeño centro comercial y una reserva natural. Hasta el momento se han invertido 17 millones de dólares, pero se estima que el proyecto tendrá un costo total de 60 millones de dólares.

¿Negocio de bienes raíces o auge turístico?

Con estos y otros proyectos andando en Pedasí, se vislumbra un gran auge turístico sin precedentes en la zona.

Según Plinio García, alcalde del distrito, lo que ahora mismo se está viendo es un negocio de bienes raíces. A su juicio el desarrollo turístico va un poco lento.

“Hay muchos extranjeros residiendo en el área y visitándonos, pero aún el turismo no se ha explotado como debe ser. Apenas está arrancando”, opina.

Por su oficina han pasado inversionistas españoles, franceses y estadounidenses que están interesados en la construcción de hoteles por el orden de los 500 millones de dólares. Pero muchos de estos no se han concretado.

¿Irregularidades? Estas no pueden faltar.

Por el área llegan supuestos agentes de bienes raíces que venden lotes “inexistentes, fantasmas” o que tienen problemas de litigio.

Para evitar esta situación, García está promoviendo un acuerdo de zonificación en el Consejo Municipal. El objetivo es que los inversionistas presenten a la Alcaldía un informe de los proyectos que desean desarrollar para tener un mayor control de lo que se construye a orillas de la playa.

“En este acuerdo se restringen ciertas áreas para la construcción, aunque no hay nada escrito en piedra y algunas cosas se pueden modificar, si se presentan propuestas que respetan el medio ambiente”, admite.

Actualmente nadie está obligado a presentar la documentación de sus proyectos ante las autoridades municipales. Basta con certificarlos en la Dirección de Catastro del Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas.

En la mira

En Pedasí el precio de la tierra ha aumentado a la par del interés de quienes visitan e invierten en la zona.

Panamá Realtor promociona en su página web una propiedad ubicada en Pedasí que fue vista 279 veces. Así de impresionante es para Allen Blaney, uno de los propietarios de la empresa de bienes raíces, el atractivo que tiene el lugar tanto para los locales como para los extranjeros.

En su página aparecen en venta terrenos a orillas de la playa que pueden llegar a tener un costo de ocho millones de dólares.

Hace escasos 10 años las tierras en Pedasí, sobre todo cerca del mar te-nían un costo de uno a dos dólares el metro cuadrado. Pero con el tiempo el precio ha subido a entre cinco y ocho dólares, dependiendo de las características del terreno.

“Cuando se desarrolle el área con carreteras, acceso a agua potable y luz eléctrica, el valor puede subir a entre 30 y 35 dólares el metro cuadrado, y en algunas ocasiones puede llegar a costar 100 dólares”, asegura Jonathan Ferro, ejecutivo de Panama Realtor.

Todo este auge ha tenido una incidencia directa en los mecanismos de venta de tierras. En el pasado era difícil conseguir lotes pequeños en Pedasí, porque la mayoría pertenecían a ganaderos que tenían propiedades frente al mar con grandes extensiones de terreno.

Ahora grupos de inversionistas compran grandes lotes, los dividen y los venden a otras personas interesadas en invertir.

Su mercado son alemanes, españoles, ingleses, canadienses, irlandeses, holandeses, estadounidenses, colombianos y venezolanos, que quieren comprar un terreno para desarrollar o para revender.

Poco a poco los potreros que algún día fueron de campesinos se están desarrollando con proyectos residenciales y turísticos en áreas como Los Destiladeros, y playa Venao. Se espera el inicio de otras construcciones en las playas La Garita y El Arenal.

Si bien hay muchos clientes interesados en comprar en el lugar, Eurípides Galástica, gerente administrativo de Resort Realty, una empresa asesora y consultora de bienes raíces localizada en la vía principal en Pedasí, afirma que hay personas que están llegando a especular con los precios o a vender terrenos que tienen problemas legales.

