TheExpatJournals.com

Well, back into the land of the technologically blessed (?) after a month of roaming to cooler climes where you can find Panama as it used to be and where the horses far outnumber the cars. I did keep a bit of a journal and since I’m a little ‘burned out’ as a result of driving all the way back from Boquete on Thursday followed by a trip to Portobelo and back on Friday (and a BBQ coming up today followed by a trip to Sierra Llorona tomorrow and Portobelo on Monday), thought I’d just copy you guys on bits of my Santa Fe journal:

Santa Fe is most definitely NOT for everyone. It is definitely a Panamanian pueblo and not the settlement for foreigners that Boquete has become. In Boquete, you can go weeks without speaking Spanish. In Santa Fe, you will be hard pressed to find anyone who can speak English, however, all the children hope you give them English lessons…which I did.

The carretera from Santiago to Santa Fe is great, but once you get there, if you plan on exploring anywhere except town, you will need a 4 x 4 and the higher the clearance the better. Only a couple of the roads in town are paved and even those are only paved for a short distance.everything else is dirt or gravel which means a LOT of mud in the rainy season. And in the tropics, driving up steep hills in mud is like driving up steep hills in snow. In fact, locals even use chains on their tires for the mud!

Homes are simple and people are incredibly friendly and trusting. Local produce is fantastic and includes an abundance of coffee (perhaps now my favorite in Panama), oranges, manderines, etc. Craftsmen seem plentiful for furniture, gardens, and home repairs or work. Local shopping is pretty slim pickings, but fortunately, like the early days of Boquete, you can drive 45 minutes downhill and find most of what you need in Santiago. Unlike David, Santiago does not have daily flights in and out of its airport, however, the distance is half that to Panama City than David. Santa Fe is roughly three hours from the Decameron in Farallon.

I have always said that Santa Fe is what Panama used to be. I think it’s true. People are poor, but happy. Prices are less than anwhere else I’ve found in Panama. The most expensive and complicated chacara you can find at the artisan coop/produce market is around $5…$40 and up for a similar find at an artesan market in Panama City. Fresh maracuya costs .25 a pound. .90 a pound in Panama City or David. Guanabana is .45 cents a pound compared to $1 and up in Santiago.

Though there aren’t many houses to rent here and what is available are Panamanian houses, I doubt anything is available for more than $100 per month. Yes, there’s electricity usually reaching further out into the surrounding areas than your car can even reach, but with the evening temperatures, air conditioning is irrelevant. Yes there are telephones, but as of this writing, no cell signal. Movistar is in the last stages of a tower, so by the new year, there will be a cell signal and since Movistar provides internet, I’m assuming that will also be available as it definitely does not exist at the moment.

Santa Fe proper is at a lower altitude than Boquete, so it is a bit warmer. There are some instances of bajareque in Santa Fe, but it’s not the constant that exists in Boquete. Unlike Boquete, Santa Fe never did have the large coffee plantations that equaled a lot of the wealthy Panamanians owning land here and therefore, no real shops `downtown’. You would be hard pressed to even recognize the equivalent of a town in Santa Fe, except that the church is in the center. There are two cooperativos, mini supers aka small grocery stores, and one bodega (also called a Chino here and the equivalent to a convenience mart to us gringos). There are 3 small restaurants, two hostals and one hotel. A meal at the popular, erhem..Restaurante Popular..will consist of minimal salad, rice or potato, and the most delicious local smoked chicken I think I’ve ever had along with a soda or chica (fresh juice) for $1.50. Two doors down is another restaurant where you can buy fresh smoked pork for $4.00 a pound. Eggs are always fresh though I must admit, one of the most annoying things about Santa Fe is the chorus of the abundant rooster population.

Everyone has chickens and cock fights are still a big local pastime. You enter Santa Fe proper after what is known as the noisy bridge over the Rio Santa Maria. Just before that bridge on the right is a road that leads to difficult areas to get to, but no more than 25 yards away from the carretera is a stadium built just for cock fights. Now, I thought roosters crowed to announce the morning, but not here. There doesn’t seem to be a designated time, rather frequently, throughout the day and night, one rooster crows and suddenly, all the others spread far and wide respond like a domino effect.

