Simply Natural Farms: Update on My Panama Investment

Shortly after booking my flight to Panama, I learned that there had been a fire on the Simply Natural Farms lands.  Oh boy.

The first report I got was that my hectare of mangos had been severely impacted.  Oh crap.

So, I was really dreading my farm inspection during the two-hour-plus drive from Panama City to Penonomé (where the main farm offices are located).  Once we got to the offices, I was told by Mario, the head of the company’s irrigation systems, that my land was mostly fine and that my pump and irrigation controller survived the fast-moving fire.  Whew!

A damaged one-inch irrigation supply line.

Nonetheless, I was practically holding my breath during the fifteen-minute drive from the office to see my mango trees.  As it turns out, I only lost a handful of trees plus the irrigation supply lines that lay on top of the ground were melted.  For the most part, the trees look good and just need water.  Fortunately, the rainy season has begun.

Like many fires I saw in the mountains of Montana where I grew up, the fire moved quickly and mostly burned grass, small bushes and the lowest limbs of the trees.  Even trees like the one below might be able to be saved as long as it is green on the inside of the trunk.

One of the more severely burned trees.

For those trees that were in the path of the fire, there are basically three long-term scenarios:

• The tree completely burned:  the tree is not salvageable and must be cut down and replaced
• The tree is sufficiently burned that the limbs will never be the same, but the interior is alive:  the top of the tree will be cut off and a new scion will be grafted to the existing tree.
• The lower limbs are burned but the tree is generally in good condition:  the tree will be trimmed and monitored, but will go on to produce in the coming years.

The melted remnants of the one-inch irrigation lines.

The grafting option is an interesting one.  In anticipation of some future event, the company’s R&D group did a trial a few years ago by cutting off the tops and re-grafting dozens of trees already in the field.  The result was 100% success.

I was aware of the experiment but never dreamed they would need to implement it.  Even if the success rate isn’t that high when re-grafting the burned trees, it means that most will be saved because the root system will remain intact.

Although the pump and controller on my irrigation system were unharmed, they will still need to replace the one-inch feeder lines that lay on top of the ground, the individual drip lines that go to each tree and the sensors that are buried throughout the hectare of land.

Irrigation supervisor, Mario, explaining the pump and controller systems.

The three-inch main line coming into the pump is split in two with a line going to each side of my property.  The one-inch lines come up in front of each row of trees and then the drip lines are attached near the trunk of each tree.  The sensors will need to be individually dug up and tested.

The sensors are a critical part of the irrigation system because they measure how much water is being consumed by the trees.   Weather stations located throughout the farms measure temperature, solar gain, wind, rain and humidity.  The weather station and sensors work in tandem as the data is fed into the controllers to completely automate the irrigation system.

Data is collected every ten minutes and instructions are given to the irrigation system using artificial intelligence algorithms to make sure every plant receives exactly what it needs.  Millions of data points are compared using not only the information gleaned from the systems installed on the farms in Panama, but also from systems growing the same crops across the world.

Most trees still had a lot of flowers that will develop into fruit. Simply Natural Farms grows eight different varieties of mango. My mangos are the My Fair Lady variety, created by Simply Natural Farms.

In addition to the fact that most of my trees are in great shape, most of them are also flowering.  There are some fruit on my trees, but since the fire happened during the flowering season, they were delayed because the irrigation system was destroyed.

While I doubt I will get much of a crop this year, Mario said that most of the irrigation lines that were destroyed across the 30-or-so hectares impacted by the fire will be replaced by the end of the year so that next year’s crop (barring another fire or other catastrophe) should be solid.

Not a surprise… the vinyl perimeter fences did not fare well.

There are a lot of mango saplings ready to go in the nursery.  The problem is that these were intended for yet-to-be-planted hectares, not as replacements for burned trees.

They will be planting more seedlings, but that takes time.  The rootstock is grown from local Panamanian tree seeds because they are well adapted to Panama’s weather and soil.  Once the trees are about eighteen inches tall, the top is cut off and a scion of the desired mango variety is grafted to the rootstock.  After another few months, they will be planted in the field, but that whole process takes anywhere from 18 to 24 months.

Mango saplings in the nursery, ready to plant.

I also visited the area where my lime trees are planted.  Fortunately, the fires didn’t damage the Toza lime plantation and I should get a decent harvest payment this year.

I found the lime trees in good health with many limes on the trees and many more flowers that will yield more fruit in the coming months.  The Rainforest Lime variety is an everbearing tree; it produces throughout the year.

Lime grove at the Toza plantation. No fire here.

While I was at the Toza lime plantation, crews were busy installing irrigation lines further up the hillside.  They are taking advantage of the relative lack of rain to get into difficult terrain while they still can.  Once the irrigation lines are installed, the area can be planted.

Like all the plantations, the Toza farms have their own irrigation system just like the one installed where my mangos are being grown.  Simply Natural Farms sells a lot of limes to local bars and restaurants.