Galástica dice que se “curan en salud”. Antes de vender un terreno investiga que la propiedad no esté hipotecada o en medio de un problema legal. “Debe estar 100% saneada”.

Él junto a Algis Barahona montó la empresa Resort Realty en asociación con el empresario francés Claude A. Coirier y el estadounidense Thom W. Lane. Esta abrió hace año y medio en Pedasí.

Por otro lado, ambientalistas, inversionistas y autoridades locales se reunieron el martes pasado para acordar que primero que cualquier desarrollo turístico está la conservación de la flora y la fauna de la región.

Para lograrlo se espera iniciar un estudio de factibilidad para determinar la posibilidad de desarrollar un corredor biológico que conecte la costa de la península de Azuero, desde el Parque Nacional Cerro Hoya hasta donde está ubicado el laboratorio Los Achiotines en Pedasí.

Ovidio Díaz, miembro de la Fundación Azueros, creada para proteger el medio ambiente, asegura que lo que se busca es que el auge turístico que se está dando en el área no afecte el ecosistema.

Mientras el desarrollo en Pedasí sigue su curso, ricos y famosos siguen llegando al lugar. El jugador de béisbol Carlos Lee, el príncipe Maximilian von und zu de Liechtenstein casado con la panameña Angela Brown, y el empresario estadounidense Paul Stelin compraron su pedazo de terreno.

Los vendedores de bienes raíces ya tienen en la mira sus próximos destinos turísticos: Santa Catalina en Veraguas y Cambutal de Tonosí en Los Santos.

Datos de interés

Tiempo de traslado

>> El viaje desde la ciudad capital a Pedasí en automóvil le puede tomar máximo cinco horas.

Recorrido

>> Una vez en Divisa, sigue el camino hacia la ciudad de Las Tablas y de allí rumbo a Pedasí. El recorrido dura una hora.

Hospedaje

>> En la vía principal de Pedasí están ubicados pequeños hoteles:

nHotel Residencial Pedasí

nResidencial Moscoso

nPortal de Pedasí

Además de la posada Dim’s

El precio de las habitaciones está entre los 16 dólares y los 25 dólares

Entidades financieras

>> Banco Nacional de Panamá

>> Caja de Ahorros

Aeropuerto

>> En la vía hacia la playa El Arenal se encuentra la pista de aterrizaje habilitada para vuelos pequeños y chárters.

Desde el 1 de diciembre la aerolínea

Air Panama realiza tres vuelos semanales: los miércoles, viernes y domingo

El pasaje ida y vuelta cuesta 126 dólares

Cobertura de celulares

En Pedasí soplan vientos de cambio. Por sus calles se entremezclan los pescadores artesanales, los productores de maíz y los criadores de ganado con los nuevos inquilinos del lugar.

Se trata, en su gran mayoría, de estadounidenses, franceses y canadienses, que se cansaron de las bajas temperaturas de sus países y prefirieron el clima tropical del distrito costero ubicado a cinco horas de la ciudad capital.

Los extranjeros están llegando con el propósito de adquirir una segunda residencia o para invertir en un proyecto turístico.

Algunos predicen que esta zona podría alcanzar el mismo auge turístico y residencial que ha tenido Boquete. Pero el desarrollo podría igualmente traer consigo algunos inconvenientes.

Las mejoras de la carretera desde Las Tablas hasta Pedasí, –realizadas durante el gobierno de la ex presidenta Mireya Moscoso, oriunda de la zona– y la reparación de la pista de aterrizaje del distrito en la vía hacia la playa El Arenal, han servido de estímulo, o más bien como último impulso para que los turistas broten como champiñones durante este verano.

En el pueblo se rumora que el actor Brad Pitt y el retirado jugador de baloncesto Michael Jordan ya compraron su pedacito de tierra en el área, pero de eso no hay registro.