So far, it seems quite a few Americans have purchased property in Santa Fe, but only one couple have actually moved there. They bought a beautiful small cane (pronounced canya.I don’t have a tilde) blanca house in town that even came with furniture and has a small swimming pool out back. The lot is tiny with stunning mountain views. The price with complete renovation was still under $35K. They are both slim, adventurous retirees. Both are in great shape and don’t mind hiking or trekking mountains for a whole day or more. Recently, the wife made the trip to the Caribbean Coast, which is only 55 kilometers as the crow flies, but add tropical mountains, rivers and rainforests and it turns into a National Geographic special to get there.

First, you have a 4 x 4 take you two hours to a town called Guabal. From there, only the roughest 4x 4’s opt to continue and then only with the frequent aid of wenches. Without such a vehicle, the option is trekking by horse and bringing packed mules (ONLY with a guide) for the next 10 miles. At Rio Luis, you can stay in a private house on what I hear was a surprisingly comfortable bed with surprisingly good food. From there, you catch a cayuco the last length of the journey down to the coast. It’s two days travel if you are not leisurely about it. Much walking is involved due to the mud on the trail which, I heard (backed up by photos), at times was up to the horse’s belly. Even the cayuco trip involved shallow parts of the river where there were more boulders than water so porting the canoe was frequently involved. Having said all that, the fact that the road is due to be completed between Santa Fe and the coast seems to be the very basis for much of the foreign investment in the area. Imagine a beautiful mountain town with incredible views, sweet pueblo living and the Caribbean Sea less than two hours away through the gorgeous Ngobe Bogle Comarca?

I met an older Panamanian gentleman, the total character in these parts, donning his wide brimmed black hat and with his glasses case seemingly permanently in his front shirt pocket proudly displaying a small photo of Omar Torrijos and his `badge’ for being the judge in this area. He was the first non-indigenous person to set foot in the closest coastal town in 1973. It is said that Omar Torrijos publically acknowledged his envy of this fete. To get there involved much of the same journey as it still does…serious 4×4 part of the way, mules and horses for the next part of the journey and then cayuco. He still has an old truck he used to use to get to Santiago back in the day it took 3 days to get from Santa Fe to Santiago.

When I met him, one of the first questions he asked me was whether or not I was married. I said, “not any more” which made everyone laugh heartily. I told him that now, I had regressed to a child of fifteen again. He replied, “Me, too!” He is 79. The last time he made the grueling trek to the coast, he was 74.

While I was in Santa Fe this time, the rivers crested at an unprecedented high.it’s rushing currents capturing 5 bridges across two rivers, 3 houses, and a dozen cows. I was told yesterday of a woman who was grabbed by the river, but rescued and survived with only a broken leg. Anyone caught in the force of what I witnessed would be in serious trouble since beneath that raging, swollen brown water is a bed of rocks, some of which would dwarf most 4 x 4’s.

I once read a travel account of Korea where the writer said, “100 miles out of the city was like stepping back in time 100 years.” The writer wouldn’t have needed to travel more than maybe 15 kilometers out of Santiago before making the same comment. People here are poor, but happy. Most eke out a living from what they can grow and most on under $80 a month for an entire family. You will often here in regards to a finca, “It’s not a long walk, only 2 hours.” It is astounding to watch these locals hoofing it up a mountain road with furniture, or heavy bags of supplies strapped to their backs, children at their sides. And their pace doesn’t slow down due to the steep grade. They can walk up grades packed like mules where I lean way forward while driving, instinctively, as though doing so is the tiny extra bit of weight that will prevent the car from tipping backwards.

Here, walking is the most common form of transportation. For many of those living out of town, there is only one chiva per day and since that .25 cent fare would dip heavily into their budget, most walk. Those who can, ride horses. And make no mistake, you will find far more horses here than cars. And while people are poor, there is a pride in `these here parts’ that doesn’t equal trashy or unclean. People seem to take great pride in their land, their homes and their children. You might see a little girl in a beautiful plaid, Sunday best dress with a name perfectly embroidered in the shining white sailor collar above the ribbon that ties in back…and it’s not the child’s name. Yards are more often than not crops, especially orange groves or coffee fields or yucca. Everything grows here thanks, no doubt, to the ash cast from La Yequade when it last erupted and thanks to the moist breezes that rush from the Atlantic and are filtered by the virgin jungle before being cooled as they cross the mountain range that is the spine of Panama. I love watching the clouds as they race
across the sky with the mountains surrounding Santa Fe in the backdrop.