The Rainforest Lime variety is everbearing, meaning they grow and are harvested throughout the year.

My final stop on the tour of the Simply Natural Farms plantations was the greenhouse complex.  Spreading across nearly twenty hectares (almost fifty acres), the greenhouses grow primarily cucumbers and melons but can be switched out at any point to grow other crops like tomatoes or peppers.

The Simply Natural greenhouses use the same SupPlant irrigation system that is used in the fields.  This system is the epitome of high technology being applied to agriculture.

The greenhouses also house an R&D facility and all of the mango, lime and avocado saplings are started and grafted before being transplanted into the field.  This ensures that the samplings are healthy prior to being planted and give them the best possible chance of growing successfully.

Post-harvest greenhouse. The old plants have been removed, new growing medium has been installed and the greenhouse is ready for planting.

My company, Alternative Ag Investors, sells managed farmland and represents Simply Natural Farms and Paraguay AG Invest in addition to Teak Hardwoods and Agro Nosotros (coffee and cacao investments). 

Agri Terra Greenhouse: A Paraguay Inspection Tour

The greenhouse structure.  Note the weather station antenna on the third nave peak.

Most of my blog posts are topical, but this week I’m writing about my inspection tour of the greenhouse that my wife and I own outside of Nueva Italia, Paraguay.  We bought in early 2020 and after some Covid-related shipping delays, our greenhouse arrived and our tomatoes were planted on February 18 of this year. 

It was an amazing trip and the German-based management company Agri Terra is doing a tremendous job of delivering for their investors.  You can read more about their investment opportunities Here and Here.

When we purchased, we didn’t know precisely what would be planted in our vegetable greenhouse since the company grows peppers, cucumbers and a variety of tomatoes.  Ours turned out to be tomatoes and I was awestruck by the overall operation.

Proud “farmer” inspecting his crop.

Like many hydroponic set-ups, the vegetable plants are grown in a shredded coconut husk medium.  The irrigation system provides both the water and just the right balance of nutrients. 

A system of fans, retractable overhead covers and sidewalls that can be dropped in times of high wind help maintain the perfect growing environment.  A miniature weather station atop each greenhouse along with sensors inside feed data into the automated system.  

Each greenhouse is 1,250 square meters. The greenhouses have weather stations that feed data into the controllers, which then open and close vents, and influence the irrigation frequency.

Theoretically, the greenhouses could be left unattended for quite some time and the control system would keep dosing each plant with the water and fertilizer solution, the proper temperature will be maintained and the plants will keep growing.  Of course, that would never happen, but the way the system works a lot of the growing tasks are completely automated. 

The plants are grown from seed, which are currently sourced from the outside but they have an R&D section that is working on perfecting their own process of growing new seedlings so the end-to-end process will eventually be in-house.

The fertigation plant. Each variety of plant has its own mix of natural fertilizers that are automatically fed into the drip system.

Once the seedlings are planted in the greenhouse growing medium, they are trained to grow vertically by being attached to support cables using plastic clips.  The plants are pruned weekly, pulled up and attached to the cable trellis system and, since flowering is unpredictable, the plants are pollinated daily.

I was naturally excited to see my first crop but I also picked up a lot of information along the way that just confirmed this is one of the best agricultural purchases I have made. 

In addition to being able to see the greenhouse complex and related facilities, I was able to spend some time with Carsten Pfau, the president of the company, and one of their senior agronomists.  Very impressive.  Carsten not only provided big picture context to the company’s mission but Christian, the agronomist, was able to give very detailed answers regarding the technology involved and the growing process.

The morning’s harvest from the day I arrived.

Agri Terra not only operates the greenhouses, they also have lime, lemon, mandarin and orange groves.  We didn’t spend as much time in the citrus groves but the trees we saw were healthy, properly pruned and had just recently been harvested. 

These trees were about three years old so the harvest isn’t yet marketable because the fruit isn’t yet of retail quality; that comes in the fourth and fifth years when the Brix level (a test of sweetness used in the produce industry) has risen sufficiently.  I found that explanation interesting since I planted an orange tree in my backyard last year which produced a single piece of fruit.  It was OK, but wasn’t as sweet as I had hoped.  Now I know why; sweetness and overall quality improve as the trees age.

These tomatoes were planted in a different greenhouse about four weeks before mine.

The company recently bought a juicing plant and a water company with the intention of producing a line of sports drinks in addition to juiced citrus products.  They are currently selling strawberry greenhouses but are focused on completing the vegetable greenhouses first.  Orange groves are available for investors and other citrus may be available in the future depending on market demand.

They are also building a new processing plant right next to the greenhouses and will have the ability to do fruit purees in septic plastic containers as well as individually quick frozen (IQF) products, both of which have a long shelf life and can be exported.

Agri Terra tomatoes are sold at their Granja Direct stores. The conversion when I was there was 6,800 Guaraní to the dollar. So these tomatoes are selling for $2.57 per kilo or about $1.17 per pound.