Atentamente / Sincerely Yours

Ingri Beth Barría

Now you don't have to learn Spanish

2007-02-18T22:43:51-05:00

One of the most frustrating things is having to learn a new language after your 50 years old. Many foreigners come here fully intent on learning the language and quickly find that it is not easy and they give up. Sure, they learn how to order food and drink, find a bathroom and other basics, but becoming fluent is not in the cards for most of us. In the hundreds of gringos I know in the area I would say only five are fluent and can carry on a casual conversation with the locals. My 6 year old speaks fluent English and Spanish and frequently translates for me, to my embarrassment. In my case I have managed to accomplish much here by learning the basic language of construction and development. I call it "industry specific" Spanish.

Now I read an article in the Economist that describes a hand held direct speech translator. Sounds like Star Trek, but apparently it is coming to a store near you in the not to distant future. That will make moving to a foreign land even easier!

Read

Soon, nothing need be lost in translation

The Washington Post asks, Is Panama the new South Beach?

2007-02-18T22:32:03-05:00

With Panama's president Torrijos in Washington with President Bush the main stream press comes out with great articles about Panama. This one is very good.

By Ceci Connolly

Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, February 18, 2007; Page P01

It was sticky hot, and I was grungy after a morning exploring the cobblestone passageways of Panama City's Casco Viejo, a 300-year-old cross between the crumbling charm of Old Havana and the restored glow of New Orleans's French Quarter.

Read the complete article at ...

Broker between extremes

2007-02-15T08:36:56-05:00

The Financial Times has an interesting and positive article about Panamanian President Martin Torrijos. Prima's Paul McBride is quoted as well.

Excerpt; “The flow of investment dollars into Panama continues at a breathtaking pace,” Paul McBride of the Prima Panama consultancy told the Latin Business Chronicle website.

Meanwhile, the canal project and the real estate boom will promote huge capital flows for a nation of only 3.2m inhabitants.Construction jobs, albeit low-paid, can also be expected to be created on a massive scale.

Read the entire article here...

Spotlight: Martín Torrijos – Broker between extremes

By Ronald Buchanan

Published: February 9 2007 17:18 | Last updated: February 9 2007 17:18

President Martín Torrijos of Panama, who is to meet George W. Bush, US president, at the White House on Friday, is fond of describing his nation as the commercial and transportation “hub of the Americas”.

In political terms, he tends to see himself in a similar light, equally at home discussing free trade with Mr Bush or plans for the construction of an oil pipeline with the US leader’s bête noire in the region, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.

On a recent visit to Cuba, the pro-business Mr Torrijos chatted affably with Raúl Castro, the communist island’s interim leader, underlining his credentials as a broker between the hemisphere’s political extremes. Yet Panama’s unbridled capitalism – too unbridled for some tastes – could hardly mark a sharper contrast with Mr Chávez’s “Bolívarian revolution” or the hardline socialism of the regime in Havana.

In Latin America, however, family connections are often of overwhelming importance and, in that sense, the 40-year-old Mr Torrijos has an ace up his sleeve. His father, Gen Omar Torrijos, who ruled Panama from 1968 until his untimely and somewhat mysterious death in a 1981 plane crash, was the idol of the young Hugo Chávez and admired by Fidel Castro, the now ailing Cuban leader.

Omar Torrijos was the archetypal Latin American strongman, with rugged good looks to go with it, combining social reform with an appalling disregard for human rights while – in what used to be the timid cliche of British obituary writers – “living life to the full”.

No matter that leftwing opponents were left to rot in jail or tossed from helicopters into the sea, Omar Torrijos was adored by most of Panama’s dark-skinned, downtrodden majority who saw him as breaking the mould of the nation’s traditional elite.

Most of all, Omar Torrijos is revered for removing what he called the “stake in the heart” of the nation’s sovereignty through the 1977 treaty with former US president Jimmy Carter that led to the handover of the Panama Canal in 1999.

