Hola yet again Panama people; get ready for the latest and greatest from Ocean Ridge Estates. I know it’s only been two months since the last issue, but the neighborhood keeps expanding. Let me tell you all about it:

1)   The Dutch invasion.  Say hello to Pieter and Joka Hoogenboom, a really nice Dutch couple who have been living in northern British Columbia, Canada, for the last 25 years or so (photo). They’re a little tired of Canadian winters, so they bought lot 4 and they seem pretty excited about the place. In fact, Pieter called his brother Leo in Alberta, Canada, and Leo was so impressed that he bought lot 5 – looks like a Hoogenboom takeover to me! Pieter is in the gas and oil servicing industry, while Leo is a greenhouse consultant. That means that he can help us all build greenhouses to grow food year-round, which I think is pretty great. Feel free to contact Pieter and Joka (Peter@dutchcasing.com) and Leo and his wife Willy (hoogenboom@albertahighspeed.net) anytime you like.

2)   Just like winning the lottery – sort of.  I think that most of you are familiar with the Machetazo, the supermarket in Santiago where we buy most of our groceries. Unknown to us, they have a “Customer of the Day” program where the cash register randomly picks one customer per day to get all of their groceries for free. I knew something was up when the horns and sirens went off, the confetti came raining down, and all of the employees rushed over with balloons and cameras (photo). Panamanians don’t need much of an excuse to party, that’s for sure. Okay, it was only $60 in groceries, but it was still fun.

3)  The Great Chicken Experiment.  Some of you have expressed an interest in raising chickens when you make the move to Panama, so we thought we’d give it a try. We built a deluxe super-modern chicken coop (photo) and fifteen cute little chicks for 50 cents each. When they got big enough we had Jose the caretaker kill nine of them – turns out I’m a little squeamish about killing critters that I’ve been feeding. Patricia wasn’t squeamish at all about cleaning them (photo), and she cooks a good bird. However, when we did the math it came out to about $20 per chicken – now I know why the locals just let their chickens run around, and don’t feed them anything.

We turned loose the remaining six chickens, intending to have them more or less as pets, and hopefully get some eggs. However, a few nights ago something attacked and killed five of them – Jose says it was probably coyotes. I guess the moral of the story is to close your coop at night; we named the one surviving chicken Nervous Nellie, and the name certainly fits.

4)  New hotel. Okay, it’s not new, but the Heliconia Bed and Breakfast (hotelheliconiapanama.com) has established itself as the only decent place to stay on the entire coastline. Owned by Loes and Kees, a Dutch couple (I told you we were having a Dutch invasion), the hotel has a very eco-friendly theme, and they take customers on tours throughout the countryside. They even go into the Cerro Hoya National Park at the southern end of the peninsula. If you’re looking for a nice place to stay that is much closer than Santiago, I definitely recommend the Heliconia. No, I’m not getting any commission for telling you this, but I might want to talk to Loes and Kees about that!

That’s it for this issue – come on down to Paradise just as soon as you can.

Jay, Patrica and Loco

Panama is one of the fastest growing property and investment opportunities in the world. While the real estate in Panama offers tremendous value – it is the low cost of living that really attracts people to Panama.

The Panama Collection selected Ocean Ridge Estates for its pristine natural beauty and ideal location. Located just 1 hour from Santiago and 3 ½ hours from Panama City it is perfect for retirement and investment real estate.

Ocean Ridge Estates is picture perfect, bordered to the north by the Rio Negro (Black River), mountain views in all directions, and the Pacific Ocean four miles to the west.

Lots 4,5 and 6 are pretty similar. All are bordered by the Black River, the largest river in the region (see photo).

All of them are large parcels, around 7 acres, perfect for putting together your very own country estate. You can have up to three horses, fruit orchards, large gardens, walking trails, etc. About the only limitation is your imagination.

All three lots offer some ocean view, but the main visual appeal will be the vast mountain views (see photos). Monkeys, parrots and many other animals are common here on the project; it’s easy to see why the name of this area is actually Paradise !

Jay Stafford
www.thepanamacollection.com
954-309-2837 cell in Florida
507-6679-7540 cell in Panama

Hola future neighbors, and welcome to the latest edition of The Ocean Ridge Report. After the lightest rainy season that anybody around here can remember, we’re all settling into the nice dry verano (summer).
The river is down, the watermelons are planted, and a couple trillion stars are out at night. As usual, great things are happening in the area, so let’s jump right in:

1) Let’s build another house. Even though Tom and Stephanie (lot 7) are probably 5 – 7 years away from a full time move to Panama, they’ve made the wise decision to build now while prices are still low. The foundation is coming right along , and the house should be more or less finished by next June. It’s going to be a beautiful two story beast – I just hope it’s big enough for two people!

By the way, they need to come up with a name for their place, if anybody has any ideas. I suggested “Tom’s House of Pleasure”, but I think Stephanie vetoed that one.