If that weren’t enough, they have started a line of small grocery stores that focus on high-quality produce.  There are currently three Granja Direct stores, which are being used to test marketing and sales techniques before expanding further.  This cautious-growth approach to the company’s long-term plans impressed me. 

I asked Carsten if there were plans to offer new products after the strawberry greenhouses are built and he said he didn’t know; he wants to complete all the greenhouses, build the processing plant and expand the juicing operation before expanding further.  He was quite insistent that he needed to stabilize the current projects in the pipeline before moving on to the next ones and that his plans need to be fluid based on what he learns from bringing his current plans to fruition.

his is in a greenhouse planted about 4 weeks before ours. The plants are pollinated daily, trimmed weekly and attached to the cable supports.

Part of my reason for buying into the Agri Terra project is the fact that all the financial transactions are completed via German banks and the contracts are written in accordance with EU law.  In other words, as an owner, you have a business relationship with a German company; if things go sideways, you’ll be dealing with a German court, not one in Paraguay.

Part of what made this trip so much fun was the amazing people I traveled with, both investors and those who are thinking about investing.  It was quite the international group including folks from Finland, Italy, Australia, the U.S., Bolivia and Columbia.  Each person had questions and I learned a lot from the different perspectives and experiences of my travel companions. 

Content label on the greenhouse.

The vegetable greenhouses are sold out and there are only a dozen or so of the new strawberry greenhouses still available, so if you’re interested, you’ll need to act fast.  They seem to have plenty of orange groves for sale.  For more information, click HERE.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

My company, Alternative Ag Investors, sells managed farmland and represents Simply Natural Farms and Paraguay AG Invest in addition to Teak Hardwoods and Agro Nosotros (coffee and cacao investments). 

Back to Panama and Paraguay for Another Round of Farm Inspections

Wow!  I didn't realize how long it's been since my last post!!!

A lot has happened in my life since then and I'm going to try to get it all down on "paper" soon, but in the meantime, I want to share some details about my next visit to Panama.

I'm headed back down to Panama and Paraguay the first ten days of May.  The trip is partly to see friends but mainly to check up on some of my farmland investments and see how things are going.  I can't wait. 

I have a permanent residency visa and would have moved there by now but I met the most wonderful woman in the world and got married instead.  It's turned out to be a pretty good tradeoff.   😊 

While I’m in Panama City I also have an appointment with the American Consulate to get my Florida driver’s license validated, which is the first step toward getting a Panama license.  Like everything in Panama, the bureaucratic nonsense for such a simple task is unbelievable… I even have to provide proof of my blood type to get a license!

That’s another whole story that I won’t go into now, so back to my farmland.

Simply Natural Farms

I first invested in Simply Natural in 2015.  Over the years I have purchased multiple hectares of land to grow limes, mangos, plantains and avocados.

Unfortunately, the pandemic lock-downs have been especially hard on this company.  Panama hyped COVID-19 as if it were the Black Plague.  Unless designated as an essential worker, residents were allowed out of their houses a grand total of six hours per week; women could go out for two hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and men could go out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

When I say “go out” I mean go to the store, doctor or pharmacy and the hour of day was determined by the last digit of your national ID card.  That was pretty much it.  They weren’t even allowed to walk their dogs.

It took weeks and weeks to get the government papers that would allow essential workers to drive to and from work.  Even then, some provinces (including Coclé Province where the farm offices are) wouldn’t accept the national travel papers.

A great many Panamanians don’t own a vehicle and depend on buses and vans for transportation.  Well, if you used to take a 16-passenger van to work, now they can only take four people at a time because of strict social distancing rules.  Many farmworkers who were scheduled to begin their shift at 7:00 AM showed up at noon or later.

As time went on, many Panamanians were so freaked out that even essential workers like those working on farms just quit.  The government and local agencies were providing food and they didn’t need to pay rent or utilities, so why take the risk?

As a result, crucial crop maintenance went undone.  Rains that created mild flooding and under normal conditions required a couple of guys with shovels to divert the excess became major problems.  Without this simple maintenance, the roots of mango trees remained submerged for weeks on end resulting in root rot and destructive fungus.  I lost one hectare of mangos because of this.

None of this was Simply Natural’s fault but they stepped up anyway and decided to offer a swap of affected hectares for a new greenhouse project growing dragon fruit.

The upside to this is that those who were faced with replanting crops will be able to get a payout much earlier than waiting four to five years for new trees to grow.  The downside is that the payouts aren’t quite as high and you no longer own the land, just the greenhouse and related systems.

When I visited last May (see Back to My Farms in Panama), the nine-month lockdown had been lifted and things had opened up quite a bit.  I still had to wear a mask just walking down the street and going into a store required that I have my temperature taken and that I slather on hand sanitizer.

After spending two days on the various plantations, I believe the long-term outlook for Simply Natural is positive.  Despite the lockdowns they managed to complete a major irrigation project, stage the piping for the next pumping complex, complete a number of greenhouses and resumed routine maintenance of the field crops.