That legacy proved invaluable to Mr Torrijos in winning the presidency comfortably by a comfortable margin in 2004, as he did last year’s referendum over a $5.2bn plan to expand the canal to meet the requirements of a new generation of huge cargo vessels.

Unlike his swashbuckling military father, the US-educated Mr Torrijos, who once served hamburgers in a Chicago McDonald’s, is a political and economic conservative who has improved human rights and promoted press freedom.

A successful businessman, he has presided over a national boom that he has facilitated rather than engendered. In recent years, foreign investment has poured into Panama, notably in 2006 with HSBC’s $1.8bn takeover of Banistmo, Central America’s largest bank.

The toughening of US airport security in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, coupled with a year-round fine climate, low living costs, low crime levels and comparatively relaxed financial regulations have combined to allow Panama to gain ground over Miami as a business centre for Latin America.

The most striking physical manifestation is a real estate boom that is transforming the skyline of Panama City, where apartments are being built at twice the rate of those in Miami – to house foreign executives but also with an eye on the growing market of US baby boomers seeking a retirement home in the sun.

Questions were raised over the sustainability of the explosive growth in real estate when Spain’s Olloqui Group was forced by financial and permitting problems to halt construction of what was to have been Latin America’s tallest building, Palacio de la Bahía. Yet enthusiasm continues unabated.

“The flow of investment dollars into Panama continues at a breathtaking pace,” Paul McBride of the Prima Panama consultancy told the Latin Business Chronicle website.

While the real-estate bubble remains intact, another is floating on Mr Torrijos’s horizon. In a country where about 40 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line and per capita income is less than $5,000 a year, few Panamanians can be expected to inhabit the gleaming new towers.

The nation’s sharp social inequalities blew up in the president’s face last year when his measures to save the social security system from bankruptcy led to a wave of demonstrations. Mr Torrijos cleared that hurdle by placing the burden of the rescue on the system’s contributors.

Yet, to paraphrase one of his father’s favourite dictums, the poverty and low educational standards of a great swathe of the nation’s population remain as a stone in the elegant footwear of Mr Torrijos.

Hot Second Home Locations Around The World

2007-02-15T08:21:50-05:00

CENTRAL AMERICA: High prices in Costa Rica and Mexico have sent buyers to Panama, with Nicaragua, Honduras and Belize not far behind. Boquete, in Western Panama, has an eternal-spring climate against the backdrop of an extinct volcano and an artistic community, complete with access to the Pacific coast. A typical lot goes for about 40,000 dollars.

The above is from Playfuls.com about hot spots to buy a second home around the world. Boquete gets top honors for Central America but visitors may get upset when they find little to buy for $40k.

US Dreamland South Of Rio Grande Has Downside, Too

2007-02-15T08:18:03-05:00

The tree hugging press always points the finger of guilt at developers and land promoters as taking from the locals by paying them peanuts and making a fortune off the sale and development of the land. What B.S.. The locals are selling land at prices that make them rich by any standard and they are making the choice without coercion. The developers take tremendous risk and efforts to turn jungles into and ever producing cash flow for the locals. The developments help bring the local population out of the third world with poor education, health and no opportunities into the first world with virtually no cost to them or their governments. If you want to talk of destruction of jungles, just fly over Panama and look at the trees decimated and land erosion caused by cattle ranching. This agricultural industry is completely run by locals.
From the Playfuls.com team.

Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans risk their lives every year to seek a better life north of the Rio Grande, while US citizens are flocking in the opposite direction.

From 2001 to mid 2006, US home prices rose by 56 per cent, and even though the US market is cooling, record numbers of Americans including baby-boomers are cashing in for second and retirement homes in Latin America.

Their main interest is Central America, where real estate brokers lure with promises of cheap land, labour and cost of living, and countries beckon with increased political stability. With Mexico and Costa Rica already priced out of reasonable range, they are casting nets for Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras.