Surprisingly, not a lot of Sante Fe proper is actually at a very high altitude, which means the days are quite warm, but like any mountain town, the nights are blissfully air conditioned by nature. Most seem to appreciate this because it means it’s a great temperature for swimming or tubing a river and other water sports that would equal freezing in most parts of Chiriqui. At the end of such a day, you will probably still need a blanket or a comforter at night. Which means the mornings are an amazing temperature - absolutely perfect!

Santa Fe’s is like a hilly valley nestled in a bowl of mountains, one of which is quite the Panama landmark, Cerro Tute. It was here the famous indigenous warrior, Urraca (look at any centavo to see his image) fought the Spanish and launched his own legend. The view of the sunset is over Cerro Tute when you’re in Santa Fe. The sun rises near a peak called Zappo because it is said to resemble a frog.

Activities here include hiking to any number of waterfalls, horseback riding along trails for stunning vistas, tubing down the
Santa Maria, and for flower aficionados, each August there is an orchid fair at the fairgrounds and I would venture to say, it might well rival the famous orchid fair in Boquete. Unlike Boquete, Santa Fe is surrounded by land that will never be developed due to the National Park and the Comarca of the Ngobe Bogle. That might cause real estate developers to head in another direction, but nature lovers can feel safe there will always be plenty to explore.

One thing that has become abundantly clear to me as a direct result of spending time in Santa Fe is that mud, lodo in Spanish, is the exact same thing as snow or ice in the tropics. It wreaks the same kind of havoc, causes road to be impassable and your car will slip and slide around just the same even if you have a 4 x 4. I’ve been here a week this time and due to the record flooding that happened a few days ago, I’m yet to be able to climb the hills surrounding Santa Fe in my car. I’ve seen the incredible damage the flooding did to property. I’ve seen where the river crested 75-100 feet and where it took out tall trees; where it destroyed bridges and houses and moved boulders men could only break up in order to move.

Rumor has it the government says it cannot do anything about the roads because the bridge as you enter Santa Fe could not hold the weight of the trucks loaded with the necessary material. Rumor also has it that bridge was built in 1979 as a temporary solution, so I suppose that the people are still waiting for the permanent one.

All this aside, what it has forced me to do is either hike or stick to the accessible areas. All in all, I’m quite glad I got to come here when it was at its worst to know what to avoid if I were to purchase property here. One man who wants to sell his finca showed me the damage and told me the river took 11 head of cattle. As always in a small town, two days later that figure grew to 20 in the telling. The man swore this was the first time in his life the river had risen on his side. He told me before, with the flooding, it always headed to the other side. I believed him for two reasons: 1. The other side had quite the collection of river rocks and one can only assume the river deposited them there. 2. More importantly, he had built several buildings near the river, most of which now lay in one stage or another of destruction. And I cannot imagine a Panamanian building where one would need to continue rebuilding frequently. They are far more practical than that.

Still, I sit in the morning in the absolutely perfectly cool climate listening to the sounds of doves cooing, the chit-chit-chit of
hummingbirds having breakfast and unfortunately, as of this writing, the sound of a terrible 2 year old trying to make the life of a 13 month old as miserable as possible.and succeeding beautifully if crying is any indication.

There are ducks here that you would swear were pigs squealing. And always the grackles. I have no real idea of the many types of birds here. I do know that above Santa Fe, I’ve seen toucans. Must check further to know what birds exist. Something quite vocal I’ve never heard before even drowns out the children at the moment. Are all two year old boys this mean and nasty…I mean do they all seem evil? I can no longer remember my own experience with my son at that age, but
then again, we do tend to block out traumatic events, huh?