At any rate, I’m anxious to see my hectares that weren’t impacted and to see the construction of the new dragon fruit greenhouses.  By the time I get there, the excavation should be nearly completed along with some of the foundations and hopefully some of the structures will be started.  The seedlings will be planted by year’s end and the first crops harvested in 2023.

This will be my sixth farm inspection tour since 2015 and I will be hosted by the President of Simply Natural as well as their Director of Client Relations.

Paraguay AG Invest

The greenhouse that my wife and I own in Paraguay should be fully implemented by the time I get there.  The construction was delayed a bit by COVID-19 restrictions that impeded shipment of the structure and created a challenge for the workers, but overall Paraguay AG Invest has done an amazing job of getting the greenhouses built, irrigation and environmental systems installed and the first crops planted.

Paraguay instituted a six-week lockdown in 2020 in response to the pandemic but overall wasn’t nearly as draconian in their pandemic restrictions when compared to Panama.

The country has some of the lowest per capita spending on health in Latin America according to the World Health Organization.  As a result, there were widespread protests in 2021 in response to a lack of vaccines, hospital beds and the overall medical response to COVID-19.

Despite these obstacles, Paraguay AG Invest managed to get their crops harvested, maintain the existing greenhouses and begin construction on new ones.

The Agri Terra Group, the parent company of Paraguay AG Invest, hasn’t been sitting on their hands during the pandemic, either.  Not only have they moved forward with new projects, but they have also opened their own chain of produce stores and purchased an existing processing plant for packing, canning and juicing.

I really love this project and the company.  Not only are the verified returns substantial (a 21.5% average annual return on investment) but the crops and structure are fully insured against fire and force majeure.  My greenhouse will grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other produce, and uses an advanced drip irrigation system to conserve water and provide direct fertilization.

I’ll be in Asuncion for three days.  In addition to inspecting their greenhouse project and orange groves, I’ll be meeting with the company president and get a briefing on their new strawberry greenhouses.

Follow-up

My company, Alternative Ag Investors, sells managed farmland and represents both Simply Natural and Paraguay AG Invest in addition to Teak Hardwoods.

I’ll give a full report when I get back in mid-May so that fellow investors can have the benefit of my analysis of both operations.

Returning to Panama...

July 18, 2013

I am returning to Panama and really excited about it.  

I will start off by exploring the area from Punta Chame to Farallon.  I have made contact with a realtor there and would like to get some ideas about what is possible.  What are rents like?  What would I get for my dollar if I buy?  Should I buy something now with the intent of renting it out until I move there when I retire in five years?

I will then be attending the 2013 Live and Invest in Panama Conference.  This conference is run by Kathleen Pedicord's Live and Invest Overseas organization.  This type of conference is designed to give an overview of all the issues that expats may face when moving to a particular country.  I'm hoping to pick up some general knowledge that I could apply to any country I may be interested in.

Organizations like Live and Invest Overseas, International Living, Escape Artist and others have great expertise, but they also have something to sell.  There's nothing wrong with the sales part -- let's face it, they have to make a living and they do it by accumulating knowledge for wannabe expats and selling it via newsletters, books, special reports and conferences.  If you decide to use the services of these organizations, just be aware that each outfit has their own set of prejudices and limitations.  While I am not comparing any group to a car salesman, you don't by a car without doing your own research and verifying the claims of the salesman.

I have been getting Kathleen's emails for several years and I am an International Living magazine subscriber.  I loved Kathleen's book and pick up interesting tidbits, suggestions, factoids and cautions from each of these sources.  I will be sure to at least give a review of the conference.  I won't divulge the information they provide because I strongly believe in their right to sell the research and expertise they have, but I can absolutely provide a critique and let you know if I got my money's worth.

The beginning...

August 25, 2011  bgodiver


My main blog is at times pretty personal and I realize there are some who would rather just read about my trip to Panama and my search for my future home as an expat.  So I will be posting the same Panama-related material from the primary blog here, but in reverse order so you can read about my trip from the planning stages through the day-by-day account of my journey, complete with photos.

So… Let me start at the beginning.

I lost my wife of nineteen years, Andrea, in May of 2010.  August 31, 2011, would have been our 20th anniversary.  As I got older (I turn 57 in December) Andrea and I had talked frequently about what retirement would look like and where it would take place.  Andrea was Australian and spent the first eight years of her life growing up in Melbourne.  She spent the next six years in the Philippines (Manila) before moving to the United States, followed by studies in Spain and extensive travel throughout Europe.  I, on the other hand, had traveled little outside of American borders before meeting Andrea and had never lived anywhere outside the U.S.

Although we were fortunate to have traveled in many parts of the world before she died, we both had wanted to see and experience more.  Shortly after her 35th birthday Andrea was diagnosed with advanced malignant melanoma; the doctor said she had about even chances of of seeing her 40th birthday.  It took some time for us to recover from the shock of it all, but after her surgery we knew that time may be short and we wanted to make the most of it.  We also agreed that retiring "elsewhere" would give us the opportunity to continue exploring and get to know more people, places and cultures – we didn't want life to become a downward spiral with the delivery of the first Social Security check.