But in addition to finding sparkling beaches and fabulous, views, many are also discovering the continent's endemic problems of poverty and inequality.

Gated luxury housing estates and golf courses often abut poverty- stricken communities, competing for resources such as water. With 55 per cent of Central Americans living in poverty, social scientists warn that the new influx could contribute to rising social tensions and crime.

"People are trying to solve that through residential compounds with high walls, but what that does is to intensify and make more radical the inequality which is ancestral in Central American countries," Allen Cordero, a professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Costa Rica said.

Foreign residents often join the region's traditional elites, while many locals sell their land for peanuts only to be priced out of their native areas by subsequent development.

A California family for example paid 78,000 dollars for two-fifths of a remote hectare of jungle with no roads or bridge access on Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula about seven years ago. Recently, the family was offered 1.2 million dollars, after the influx of electricity and roads spurred the building of a luxury hotel nearby.

The phenomenon deeply affects local communities in tourist areas and beyond, driving many locals to push further into their country's agricultural frontier in search of land, according to Cordero.

"(Governments) think about development in terms of investment, job creation, incoming dollars, but not in terms of the social impact on the local population," the academic said.

US surfers have long been drawn to Latin America. Joel Jacob, 37- year-old mother of three, and her husband did the reverse of ageing Americans when they bought the Nicoya property - their first real estate ever, even before their house in Santa Cruz, California.

They travel back to Costa Rica at least two weeks every year to visit their still-unbuilt piece of jungle. They are dismayed by the development on either side - yet tempted to sell nevertheless.

"On the one hand, the money offered for that piece of land is more money than I've ever had. It would change my situation dramatically," Jacob said. "But part of me sees all the development and I think, 'Oh my god, what century are we in? I thought we had stopped cutting down the rain forest'."

California-based Mark Zucker, 57, who runs a fishing operation half the year and surfs the other half, has owned land several places in the region - the latest in a partnership in Boquete in western Panama, where first world infrastructure and wide open cattle-grazing land put the countryside "on the verge of a huge explosion," Zucker said.

Boquete - rated by the US magazine Modern Maturity as one of the four best places in the world to retire - has a temperate climate, an eternal-spring climate against the backdrop of an extinct volcano and a "gorgeous little artsy community," he said.

Zucker, who is donating earnings from the Panama project to a conservation project in coastal Baja, Mexico, also admits the moral dilemma for investors.

"There is that sense that you have to think about whether you are pushing other people off the land," he said. "We know that wages are less than ours. We are able to go down there and do this. It is something you have to grapple with."

Many new investors are less travelled in Latin America than Jacob and Zucker, and respond to the lure of real estate websites in English with toll-free numbers and package tours to view property and attend seminars.

Turalu Brady Murdock of the First American Title Insurance Company in Orlando, Florida, oversees the selling of title insurance to US and Canadian citizens buying property in 35 countries south of the Rio Grande. She said Panama draws about 300 potential US buyers every other month to seminars where she speaks.

Prices in Panama have risen accordingly: a Donald Trump housing estate that costs 600,000 dollars in south Florida for example costs only 250,000 in northern Mexico but 300,000 dollars in Panama.

After Panama, the next affordable destinations are Nicaragua and Honduras, experts said, while places like Guatemala and El Salvador continued to lag behind, mainly because of security issues.

Scott MacDonald, a native of the US, has seen a "tremendous" expansion on the Bay Islands of Honduras, especially in the past two and a half years.

Mainland Honduras - which historically ignored the English - speaking islands - shows a growing interest, its cheaper market attracts customers priced out of the Bay Islands, MacDonald noted.

Cheaper Nicaragua also gets an overflow of buyers, "even from Costa Rica," according to real estate agent Roland Hunziker, a native of Switzerland who has lived in Costa Rica for 11 years.

