Hello everybody, and a belated Happy New Year to all. Patricia and I just wrapped up a month of entertaining my 82 and 77 year old father and mother in Panama. It was the first time I spent a month with them since I was 18 years old. We spent so much time bonding and sharing feelings, it would have brought tears to your eyes. Actually, it was quite fun – in spite of their rather advanced ages we managed to fit in fishing, horseback riding, waterfall exploring, shell collecting, and numerous other activities. Check out the photos of their visit.

It’s been a fairly quiet holiday season, but here are a few topics to cover:

1)   Mariato update.  The mayor, Angel Batista, says that the new hospital in Mariato will be started in 2013. He also is very proud of the new sidewalks that he had put in all along the main road (see photo). We told him that sidewalks are nice, but what we really need is asphalt on the main road around the project, and some good gravel on the side road. He promised that both of those things would be done this year, and you know that politicians never lie!

There is a holiday tradition around Mariato that I think you’ll find amusing. People dress up dummies and put them in the front yard, and they can be pretty creative. Here’s a pic of Patricia standing next to our favorite one; the sign says “Sugardaddy, take me to the beach.” Cute, huh?

One last sad note about Mariato; I think that most of you have had the pleasure of dining at Maria’s, the best little restaurant in the area. Maria had a stroke last month, and isn’t doing very well. She’s in rehab, trying to learn how to walk and talk again, and her restaurant is closed indefinitely. Luckily we still have Patricia’s Café on the Hill, my personal favorite.

2) Freedive spearfishing.  I understand that most of you probably don’t care about this, but hey – it’s my newsletter, and I think it’s pretty cool. In freedive spearfishing, there are no tanks involved. You simply snorkel around, dive down as deep as you dare, spear a fish, and try to get back to the surface before your air runs out. It’s loads of fun, and just dangerous enough to keep Patricia as nervous as a preacher at a Black Sabbath concert. Here are some pics of the unique and tasty fish that you can get this way.

3) Critter update.  Big news at Paradise Ranch – after three years I finally saw my first snake. He was around seven feet long, and rambled through the pool area last week. Never fear; it’s a nonvenomous Tiger Rat Snake (Spilotes pullatus, if you must be technical), and even though they can grow to 14 feet, they only eat rodents, birds, etc. A friend who was visiting wanted to kill it, but I wouldn’t let him. I like all of the critters out there, even snakes.

That’s about it for this edition of The Ocean Ridge Report. I’ll leave you with a photo of our house during the holidays. We’re very excited, because we won the “Best Decorated House in the Neighborhood” contest. Of course, until somebody comes down here and builds something, it’s a pretty good bet that we’ll win every year.

Here’s to a great 2012 for everybody.
Jay Stafford
www.thepanamacollection.com
954-309-2837 cell in Florida
507-6679-7540 cell in Panama
thepanamacollection@gmail.com

Hello everybody, and welcome to this month’s edition of The Ocean Ridge Report (or TORR, as Stephy calls it).

Patricia has been in Panama with two sisters, her mom and a family friend for the past couple of weeks, which is why I’ve been here in Florida. If you think I’m going to spend two weeks in the same house with five wild Colombianas, you’re crazy! I have four items this month to discuss (including a bombshell), so here we go:

1) Questions from Josh. Josh wanted an update on airports in the area, so we got the latest info. The new international airport will be located in Rio Hato, about 45 minutes east of Penonome (probably within two hours of the project). They will start building it next year, and it should be completed by 2015. There is also a small regional airport going into Santa Catalina, an hour and a half SW of Santiago – probably won’t concern anybody in this group, as it’s pretty much out of the way.

Now, here’s the bombshell that Patricia discovered during her research – the Panamanian government has just granted approval for yet another international airport, to be based in Santiago (yes, Santiago!). They will expand the existing airport to accommodate larger jets, with a projected finish date of 2016. In the next couple of months they will be flying 20 passenger jets into the airport on some test runs, and will probably open it up to flights from Panama City by early next year. Don’t know what it will cost, but we’ll keep you posted.

By the way, Patricia obtained all of this information directly from the governor, Ernesto Gonzalez, who we happen to be pretty good friends with. I don’t know how tough it is to see the governor where you’re from, but if you want to sit down with him in Panama we can easily set it up for you. It’s nice to have friends in high places.

2) Hospital update. The governor wanted to be sure that you are aware of his plans to build a new hospital in Santiago, behind the old one on the Panamerican Highway. Construction has already begun on a six story state of the art facility that will practically eliminate the need to ever go to Panama City for medical care. The hospital will have a full staff of U.S. trained physicians, with entire floors dedicated to oncology and cardiology, among other disciplines. According to Patricia, Senor Gonzalez is enthusiastic about the future, and he’s excited to have more foreigners moving into the area. Like I said, if anybody wants to meet him when they’re in Panama, just let us know.

3) Oysters anyone?

Just when I thought Panama couldn’t get any better we discovered oystering. On certain beaches you can go out at low tide and find them in the rocks. The three in the attached photo I found in about 5 minutes. They’re huge and extremely tasty. If you don’t like oysters, well, too bad for you. I also threw in a couple of photos from my last fishing trip a couple of weeks ago with my friend Mike from California.

Check out the huge corvina – a shark bit a chunk out of his tail before we could get him in the boat. Sure wish we had some neighbors to give all this fish to.

4) Critter update. I’ve spotted two coatimundis in the area; one was running in to lot #7 (Tom and Stephy’s). A coatimundi is a member of the raccoon family, and looks just like the attached photo. They eat about anything they can get ahold of, and are especially fond of British tourists! Kidding of course, they can actually be somewhat friendly once they become totally accustomed to people.

That’s it for this issue. We definitely welcome suggestions, comments and even snide remarks. Next month we have Tom, Stephy and Josh all coming in for a visit, so it should be fun.

Nos Vemos,

Jay and Patricia

–
Ocean Ridge Estates – The Panama Collection
http://www.thepanamacollection.com
954-309-2837 cell in Florida
507-6679-7540 cell in Panama

Just another reason to purchase the Panama land for sale, you can enjoy nature’s beauty. Deep sea fishing is just one of the various activities that Panama has to offer!

Just returned from Panama yesterday, and the Panama Real Estate project is going very well.

However, you have to make time for fun in Panama, and for me that means fishing. We went out twice, all around the southwestern edge of the Azuero Peninsula, and the fishing in Panama was great, like usual. We’ve been catching alot of fish with the butterfly jig system that is becoming so popular in Florida. Go to Shimano’s website and you can learn all about it.

We got lucky with the weather; it can be rainy in Oct-Nov, but we had great conditions all week long. I’ve attached a photo of a fish that my girlfriend caught – I think it’s an African pompano, but I’m not sure. Any ideas?