When Andrea died suddenly, I was devastated.  She was only 44.  During the first months after she passed, I had no real reason to even get up in the morning.  I substituted long hours at work for the purpose Andrea had provided.  As time went on and my heart began to heal, I realized that each and every day of the previous nine years had been a precious gift.  I also came to the realization that I still wanted to retire as an expat even if it was on my own.  I began a search for just the right place.  Every time I run into an awkward situation during my travels because I can't speak another language (Andrea spoke four), I always manage to muddle through and I am once again reminded that life goes on.  Will I someday find someone new to share my heart with?  God willing, I certainly hope so!  In the meantime I continue to learn more about myself and become more certain that I am also ready to do this solo.  

To make a long story short, I had read a lot about Belize and decided this would be my first country to explore.  I spent eight days exploring coastal Belize last February, which placed it firmly on my list of possible future homes.  Now I will do the same in Panama between November 3 and 13. 

As with my Belize trip my goal in Panama is to do a bit of sight-seeing but mainly just wander around through various coastal towns, see what the stores are like, check out some real estate, have a few beers with the locals and generally just get a feel for whether or not this is a place and culture I would feel comfortable living in for my remaining years.  If I like what I see I will come back in the future after doing more research on specific locales.

Over the next 11 weeks I will post information as I come across it and start to plan my trip.  I'll give you the links to important web sites and lay out my thought process as I finalize the details.  And finally, I will do a day-by-day posting of my trip along with many pictures.  I learned a lot when writing my Belize blog (Belize in Eight Days) and hopefully will do better this time.  I imagine my readers will be a handful of friends and others, like me, who are interested in eventually retiring in Panama or just going there for a vacation.  If you have been there and have some advice or want me to check something out while I am there, please leave a comment -- I would love to hear from you!

Cleared for take-off: Beginning the plans for my trip to Panama

August 28, 2011

As you begin thinking and planning about moving abroad for retirement, one of the big issues is health care.  Good bad or indifferent, we all have notions about the quality of health care where we are and what it might be like where ever we end up.  Anybody who is looking to live in another country and says they are not concerned about health care is nuts.  I happen to think that American health care is great… the delivery system via a hamstrung insurance system is horrible, but the quality of care is excellent.

My biggest gripe is that US doctors rarely spend enough time with you and that leads to future medical problems instead of fixing them before they become problematic.  For that reason I have three doctors; one for "everyday" concerns and my annual check-up; my neurologist because I have had a history of epilepsy since I was a child; and a third holistic practitioner that I go to a few times per year and pay through the nose for, but she keeps me on track and spends a minimum of thirty minutes with me to answer all of my questions and suggest alternative approaches to keeping me healthy.

Other than my epilepsy I have been pretty healthy my whole life -- I have never broken a bone and have yet to have any type of surgery.  When my cholesterol began creeping up my GP prescribed a statin drug that I immediately tossed in the garbage.  I instead ate oatmeal for every breakfast and lived on beans in various forms, fish, broccoli and salads for two months.  I dropped my cholesterol from 254 to 209 in eight weeks.

Well, three weeks ago, while volunteering at a back-to-school wellness event with a couple of colleagues, all was going well when I collapsed around 11:15 a.m.  I woke up to find two EMTs and my colleagues hovering over me and I was being wheeled out to an ambulance.  My colleagues informed the EMTs of my history of epilepsy (I had a seizure in November 1979 and a second one in February 2009) and coupled with the short-term memory loss I was experiencing, they naturally concluded that I had had another seizure.  As I was recovering on the way to the emergency room I came to the same conclusion.  The ER ran an EKG, did a CAT scan and did other routine tests and ultimately released me after a few hours.

Once I got home and the gravity of the matter began to sink in, I was absolutely devastated.  After my last seizure I couldn't drive for a year.  It was a total pain in the ass but having to go without driving now that I am living alone would be very difficult.  I admit it is an ego thing because I don't like having to depend on others… it makes me feel useless and lacking control over my life.  The next morning I noticed that the pill box I use to hold my collection of prescription medicines and supplements was missing my seizure medication.

I use two pill boxes (one for morning and one for evening) that hold two weeks of medications each and I was 11 days through the boxes -- 11 days without taking my anti-seizure pills.  So, not only was I exhausted from working hard and getting very little sleep, I had unwittingly gone cold turkey from my meds.  On the one hand this is good news, but on the other hand I still might have to quit driving depending on what the doc said.

Not only would this have a big impact on my November travel plans since I would have to use public transportation instead of driving -- this could be a total game changer.  What would the inability to drive do to my retirement plans?  Would I have to live in a city instead of on the water?  Would I have to give up my plans of moving abroad altogether?