Laws about foreign owners and private beaches vary. In Costa Rica, where Hunziger said that investors have devoured virtually everything within 5 kilometres of the coast, pushing up prices for property, food and services, the first 50 metres of coastal land are public.

"Anyone who wants to can pitch a tent and sleep on the beach," he said in an interview. In Nicaragua or Panama, however, private beaches are allowed.

Mexico and Honduras restrict land purchases by foreigners, while the only limits in Belize, Panama or Costa Rica are money.

By Veronica Sardon

North Americans robbed in Punta Pacifica

2007-02-11T07:05:34-05:00

This brief story came out in the local press this weekend and goes to show that you must take precautions when moving abroad, even when there is security in a high rise tower. We are starting to see more reports of home intrusions in Panama, especially the city. Panama still has a significantly lower crime rate than the U.S., but if North Americans are being targeted because they are percieved as beng easier targets, the crime statistics against them may be considered high. The lesson is to be careful no matter where you live. Your not in Kansas anymore!

Punta Pacifica Robbery
Eight men armed, and dress in blue, break in yesterday directly in the apartment of the North American citizen Angela Cristian Vincent, located in Punta Pacifica, where they managed to steal $1, 500 in cash and more than 27 thousand dollars in jewelery. The assault was registered in the building Bellagio Tower, located in luxurious residential area of Punta Pacifica in Paitilla, at 7: 15 in the morning, where the thieves identified with a white panel with a signboard of oats cream entered the building. (El Panama America)

Asalto a pleno día en Punta Pacífica

OCHO HOMBRES armados, vestidos de azul, irrumpieron en la mañana de ayer directamente en el apartamento de la ciudadana norteamericana Angela Cristian Vincent, ubicado en Punta Pacífica, donde lograron sustraer B/.1, 500 y más de 27 mil dólares en artículos y prendas. El asalto se registró en el edificio Bellagio Tower, ubicado en el lujoso residencial de Punta Pacífica en Paitilla, a las 7: 15 de la mañana, donde ingresaron los ladrones a bordo de un panel blanco identificado con un letrero de una crema de avena. (P. América)

YouTube Panama Video

2007-02-11T06:36:00-05:00

Here is something to make you feel good. A catchy tune, great lyrics, vocals and video work You will be singing this all day.

Go'in down to Panama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzr_fJVYbg0

For more traditional Panamanian music and culture go here:

Music of Panama

My apartment in the city

2007-02-03T22:52:13-05:00

As many of you know, I believe Panama City is being overbuilt and much of the building boom is being driven by speculators rather than end users. Even so, many people are buying for their own use and I am one of them. I have to travel to Panama City regularly for business and my wife likes to come to the city to shop and visit her family. We decided it was time to buy an apartment rather than staying in hotels as we have done for the last 5 years. Even with all the speculation, I believe if I buy the right place at the right price it will be a good long term investment.

I wanted a small apartment in a good location away from the noise of the city streets. I had rented an apartment in the city when I first came to Panama in 1997 and I could hear the noise even up on the 17th floor. After a lot of research we decided on the Allure. With all of the buildings being offered, why this one? Location, view and value. This building is to be located on the park on Balboa avenue near the Hotel Intercontinental. It is within walking distance of dozens of great restaurants and on the easier side of town for my travel to and from the regional airport. Along with the location it has great views that will never be blocked. The beautiful "Central Park" cannot be sold and built on and it acts a a 500 meter wide buffer from the traffic noise on Balboa. They also include the air conditioners, stainless steel appliances and a huge list of amenities. I know this sounds like a commercial, but I can't help but sell something I am sold on. If you are considering an apartment in the city, you should look at this one and become my neighbor.

Sam is on the radio

2007-01-30T19:39:40-05:00

If you are looking for great information about living and investing in Panama, you may want to visit Window2Panama, a web radio program. They have interesting stories and interviews with people who live and work here in Panama. This week, I did an hour long interview about the Boquete area specifically and Panama in general. You can go to this website to hear it.

