A Volcan Baru Welcome?

I'm off to Toronto tonight. After a good night's sleep, Continental Airlines will take me to Houston, where I will meet my American partner and his wife for the final leg of the trip to Panama City, in the Republic of Panama. The current owner of the land on which we hope to build our Stonehedge Estates residential community, will meet us in Rovira Arriba on Friday. If all goes well, he will join us in our corporate partnership, and the lengthy process of seeking official blessings from appropriate authorities will begin. I wish we could just skip that last step and simply do what we want.

Life isn't like that, though. Wherever there is a government, there are delays. There are unnecessary procedures to follow. There are reams of paperwork to fill out and submit. There is work for politicians, bureaucrats , lawyers and accountants. There is aggravation for people who want to get things done, quickly and efficiently, without fuss.

We'll deal with it. You may hear me grumble, though, from time to time.

Volcan Baru, the inactive volcano that is visible from the Rovira Arriba and Boquete areas, may be grumbling too. It must have heard that I am coming to visit. There has been no volcanic activity from Volcan Baru for over 800 years, but there is some concern that it might become active again. Considerable earthquake activity has been reported in the area recently. Nothing serious, folks. Feeling the earth shake under your feet on occasion is a lot cheaper than seeking thrills and excitement at your local Six Flags theme park. And Volcan Baru, I hope, will keep on snoozing.

The whole Stonehedge Estates project is by no means a sure thing yet. There are a million things that could still get in the way of making it happen. Hopefully, by the time I get back after the 8-day trip, I'll have a better idea.

We'll see. Either way, it will be a break from the everyday humdrum, and I will enjoy the experience. I'll take lots of pictures. I'll post some to this blog, both during the trip and after I get back.

Back to Panama

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.