When I was in Boquete, Panama last November, I met and had a brief conversation with an engineer and his wife from Colorado. Over breakfast on our hotel's patio, we got to know each other a bit and chatted about business opportunities in Panama. I haven't seen my new friends since, but have spoken to Phil on the telephone and have communicated with him by email.
On May 17th, I'm off to Panama again. The first leg of the trip is to Houston, where I will meet up with my engineer friend and his wife and a number of other American investors. From there, we will all fly to Panama City, spend the night, then drive to the mountain paradise of Boquete on the following day.
We will be inspecting a property that Phil found on his last trip to Panama. It is about 20 miles from Boquete, at an elevation of about 2,300 feet. Inactive volcano 'Volcan Baru' is but one of the beautiful vistas from the site and Rio David runs along much of one side of the property. If we all agree that the place is perfect for our purposes, we will complete the conditional offer to purchase that I have already made to the owner of the property.
We propose to develop what Phil has dubbed 'Stonehedge Estates.' From the picture at the top of this post, you will see where he got that name. The stone hedges meander around the property and will become part of the landscaping when we subdivide the larger 108 acre parcel into numerous residential building lots.
Why are we doing this? Phil and his wife were going to move to Panama anyway. Phil, wearing his engineering hat, will be onsite to oversee the project. I love Panama, especially the Boquete area, and think that the country has booming future prospects. It makes sense for me to invest there. Each investor in the project will get a parcel of land as part of the 'deal,' and may build a vacation or retirement home there if they wish.
Will this all come to pass? I hope so. What could go wrong? Not much, I hope. Still, the most important part of any enterprise is the people involved, and how they interact and co-operate. If we are all satisfied that we can get along and work together, Stonehedge Estates will become a reality.
Here's hoping... I'll keep you posted.
All I can say is damn is that place gorgeous. It makes me wish that I had the cash laying around to go down and buy some land to live on.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pope. Nice to 'hear' from you again. Maybe someday we can all have a big 'blogger' party there. Wouldn't that be a hoot?
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteHope you have a really good time in Panama.
Don't you think it is dangerous to buy property when South America is seeing a return of Marxism/Chavez?
After your last trip to Panama, how can you be sure that the police will enforce your property rights?
Is the London Ontario the place where Banting and Best discovered Insulin?
Amigauser: Panama has property rights enshrined in its constitution and legal system as much or more than the United States or Canada. Many North Americans and Europeans are investing there. There is always the danger of Marxism in Latin America, but once a society has seen relative prosperity, there is little attraction in communism or its sickly cousin socialism, until, of course, the inevitable decay sets in as it has in many European countries and in Canada and the U.S. That would take generations (I think) and we will all be long dead by then.
ReplyDeletePolice corruption, as oulined in my posts from Panama in November last, is a petty concern. As long as they ask for $10 or $20, they are lesser thieves than the cops here in Ontario who lie in wait for seat belt infractions and soak violators for $100+, or for speeders on open roads with no traffic for several hundreds of dollars.
Yes, you nailed it: London, Ontario is famous for Banting and Best.