Promo: Window 2 Panama This week we have

Sam Taliaferro,

the creator of Valle Escondito and the person credited with starting the mass retirement movement to Panama. This is an information rich show and you wont want to miss it.

In Panama City's old quarter, a rebirth takes place

2007-01-22T11:08:19-05:00

Boston Wold news has a nice story on my friend K.C. Hardin and his efforts to revitalize the old Panama. K.C. has been hard at work here for 4 years and is a driving force in that part of the city. Congratulations to K.C. and to Patrizia for their great work.

American helping restore buildings

By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Globe Staff | January 22, 2007

PANAMA CITY -- As the fast-talking, big-money barons of a full-throttle property boom noisily transform Panama City's bayfront skyline into a shiny facsimile of Miami's, a different sort of developer is quietly revitalizing the city's crumbling, charming old quarter nearby.

Panama City's casco antiguo, as the old quarter is known, is home to 780 historic but mostly dilapidated buildings, from Spanish colonial dungeons and churches to French and American townhouses with wrought-iron balconies built a century ago during the construction of the Panama Canal.

Read the whole story here...

Latin America Real Estate: Continued Growth

2007-01-16T12:17:36-05:00

Another good article from Latin Business Chronicle on Latin real estate for the boomers.

Excerpt;"The fundamentals of the region continue to be sound, despite some concern on the potential collateral effect of the slowdown in the

U.S.

real estate market in other regions of the globe," says Rogerio Basso, an analyst at Ernst & Young's real estate advisory services. "The baby boomer generation will continue to retire in large numbers in the next coming years and they will have a substantial amount of disposable income available to them. Many of these individuals are looking for opportunities to purchase second homes that they can use either for vacation or retirement purposes, and as such

Latin America

will continue to be an attractive proposition."

Read the whole story here...

Where in the world?

2007-01-15T08:34:40-05:00

Another positive article from

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

about travel in Panama. Keep them coming!

Excerpt;

Panama. It's getting increasingly popular as a warm-weather destination, but it's still something of a bargain: Sherman Travel offers a five-night getaway, including air fare, for $899 (shermanstravel.com/editor --review.php). Seven years after the U.S. government handed the Panama Canal back to the Panamanians, and 17 years after dictator Manuel Noriega exited the scene, this country has suddenly become Central America's newest place to play. It boasts a full complement of beaches, islands, rainforest, indigenous tribes, multiethnic culture and duty-free shopping. Panama City's skyline is like Miami's and the city's multicultural mix is reflected in shops and restaurants, says Norman Vanamee, editor in chief of Sherman's Travel. You can tour the 90-year-old Panama Canal, still an amazing feat of engineering.

You can explore the country's Pacific side, with some of the most pristine jungle landscape in the world and Native American tribes who live in remote wilderness villages. Eco-tour groups abound, and one of the largest is called Ancon.

Buying in Central America

2007-01-12T08:17:09-05:00

The New York Times has an article about buying property in Central America. Seems almost daily I read an article in various papers about this subject. If Americans really discover the advantages of International Real Estate in mass there won't be enough land to satisfy the demand. Each article like this helps get the word out.

New York TImes
By AMY GUNDERSON

Published: January 10, 2007

When Steve Carl steps out of his three-bedroom beach house in Ambergris Caye in northern Belize, snorkeling at one of the largest barrier reefs in the world is just a short swim away and going to dinner means leaving footwear behind.

“Everything is barefoot here,” Mr. Carl said. “There are fantastic restaurants nearby and I can walk in there with bare feet for white-linen service.”

Mr. Carl visits his vacation home in Belize with his family four or five times a year. The cost of labor in the country is low enough that he and the five other homeowners in his community can house two full-time caretakers in the development to keep watch over the homes and manage renters. Also, property taxes are “virtually non-existent,” Mr. Carl said.
Read the rest of the story at NYT online.