Waiting a week to get in to see my neurologist seemed an eternity as I dealt with various waves of emotions.  I went from just starting to feel good about my life again after losing Andrea to feeling depressed and full of self pity at the prospect of seeing the rest of my life altered -- again!  I did not want to put off my Panama trip so I asked the folks at International Living to suggest a reliable guide.  I provided a general outline of what I wanted to do and see, and received an estimate of approximately $2500.00 for ten days.  That may not be a bad price, but it is more than what I wanted to pay.

After describing my collapse and the week that led up to the event, my neurologist said he does not believe I had a seizure.  He is not exactly sure what happened and ordered up a series of tests to first rule out heart problems (an echocardiogram and a 24-hour ambulatory heart monitor) and to get a fresh reading on my brain (an ambulatory EEG).  Fortunately his admin was able to get these scheduled for the same time so I was able to complete the echocardiogram this past Monday morning and get wired up for 24 hours for the other two tests, and returned on Tuesday morning to get un-wired.

Hopefully all these tests will be revealing since I am sure I will still bear some significant cost even after what the insurance pays.  The most immediate and critical impact of my doctor's conclusion is that I can still drive.  I will go see my in-laws this weekend (they live about an hour or so south of me) and do some long-term shopping just in case he changes his mind.  I am convinced that the lack of medication and border-line exhaustion caused a collapse and I am not concerned about a relapse.

Anyway, that fact that I can continue to drive has put me back into Panama trip research mode.  I am now down to flying American via Miami for only 30,000 miles and will pick up a rental car at the Panama City airport.  I can get a Suzuki Jimmy from Thrifty for about $200 for the ten days and a bit less for a Toyota Yaris.  Gas prices are about the same I pay in Florida.  I am still placing flights on hold until I am 100% sure I want to move forward with this trip.  American allows you to place five-day holds so I have been leap frogging my holds with the intent of actually booking when I return from Key West.

The next task is to make up an itinerary and book hotels.  I may want a guide around the canal and in Panama City to make sure I get the most of it.  I have the names of a few real estate folks that I will ask to show me a few representative properties in several areas along both coasts.  I am really getting excited as I get closer to my trip.

Dealing with the details...

September 4, 2011

Well… August was a busy month. In addition to dealing with my health issues I had three weeks of continuing education at work so I was a bit off my usual routine.  I followed that up with a four day trip to Key West and I am now back on schedule and beginning to work on the details of my trip.

I picked up a bit of information from my friends Craig and Joyce, who used to live in Panama for a while as an interlude to their sailing.   We met up with a couple of their friends (ex-military) who also used to live there and continue to make occasional trips to Panama City.  Based on their collective feedback I gleaned the following general pointers:

Colon is a cess pit full of crime and other than some cool colonial architecture, there is not much to see.

• The canal and its workings are a must see.
• Since I am looking to see if I can live here, concentrate my time and efforts on the Pacific side.
• A guided trip to the Darien jungle and possibly a visit to the Embera tribes would be worth while.
• Bocas del Toro and environs is worth the trip.

Once I returned from KW, I finally booked my airline tickets (30,000 points on American) and will arrive at Tocumen airport outside of Panama City at about noon on November 3. I also made a car rental with Thrifty for $192.00 including taxes and fees for the 3rd through the 12th; I reserved the same vehicle I used in Belize... a 4-wheel drive Suzuki Jimmy.  I depart Tocumen at 8:00 a.m. the morning of the 13th.  I am thinking of spending the last few days in and around Panama City, so I may reduce the total time of the car rental since it may be more practical to rely on taxis and tour operators on those days instead of driving around a major city I am unfamiliar with.

I made the car reservation with my Citibank AAdvantage card that earns American Airline miles and covers the CDW.  I also bought travel insurance through American Airlines for a pittance (I think it is about $25.00); the insurance is through Access America, which is a reputable travel insurance company and has been around for a long time.

So now I just need to figure out what areas to visit, how much time to spend in each place and what side trips to take.  Once I have an itinerary, I can book hotels and research restaurants, etc.  I bought a couple of road maps on Amazon.com today and that should help in figuring out distances and time of travel.

I will also correspond with two or three realtors to set up half day property viewings to get a feel for what is available and at what price.

Plan # 1 to see Panama in 10 days...

September 11, 2011

I spent part of yesterday visiting my in-laws as I do every few weeks.  My father-in-law was an economist  with the World Bank and worked on some projects in Panama back in the 80s.  He confirmed that, at the time he was traveling there, Colon was considered fairly dangerous and that unless things had changed drastically, there probably is no reason to take one whole day of a 10 day trip just to go there.  Colon is a port city with lots of warehousing and related facilities; while it may be interesting to visit some day it just isn't worth going to on this trip.

My initial plan is to pick up the car at the airport and get on the Pan-American Highway heading southwest towards the Azuero Peninsula.  It is roughly 90 Kilometers to Playa Coronado, which is at the beginning of a series of beaches known for their good surfing.  While I am not a surfer, I do love the sound of crashing waves and have heard good things about some of these small towns, including the town right before Coronado, Nueva Gorgona.