At night, wow! It is perfect here. You either watch the clouds racing across the sky or when the sky is clear, both my favorite stars are front and center for the viewing. These two are best viewed without light pollution, which as you know, is possible here in Panama. From what I gathered after my first sighting, they aren’t just stars, they are actually two stars revolving around each other at such a distance they appear as one. But what a one! I do not tire of watching these two stars seemingly rotate like a disco globe changing from red to green to blue to platinum white or yellow with each twinkle. It’s a beautiful sight in a dark mountain sky especially when the moon is full enough to cast light on the outline of the mountains.

And what you hear at night is also different. There’s what sounds like a small owl who visits each night. And even at a distance of almost a mile from where I’m staying, when the wind isn’t blowing through the trees replicating the sound of ocean waves, you can actually hear the roar of the Santa Maria River.

Like everywhere else in Panama, the dog situation here is very sad. Why campesinos want all these dogs they can’t afford to take care of is beyond me. I listen to one puppy nearby cry for hours each day. When I don’t hear him this morning, it makes me wonder if they killed him or he died. At night, I hear some dog just howl all by him or herself for quite some time. It almost seems a sad song of yearning, rather than some cry of pain, ancient genetics forcing the clichéd howling at the moon.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to talk about the prices around here. Like anywhere else in Panama, you’ve already missed the curve and had it ruined by gringos before you. What used to be .10 cents a meter is now $5.00 a meter. What used to be .75 cents a meter is now $10.00 a meter. And, with the exception of an area of incredible views above Santa Fe and along the road that will eventually lead all the way to the Atlantic where prices have been high for some time due to foreign speculation, the best prices are always outside of town which means seasonal access without specially customized 4 x 4’s…think arena big wheel battles and you’ll be in the ballpark. An area might even have electricity and telephone, but count on the fact that you will have long stretches each rainy season where `you can’t get there from here’ comes to mind. At least not by car. However, few have cars and I could easily say that there are far more horses here than cars. Most people, however, will still provide distances from Point A to Point B on foot as walking is by far the most primary form of transportation here. And if they say 15 minutes en pie, well, that’s 15 minutes for people who are accustomed to climbing steep hills dodging mud and ruts along the way as a normal part of their daily routine. So, it doesn’t necessarily equal 15 minutes for couch potatoes.

I’m looking for fincas and after about 3 days in town, everyone knows I’m looking. So crappy little houses on small town lots that might cost a local $9,000 suddenly is $30,000 for me. Land that was $1000 a hectare is now $30,000 a hectare. They, too, have heard about Boquete and think we’re all able to afford whatever they ask. This is the norm throughout Panama anymore, no matter how rural you go. It’s the new colonialism and who can blame them?

I mean, to put it in another way, let’s say you have a house in North Carolina on an acre. You paid $75,000 in 1992 and now, someone comes along and offers you 3 million. You think you’re gonna turn it down? You think your neighbors don’t hope for the same type of offers on their properties? Well, relatively speaking, it’s an accurate analogy for what’s going on here without even using such a high number for drama’s sake.

Bear in mind, there are a number of lawyers on payrolls in Panama city earning $1500 per month. $2000 per month is an executive salary and $200-$300 per month is far more the norm than not. Earning $300 per month, if you didn’t have to pay a single bill and never spent a single dime nor paid any taxes, it would still take you 25 years to save $100,000. And most people do have to pay bills, pay taxes, buy food, use transportation, see doctors and dentists, etc. Earning minimum wage in the US ($5.25 per hour), if you never spent a dime of what you earned, it would take you just under 10 years to save $100,000. If you begin to catch my drift about why they think all gringos are rich and see us wanting their land as the closest they’ll get to a once-in-a-lifetime score.

I actually had a man tell me yesterday that this other man wanted $60 mt2 for his 6 hectare finca. “Seisenta cada metro!” I
exclaimed, “Esta loco?” And then walked away. Nowhere is gringo pricing more prevelant than among campesinos these days. You do NOT want to negotiate with them yourselves. You don’t even want them to know a gringo is interested in buying, because the price will at least double. There’s an excitement in the air that goes by another name: GREED!

Post note: Stay at LaQhia B&B. Stephanie is a great cook and it is the nicest place to stay. Be sure to request her homemade pizza.