2) Santiago happenings. Santiago is steadily becoming one of the “in” cities in Panama, largely because of its central location in the country. The population has gone over 70,000, with new amenities coming in all the time. The new six story hospital is nearing completion, and will be the most modern medical facility in the whole interior of the country. It will have entire floors dedicated to cardiology and oncology, with state of the art diagnostic equipment throughout. The new supermall has been started, and should open within two years. The hotel Mykonos has just opened, and is one of the few four star hotels outside of Panama City. Not sure how much business they’ll get at $130/night, but it’s a nice option for you players out there. Supposedly Mel Gibson owns half the place, but we haven’t seen him hanging around.

3) Insurance matters. After our usual thorough and painstaking research, we’ve purchased insurance for the house. The cost is $378/year for $200,000 in coverage, less than one fourth the cost of a similar policy I have on one of my properties in Florida. We already submitted a claim for some roof damage, and they paid the full amount promptly, with none of the hassles that you have to go through in the states. I think I like Panama.

We also shopped extensively for car insurance, which is a little more expensive; about half as much as I pay for similar coverage in the states. When you make the move to Panama, I think we’ll have you covered for any insurance needs that you might have. We’re still researching health insurance; seems to be more complicated, so I’ll get back to you on that one.

Once again, we are the proud winners of the coveted “Best Decorated House in the Neighborhood” award. You guys are making it easy on us – maybe next year Tom and Stephanie will provide some competition.

Have a great Christmas, Hanukah, Ramadan, or whatever your persuasion is.

Jay and Patricia

–
Jay Stafford
www.thepanamacollection.com
954-309-2837 cell in Florida
507-6679-7540 cell in Panama

A short video of a hike to the top of Iguana Mountain behind Ocean Ridge Estates in Panama

A short video of feeding baby parrots in Panama. These rescued baby parrots would have died if we did not intervene.

Hola everybody; yes, it’s time for the latest Ocean Ridge Report. We’re approaching the end of the summer in Panama, and things are dry, hot and dusty. The cows are skinny, the hillsides are brown, and a little rain doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. We have one business item to discuss, and then some fun stuff, so let’s get to it.

Credit unions, interest rates, etc.  Josh, Bob and Annie wanted some info, so I did a little research. Not to be too basic, but a credit union works pretty much the same as a bank, except you have to be a member and pay a monthly fee, usually around $10. They do pay a little better interest rate than a bank, and the money is considered to be very secure. One of the biggest credit unions in Panama is the Coopeve R.L. (their website is www.coopeve.com, but of course it’s in Spanish), which does have a branch in Santiago. The problem is that only Panamanian residents can be members, as is the case with most of the credit unions in Panama.Just for your info, HSBC Bank in Santiago (our bank) offers a 2.25% one year CD, for any deposit between $10K and $500K. Not a great way to get rich, that’s for sure.

The fruits of our labor.  After two years, we’re starting to see some results from our gardening efforts (when I say “our efforts”, I’m really giving Patricia 90% of the credit). So far we’ve been able to grow and consume pineapple, papaya, tomatoes, yucca, limes, cherries, peppers, watermelon, corn, beans, carrots, passion fruit, cashews, lettuce and plantains. We have high hopes that within the next 2-3 years we’ll be able to enjoy mango, coconuts, pears, avocado, zucchini, oranges, squash, bananas and several exotic fruits that I never heard of but Patricia assures me are delicious. Check out the gardening photos.

Top of the mountain.  For two years I’ve had my eye on the largest mountain behind the house – the locals call it Iguana Peak, and it’s the one with no trees except on the very tip. We happened to meet a guy whose family actually owns the mountain, and he took us on a guided tour. Only about a 2.5 hour hike; for you non-hikers, you can go the whole way on horseback. The views were pretty incredible – the photos don’t really do it justice. I did take a video from the top, and would be happy to send it out to anybody who wants to give it a look.  

Cracks in Paradise. Over the last several months, our house has developed some significant cracks on the outside (two photos). I was getting quite concerned, and had visions of the entire house sliding down the hill. However, we’ve had a couple of builders to the house recently, and they told us to relax. Apparently when you build a house in Panama you let it settle for a couple of years, then you fix the cracks. They said it’s a completely normal process when building with cement. Keep that in mind when you build down here.

Parents, again.  Some neighbors down the road brought us three parakeets that had fallen out of the nest, and of course Patricia couldn’t say no. The place is a madhouse of screaming birds once again, but we’re having a blast. We named them Big Boy, Silencia and Frisky, and the plan is to let them fly away when they’re ready. In the last photo, you can see that Loco is sitting on Patricia’s shoulder. He wants everybody to know that he’s still King of the Hill.

Over and out – as always, let us know if there is anything you want us to cover in the next issue.

Jay and Patricia

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 out there, and welcome to The Ocean Ridge Report.

We’re finishing off a fun month, with Tom and Stephanie (lot 7) and Josh (lot 9) both coming in to stay at the house for a few days. The weather was pretty terrible, very rainy, but we still managed to get out on the lots with an architect and start the initial planning process. Stephanie conducted a yoga class every morning, and thanks to Tom and Josh the Mariato supermarket had to schedule an extra delivery from the beer truck! Here’s a photo of the happy campers.