Not knowing what the traffic will be like on a Thursday afternoon that just happens to be a national holiday (independence from Columbia) I don't know how long it will take me to get out of town and down the road to Coronado so I am thinking that will be my first stop.

Since I am just beginning the planning of my itinerary, I recognize that it will likely change a few times before it is finalized.  This is more complicated than Belize because there were so few highways and towns of any size in Belize that the plan fairly fell into place with hardly any thought. 

After Coronado, I will continue on to the Azuero Peninsula and follow coastal Highway 3 down to Pedasi, across the bottom of the peninsula and then back up to the Pan-American Highway on the way to the Las Palmas Peninsula.  Eventually I will end up at far western Panama in Chiriqui Province and check out the area around Puerto Armuelles before heading for the highlands and Boquete.  I don't intend to spend a lot of time around Boquete since I really don't want to live in the hill country, but will continue on to the northwest coast and take a trip out to Bocas del Toro.  There are a lot of towns up and down Highway 11 and from what I can tell, at least two ferries to Bocas del Toro.

After checking out the northwest, it is back to the Pan-American Highway to return to Panama City for the last couple of days in order to tour the canal and take a day trip to the Darien area.

That's it.  Now I need to start finding lodging and get this down to a more definitive schedule so that I can ensure that I see all that I want to.

Airline options for intra-Panama flights...

September 13, 2011

As I come across new online resources for my Panama trip I will be sure to share them here.  My itinerary continues to develop and  it occurred to me that maybe flying in to Panama City and immediately catching a plane to Bocas del Toro would save some time if I could pick up a car in BT and then drive south to Chiriquí Province and from there follow the coast back to Panama City.

Is it possible?  I don't know yet but I did come across three local airlines that may make that an option.  First is Nature Air, which is a Costa Rican airline that seems to only have flights from CR to Bocas del Toro.  This won't work for me this time but could be an option for short hops to and from CR on future trips.

The second airline is Air Panama.  Air Panama has a varied fleet of 15 aircraft ranging from the 9-passenger Britten Norman Islander twin prop to the 50-seat De Havilland Dash.  They serve 22 locations throughout Panama.  The only drawback for my particular needs is that they fly in and out of Albrook airport, which is the commuter, general aviation airport of Panama City and I am not sure of how much time it takes to go from one to the other.

The third option is Aeroplas Regional airline and they fly through both Panama City airports.  Using my idea above of flying to Bocas del Toro, I would have a several hour layover in the airport before continuing on to Bocas del Toro and arrive around 5:15 pm.  Now if I can get a car there that might be worth the $116.00 for the flight.  This is definitely worth checking out.

Since most of the major car rental agencies operate in Panama along with some local groups I have never heard of, I would think that renting a car in Bocas del Toro would be an option.  Using this strategy could save me a couple of days travel and allow me to spend more time really looking at the areas I am most drawn to.

I'll let you know what I find out.  Either way it makes the most sense to spend the last few days in and around Panama City so that part of my initial plan remains in tact.

Have map, will travel...

September 17, 2011

One of the things you need when traveling in a foreign country is a good map... especially in the hinterlands.  If I am driving around the back roads of California, Florida or Minnesota and get lost I could just stop and ask some one for directions.  I can do the same in Panama but will they understand what I am asking for and will I understand the answer?  Even if I spoke fluent Spanish I think a good map would be wise.

On my trip to Belize I got a really great map made by the German map makers, Borch GmbH; it is heavy duty and small enough to use while driving yet big enough to show the details I needed.  Unfortunately, Borch doesn't make a map of Panama.  So I went to Amazon and ended up buying three maps.  Trust me, I didn't want three maps.  The first one I got is the National Geographic Adventure Map.  Sounds like just the thing for a trip that will take me to the four corners of Panama, right?  Well, it is a good map (waterproof and tear-resistant) but it is also big enough to keep a family of four totally dry in a Cat 5 hurricane.  I will use it extensively before going and bring it along, but it is not the kind of map I want sitting in the passenger seat of my Suzuki Jimmy as I head down the Pan-American highway.

So I went back to Amazon and bought two more maps:  The Panama International Travel Map and the Mapi: Panama map.  The second one is exactly what I was looking for -- complete yet handy and durable; this is the one that will be next to me in the car.  The International Travel Map is much like the National Geographic map, but not quite as good.  Fortunately the two maps together cost only about $15.00.

I have the National Geographic map spread out on the dining room table and I'm trying to figure out my route.  Now I just need to figure out if my initial plan is still a good one or if, now that I have the maps, I should use an alternative.   Until I finalize my itinerary I can't make lodging reservations or set up meetings with realtors.

"Map out your future - but do it in pencil.  The road ahead is as long as you make it.  Make it worth the trip." -- Bon Jovi

Bocas del Toro by air or by ground?

