Devin and I were meeting at 10:00 a.m. at his place, Café Limon, about a five minute drive south of Pedasi. So I used the earlier part of the morning to fill the car with gas and check out some of the area northwest of Pedasi. The first stop I made was at the gas station on the north end of town, but they had no gas; maybe they ran out because of the busy weekend.
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| Playa el Arenal |
As long as I was headed in the right direction, I took the dog-leg right turn off the main highway and drove down to Playa el Arenal. This is a fairly wide stretch of beach where you can hire a boat for the twenty minute ride to Isla Iguana; a small wildlife refuge that is said to have good reefs and two nice sandy beaches. There are dozens of boats on the beach so negotiating a trip shouldn’t be hard. One young man came up to me and offered an opening price of $50.00 round trip to the island. I suspect you could negotiate a lower price. Isla Iguana is home to (you guessed it) the Black Iguana in addition to a large nesting area for Frigate birds. From June through October, Humpback whales migrate through the area.
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| Isla Iguana in the background |
Boats also leave from Playa el Arenal for fishing. This area of the Pacific coast is known for sport fishing. Grouper, amberjack, sailfish, dolphin, tuna and wahoo are all caught in these waters. Kite surfing is also popular during winter and early spring. The sea was very flat when I visited so it would probably be a great beach for swimming or jogging. The boats in the water had ropes at least a hundred feet long and were tethered to spikes, trees or rocks high up on the beach.
I recalled that there was another gas station on the south end of Pedasi and filled the tank there. Most gas stations have an attendant that fills the tank for you; I haven’t seen that in a long time in the States. On the way to Limon I saw the local garbage truck making its rounds. I saw no garbage cans anywhere in the Azuero peninsula. Instead, they have a very practical solution to keeping the garbage away from prowling dogs and chickens – they have metal cages elevated about three to four feet off the ground. These work great since the garbage man can pick the bags out of the cages as they drive by and you don’t have to haul big cans to the curb on garbage day. Another example of the everyday practicality of life in Panama.
I got to Café Limon and Devin’s wife, Mãme, made me an espresso while I waited for Devin to finish giving his violin lesson. Driving from Pedasi, I don’t think I could find Playa el Ulverito again without detailed instructions, but it didn’t take long to get there following Devin. The road in must have been brand new since there was no striping.
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| View from the second floor looking East |
A side observation before getting back to my real estate inspection – like many countries with relatively low wages, labor replaces technology in many cases. As I traveled many areas where new roads or developments were being built, I noticed the use of portable saw mills. Since they were taking out trees here and there, they cut them on site for fence posts, stakes for concrete forming, bracing, etc. Why pay for equipment when you can have it custom made for a specific job?
Anyway, as we drove into the Playa el Ulverito area, we passed Hotel La Luna. Had I stayed in Las Tablas instead of Pedasi, this is one of the hotels I was considering. While I did not stop to take a look, I can say that it is convenient to several restaurants and is just a short walk to the beach. I must also say that had I stayed here, I might never have explored much further because the beach is amazing.
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| As seen from the beach |
Once there, Devin took me down a dirt road to the right that passes between the houses right on the beach and those on the heights, as it were, overlooking the beach. Since most of the houses on the beach tended to be built down the escarpment to the beach, I think most of the properties above would have excellent views of the beach and the mighty Pacific from the second floor. This road is the bumpiest, worst road I traveled on in Panama but it only runs a short distance to connect the beach houses to the main road running through town.
In front of Devin’s house was enough space for two, maybe three parking spaces. The building is two stories and is really nothing more than a shell; the plumbing is run for the kitchen and a full bath has been finished on the first floor, but the electrical lines have not been run and there are no windows. On the one hand, that is a real drawback since it is not ready to occupy but if you like designing and doing the finish work it is a diamond in the rough. The building is about 24 feet wide and roughly 36 feet deep on the ground floor. The covered back porch is about 15 feet deep and would be a good place to put the laundry. I would guess the back yard is about 30 by 30… not big, but large enough to have nice gardens and a barbecue. Public water is already run to the property and there is a private septic field. The construction is concrete block with decorative, vented block in the areas where the windows would go.
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| The caretaker and Devin in front of the house |
There is a nice custom made circular stair case to the second floor, which is a single room about 24 by 16 and a wonderful open verandah that is about 24 by 10 facing the ocean. The roofing is the typical corrugated fiberglass and concrete extrusion. If I were to buy it I would lift the roof a couple of feet and add a second room on the back. The structure is eight years old and there were no signs of cracks in the foundation, so it must have been poured well. Devin has a caretaker who keeps the weeds cut and generally watches over the place. A crew of four, made of a project manager and three skilled laborers, can be had for just $100.00 per day. The cost to renovate would not be that great, but the asking price of $155K is out of my price range. For someone with a little more cash and an interest in finishing the project, this would be a good buy.
After a walk on the beach I said good-bye to Devin and drove the short distance into the main part of town in search of lunch. I chose a simple open-air restaurant across the street from the ocean front park. It wasn’t fancy and had plastic table cloths along with melamine Coca-Cola plates. I ordered a ¼ fried chicken with papas fritas and a beer – the total came to $3.70. Time and again I learned that the out of the way, mom and pop restaurants provided good, stick-to-your-ribs food at amazingly low prices.