Got a few things to cover, so here we go:

1)   Airport update. I told you last month that the government was evaluating the possibility of adding commercial flights from Panama City to Santiago. They finished their evaluation, and it was determined that there was not enough demand to justify adding any flights. Looks like we’re stuck with a long bus ride for awhile.

2)   Bank update. This will only affect you American gringos; Bob and Annie, you can relax. The United States, in it’s infinite wisdom, has just demanded that all banks in Panama disclose full financial details to the IRS for all U.S. citizens who have bank accounts in Panama. Our bank (Credicorp) refused to comply, so instead they will be closing every U.S. citizen account in the entire country. Patricia and I are looking for a new bank, and it looks like HSBC is the best bet. Even if you have an HSBC account in the states, you will still have to open a new account in Panama. We’ll have all the details worked by the time any of you get there, don’t you worry.

For what it’s worth, I already include all of my Panama banking details in my annual tax returns, so you don’t have to worry about us fleeing to Brazil to escape tax evasion charges!

3)   Lot 13 update. Lot 13 was purchased by a really nice 65 year old lady named Marcelina.She has had a 37 year old boyfriend (Chris) for awhile, and they recently became engaged. Chris told her that he’s a city boy, and would never live out in the country. Therefore, Marcelina has decided to buy a condo close to Panama City, and eventually sell lot 13. We wish her the best, and we hope that the boy toy situation works out for her!

4) Critter update.

Okay, I just missed actually missed seeing this one. Patricia and I were down by the river on our lot, talking to the well drillers. Suddenly they got excited, pointing across the river and saying “gato solo” (solitary cat). We jumped down in the river, but it ran up the other bank before either one of us could see it. I had the guys describe it, and it had to be a jaguarundi, a small relative of the jaguar. They often hunt during the day, and at 15 – 20 lbs the biggest animal they eat is the occasional chicken. I attached a photo, in case you’re ever lucky enough to see one.

I also attached a photo or two of the agoutis around our house. They hang around pretty much every day, and provided some quality entertainment for the group. Josh did some research, and apparently the mating ritual includes the male spraying urine all over the female, which send her into a frenzy of dancing and cavorting all over the place. Those agoutis are a wild bunch; maybe some day they’ll have an orgy just for us.

That’s about it for this month – hasta pronto,

Jay and Patricia

–

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

Hola besinos, it seems like we’re just starting to get enough people that maybe it would be worth sending out a regular update on things that are happening in the area. Entonces (therefore), welcome to the very first issue of The Ocean Ridge Report. Once a month or so, we’ll send out stuff that we think you might find interesting regarding the project, things happening in Mariato and/or Santiago, etc. This could be huge – eventually I might send this out to all the gringos in the area, and charge big bucks, but don’t worry – you lucky people will always get this valuable information for free. I know, I’m a hell of a guy.
 
In this first issue I have four items that you might find interesting:
 

1. I’m writing this email from Rancho Paraiso (yes, we’ve named our place), using our new service, which is called Claro. Claro is a relatively new provider in Panama, with new technology. We have a 3.5G connection up here; so far it’s fast, reliable and pretty cheap at $38/month. It’s much better than anything that was available previously, so we should be in great shape by the time any of you move down here.
    
2. We’ve recently been notified that after two years of pounding away, the government has granted official approval to put asphalt on the hills bordering the project. This will only be on the main road for now – the side road will get a layer of tosca (high quality gravel), and the MOP (same thing as the Department of Transportation in the states) will maintain it. Apparently getting government approval is by far the most difficult step; it may take awhile, but now it will definitely happen.
    
3. President Martinelli has recently put a new program into place, called Seguro al Turista (insurance for tourists). When you get off the plane at Tocumen, they hand you a card that gives all tourists complete health insurance coverage for 30 days. It’s actually quite good – any sickness or injury that occurs while you’re in Panama is covered 100%, up to $7000. If you break a tooth, dental coverage kicks in, up to $500. There are lots of other provisions, which are explained in the brochure that is attached to the card. Patricia called the number, and it’s completely legit, which I think is a great thing. Unfortunately, if you get hurt while drunk you’re not covered – let’s face it, that could be a problem for this group!
    
4. Last but not least – I know that probably none of you are as nuts about wildlife as I am, but that’s too bad. You’ll just have to share my excitement at our first agouti sighting. The agouti is a very shy elusive critter that is sort of a cross between a rabbit and a pig. They mostly reside in the deeper rain forests of Panama, but we have one that likes to run through our back yard. He’s been too quick to get a photo, but he looks just like this:
   

   Panamanians like to eat them, but since that’s not allowed on the project I have high hopes that they’ll thrive and become Part of the community. You have to admit, they’re pretty cute.

 
That’s it for the first issue. what do y’all think?  (That y’all was just for Claudia)

Jay and Patricia

To learn more about Ocean Ridge Estates in Panama:
http://www.thepanamacollection.com/about-panama-collection/ocean-ridge-estates.html