September 20, 2011

As I have worked on the itinerary for my Panama trip, I have tried to find ways to save time by flying between some towns or flying to a town in the west and picking up a rental car.  For instance, I thought if I could fly to Bocas del Toro and then pick up a rental car I could save quite a bit of time and still see the same territory.  One of my concerns is that I don't like the idea of leaving my rental car on the mainland while spending a couple of days on the islands.  There are flights to Bocas del Toro on the commuter airlines, but no rental cars in any of the nearby mainland towns so that idea is out.

OK… what about flying to Bocas del Toro and then on to David and pick up a car there?  That is doable, but the flight from Bocas to David is around $250.00 and there is a $180.00 drop-off fee to pick up the car in David and return it in Panama City.  $430.00 is a lot of additional cost just to save a few hours. Plus, if you add in the time waiting at airports to the flight time, you really don't save that much.  When all is said and done, the savings would cost me $75.00 to $100.00 per hour, which makes the decision pretty easy.

There is one other alternative.  I can fly round-trip from my arrival airport (Tocumen International in Panama City -- PTY) to Bocas on Aeroperlas Regional (a TACA affiliate) for $234.00.  If I were to arrive at Bocas late afternoon of the 3rd and go back to PTY the morning of the 5th or 6th I could pick up a car and still explore the area from roughly Coronado to Puerto Armuelles over the next several days before returning to Panama City to check out the canal and do a one-day trip to Darien Province. 

It looks like there are two reasonable choices for what I want to see and do:  fly to Bocas del Toro and back followed by car to explore the whole south coast or use the original plan of getting a car in Panama City and doing the whole trip on the ground.  At least my choices are getting narrowed down.  I've got less than seven weeks to get everything nailed down and I'm starting to get a bit nervous.

Choosing a hotel in Bocas del Toro...

September 22, 2011

I still don't have my itinerary locked down, but I did quite a bit of reading and research over the weekend to narrow down the possibilities and that included searching for hotels.  Actually, some of the places I looked at don't really fit the description of "hotel" as much as B&B or guest house.  A number of the homier, less expensive places are family owned or just down right funky.  Since I am not looking for luxury, a place to lay down that is clean and has at least tepid shower water will be good enough.  I'll have my netbook with me so I'm not quite ready to settle for a backpacker's hostel (for security reasons), but one step above that is fine with me.

I'll start with Bocas del Toro.  There are a lot of really cool and funky places on the island and at reasonable rates.  Trip Advisor provided me with a list of lodging establishments to look at  and after reading through a lot of reviews and taking a look at their web sites I narrowed my choices down to three:  Hotel Olas, CalaLuna Hotel and Hotel Angela.

Hotel Olas is a colorful place (literally… the paint job is amazing) and is right on the water.  The rooms all have AC and include internet access as well as breakfast.  They keep their costs down by accepting cash only -- $40.00 per night for a standard room, $60.00 for ocean front.  From what I can tell, Hotel Olas is close to everything in town.

My other pick that is on the ocean is Hotel Angela.  With only thirteen rooms,   Angela also offers free breakfast, a restaurant on site, AC in every room, internet and decent prices:  $50.00 to $80.00 per night.  Trip Advisor includes them in the list of establishments with internet but I didn't see it mentioned on their web site.  I sent them an email and got a response within about 30 minutes (a good sign in itself) assuring me that wi-fi is available throughout the property.

My last choice is not on the water, but still in the heart of town and only a block or so away from the ocean.  CalaLuna Hotel is an Italian owned property with a restaurant on site (they reportedly have excellent, authentic pizza), internet access and have rooms for as little as $45.00 per night.  They also have a small bar and a ping pong table.  One of the things about CalaLuna that may appeal to folks who don't sleep well with noise in the background is that the AC is a mini-split system instead of the through-the-wall units found in many inexpensive properties.  The advantage of the mini-split system is that they are quieter and probably more reliable than wall units.  Although, if they break down you can't just pop a new one in the wall -- they require an HVAC technician to fix them.

I am leaning towards Hotel Angela or Hotel Olas.  Both are really cool properties and appear to be clean and well maintained.  All of the properties offer to help with booking activities.  When I owned my B&B in Key West, all of the boats and dive shops paid an incentive for booking them.  I am not sure if that is the case here, but I know that most guest house owners took a lot of pride in booking the best activities in town and wouldn't let their guests go out on just any boat.  After all, their recommendation reflects back on them and they want every guest to be a return guest.

One of the curious things I found in many lodging web sites throughout Panama  is that they proudly proclaim that they have orthopedic mattresses.  Apparently Panamanians place a high value on a good night's sleep!

A few of the other web sites I used to read up on Bocas del Toro as well are Panama Info,  Extreme Panama and what touts itself as "the official Bocas del Toro web site, bocas.com.  Panama Info covers all of Panama and includes information on hotels, restaurants, activities and has regional descriptions of the country and much more.  Two other websites that include information on Panama but are really geared towards future expats like myself are Escape from America Magazine and The Escape Artist.

Next up will be the information I found on lodging establishments on the Azuero Peninsula including Chitre, Las Tablas and Pedasi.