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| More beach houses on Playa el Ulverito |
There are several more restaurants up and down the beach. I took a drive going east and found more houses like the ones I passed on the other end of town. There are also a number of open air beach houses that were clearly nothing more than a party spot for the weekend with a large covered area, bathroom and probably a single room for secure storage of beach chairs, a portable grill, etc. Many of these places did not even have electricity running to them.
After checking out the beach area, I drove into Las Tablas with the intention of continuing on to the stretch of resorts and condos between Playa Blanca and Coronado. This was the one night that I did not have a hotel reservation and purposely set aside one day to provide some flexibility in my plans. I got lost again going through Chitre but this time didn’t waste any time before finding a gas station to get directions out of town.
As I drove East on the Pan-American Highway, I kept looking for signs that would get me to this area full of condos and gated developments along the beach. I took a chance and drove down a few random roads, but most of them turned into heavily rutted trails that you couldn’t do more than 5 MPH on. There may have been a few signs but they must have been in Spanish and I did not recognize the turn-offs because while I could see the condos in the distance, I never did get to the beach.
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| Punta Chame beach |
Frustrated, I figured I would just push on to Panama City and spend the following day exploring some of the great historic neighborhoods. About twenty minutes down the road an American-style green and white road sign for Punta Chame appeared. I had read some about Punta Chame and since this was the first sign I had seen that pointed to a familiar name, I made the split-second decision and made a quick right (thank God for good brakes). Unlike the last several roads, this one continued to be good. Fifteen minutes down the road I had passed a few small towns and went through some very pretty countryside made even more beautiful by the light mist that made the trees sparkle in the dimming light. I soon realized that I was on a very skinny peninsula as I saw lagoons and mangrove swamps along both sides of the road.
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| The swim-up pool bar |
As the sun continued to set I began to get nervous that I would reach the end of the road and not find a place to stay and would end up navigating Panama City at night. As I neared the end of the peninsula houses appeared along with well-marked lanes leading off from both sides of the road. There were signs with minimal information that at least appeared to be for hotels and/or restaurants. At the very end I pulled into what turned out to be Hotel Punta Chame Villas. The sun had set and it was now pitch black as I made my way to the lobby to inquire about a room. I was offered a room with breakfast at $108.00. This was much more than I was hoping to pay and was in the process of gently objecting when a young guy with a big grin on his face walked up and apologized that his front desk clerk did not offer the room without breakfast for $55.00. Now we’re talking.
The young guy turned out to be the owner/architect/builder/host/chef, George. More about George later. Punta Chame Villas has just fifteen rooms on three levels and is almost on the point of the peninsula, so it is nearly surrounded by water. George showed me to my room and I congratulated him for developing such a great property. I mentioned my past ownership of a B&B and so he proceeded to show me around the place and talk about his vision. There is a fourth floor that is for his Sky Bar with 360 degree views of the pacific and the mountains to the northwest. The bar has two large terraces that are sometimes used for private parties. From here you can see Panama City in the distance. He pointed out a point of light in PC that turned out to be an enormous jumbotron on the side of PC skyscraper – incredible.
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| Path to the beach with the mountains as a backdrop |
George invited me down to the sitting area outside the lobby for drinks and to meet the other guests. This was when I went from merely impressed to truly amazed by his skills. After freshening up in the room and slapping on some of my new insect repellant oil I picked up at the Pickled Parrot in Bocas, I went down to join the others. As I approached, George seemed to appear from nowhere and introduced me by name and where I was from to each and every guest, also by name and city of origin. I sat down with the six other guests and continued to be amazed as others arrived and George, once again, appeared to make the introductions but this time with a bit of history, our professions or how long we were staying. He conducted the evening as if it were a fine orchestra. We all had a fabulous time and who would not want to go back to a place where you really enjoyed yourself?
I alternated time speaking with a divorcee from Toronto (who is staying the week with her sisters from Vancouver, but lives in nearby Anton); a local fisherman; a retired navy chief petty officer from Houston who lives up the road; and another gentleman who lives nearby and is originally from Detroit. Other guests staying at the Villas arrived and were introduced in turn. As the evening went on there were a dozen of us chatting away. One of the two sisters was saying she had heard about the local fishing and would love to have a special dinner the next night for the group she was with. The fisherman whipped out his cell phone and called a buddy out on the water and laid claim to the best grouper of the night, which George then bought to serve to his guests.
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| The Sky Bar |
I was having a great time and before I knew it, it was 9:00 and I hadn’t had dinner yet. Mike, the guy originally from Houston, and I went to the restaurant to have dinner. I had the grilled snapper and a very nice glass of merlot. Mike said that he began his retirement in Panama living in a condo in PC. He saw that the real estate market was taking off so he bought five more condos in his building and was netting nearly $1000 per month on each before selling them in 2009 for a tidy profit. Once he discovered Punta Chame he said it was a no-brainer to move here. I learned from Mike that the road was just paved a couple of years ago and cut the time driving from the main highway down from 90 minutes to 30. There is also a 24-hour clinic in the village. He said he rarely locks his doors because theft is almost unheard of and has no bars on his windows like you see in much of Panama. Mike loves his neighbors because they are friendly and dependable, yet not intrusive so he can live his life pretty much as he wants. He also commented that he uses his AC infrequently because the natural cross breezes on the peninsula keep the temperature down.
All in all, it was another great evening in Panama and totally impromptu. I wandered around the property for a few minutes after dinner and said good night to the other guests before calling it a night. It felt like home.
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