Another Tardy Post

The photograph above shows the progress being made on the 'entrada' at our Roca Milagro development in Rovira Arriba, Republic of Panama. The view is from inside the development and looking towards the road coming from Rovira Arriba. Rains are slowing progress on road building and other infrastructure development on the site, but my partners in the area are working valiantly to cope and to make us all proud.

We will be selling building lots soon. If anyone is interested in looking at a very basic temporary brochure describing Roca Milagro, you can find one here in PDF format. Better and more comprehensive information will be coming soon and our website at www.rocmilagro.com will be completely revamped by July sometime. If you, or someone you know, is interested in building a vacation or retirement home in the mountains of Panama, near the Costa Rican border, or if you simply want to invest in a building lot or two to hold on to for a while, check us out. We are a group of industrious and freedom-loving Canadians, Americans and Panamanians and we would love to be joined by others who want to own their own slice of heaven. How about some of you from other parts of our ever-shrinking world? Join us!

Pay It Forward

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The rainy season is coming in Panama and at our Roca Milagro development there is frantic activity to get things done before the annual deluge. In the top photograph, the entrada takes shape, and in the lower picture a worker works inside one of the columns making up the entrada. The insides of the columns will be filled with rubble and then capped with poured concrete, formed into planters.

Developing a project of this size can be daunting, frustrating, sometimes infuriating, but ultimately, we all hope, satisfying and rewarding. I am lucky to have a wonderful group of partners who are supportive and helpful. Thank you all -- you know who you are!

I don't like the passage of time because at my age it simply marks the inexorable march towards oblivion, but when this project is complete I will be happy to walk through all 108 acres of it and revel in what a group of dedicated individuals can accomplish. We still have a long way to go, but we are making significant progress, finally.

I was thinking back today to the days of my early teenage years and remembered a particular classmate who was shunned by others because his family was very poor, he always wore the same clothes, rarely bathed, and was cruelly called "Doodlebugs" by everyone. I was probably the only one who ever talked to him at length and who tried to treat him like a human being. I will always remember the gratitude in his eyes. I won't mention his real name here, but I learned a lot from him. I learned that my parents were right when they told me that a kind word, an act of compassion, a supportive gesture can go a long way. I try to act that way still, even though sometimes I really don't feel like it. I am particularly grateful that people around me are generally kind and supportive of me and projects I direct, including this one. It makes my life and my job much easier.

In that spirit, let's all 'pay it forward,' and extend kindness wherever and whenever we can. It will help make the world a better place, and folks -- the world needs a lot of help.

Have a great weekend.

More Roca Milagro

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Construction methods in Panama seem primitive compared to what I am used to in Canada. The finished product, whether house or warehouse, usually looks just fine, but the steps getting there are certainly not what I am used to. In the top photo, a workman constructs one of the pillars that will become part of the entrance gate to our Roca Milagro site. The structure will be massive, with a 20 X 20 foot space to drive vehicles as large as cement trucks through and will be surrounded with our ubiquitous rock walls containing shrubs and flowers. It will be topped with an elegant wooden cap made of Nispero, a strong and durable wood harvested in Panama.

The bottom photo shows a road bed taking shape inside the development, heading into the site towards the Rio David and spectacular views of Volcan Baru. The cloud cover in the photograph obscures the views but is in itself very pretty.

We are considering building a pyramid on our site of the variety common to Central and South America, but of course much smaller, say 10 X 10 meters at the base and with about the same height. There would be an observation deck at the top. If anyone knows anything about such structures that might be helpful to us, please let me know.