ABOUT BOQUETE
AMERICANS DISCOVER BOQUETE, PANAMA
Natural beauty, climate, easygoing lifestyle are draws
12:00 AM CST on Sunday, March 9, 2008 From Wire Reports
BOQUETE, Panama – It's a Friday afternoon, and the main street resembles Anytown, U.S.A. There is a mom-and-pop coffee shop with round tables, prepared sandwiches and a dessert case. Nearby is a tiny video store, with posters advertising Misión Imposible Tres and La Guerra de Los Mundos (War of the Worlds). And down the block is a small deli that serves cheeseburgers with rice and beans.
At midday, when the air is warm but crisp, a casual pace falls over the town. Tourists mingle with old-timers and make fishing and hiking plans for the next morning.
What feels at times like a newly minted resort town in New England or perhaps Southern California is actually the latest stop on Panama's growing tourist route. Tucked into the highlands near the Baru volcano in the western Chiriqui region of Panama, Boquete is emerging as one of Central America's latest eco-tourism destinations.
Surrounded by green mountains topped by misty, craggy peaks, Boquete offers outdoor adventures such as hiking, climbing, bird-watching and white-water rafting. And, thanks to a 3,000-foot elevation, the area's microclimate deducts 10 degrees from the incessant lowland heat.
Wispy clouds meander overhead in the morning but release their grip by midday. It's warm in the daytime, bracing at night, and perfect for growing bananas, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, strawberries and coffee – Chiriqui's main crops.
But, unlike most eco-tourist hot spots, Boquete draws people not just to its natural beauty but also to its snowbird enclave. In the past two decades, a thriving community of North American baby boomers has built homes in and around town.
Attracted first by the Napa Valley-like weather and low cost of living, and then by lax real estate laws – not to mention potable tap water – several thousand foreign families own houses in Boquete, according to Tom Byrne, a 39-year-old developer who moved there from Ireland.
And while Boquete's real estate market once was dominated by porch-swinging retirees, the latest wave of arrivals tends to be younger couples in their 40s and 50s. Many are opening restaurants, touring companies, bed-and-breakfasts and spas geared for tourists.
While tourism is still light, at least when compared with neighboring Costa Rica, that is changing. At Amigos Restaurant (Central Park Plaza), opened in the center of town by two Canadians, a few older gringos were sipping beer on a Friday night. But the majority of customers were young tourists filling up on burgers and fries.
Boquete "is like Costa Rica 15 years ago," Mr. Byrne says.
The comparison is apt but not entirely accurate. Like the popular mountain towns Monteverde and La Fortuna in Costa Rica, Boquete is capitalizing on its forests, rivers and wildlife.
But development in Panama is following a more upscale track. Tourists arrive in rented SUVs from David, Panama's fourth-largest city, and stay in high-end hotels hidden off the main road and perched in the hills.
One popular with honeymooners is Panamonte Inn and Spa (011-507-720-1324; www .panamonteinnandspa.com), which offers candlelit dinners and spa wraps and massages, with garden cabins starting at $126 a night.
Another upscale hotel, La Montaña y el Valle Coffee Estate Inn (011-507-720-2211; www.cof feeestateinn.com), opened by Canadian expatriates, has three secluded bungalows set among coffee trees and exotic flower gardens for $130 a night.
Morning is when Boquete springs to life. Most days, a steady stream of rafts can be spotted bobbing down the Chiriqui Viejo, Gariche and Dolega rivers.
One of the region's oldest outfits, Chiriqui River Rafting (011-507-720-1505; www.panama- rafting.com) runs daily trips, from beginners' to Class IV rapids, starting at $60.
For those who want to remain dry, Coffee Adventures (011-507-720-3852; www.coffeeadven tures.net) offers tours of the Kotowa coffee plantation, which claims Panama's oldest coffee mill, for $22.50.
Visitors hike through rows of coffee trees, meet the pickers and sample fresh brew in the mill's cupping room.
Panama also offers magnificent bird-watching. The forests in and around Boquete are home to a dazzling array of quetzals, toucans and parrots.
But for adventure-seekers, there's only one way to appreciate Boquete's natural beauty: "tree trekking" or zip-lining.
Boquete Tree Trek (011-507-720-1635; www.aventurist.com) offers half-day trips for $60. After a bumpy uphill ride in the back of a pickup, tourists are strapped into harnesses and sent on free-falls through the dense jungle canopy.
Jeff Koyen,
New York Times News Service
Fortune magazine's 2005 Retirement Guide
Fortune magazine's 2005 Retirement Guide selects Boquete as one of the 5 best places in the world to retire. Boquete used to be a "best kept secret." All that changed in 2001 when Modern Maturity magazine of the American Association for Retired Persons chose Boquete as one of the 4 top places in the world to retire, a rating based on safety,beauty, climate and cost-of-living. A scenic mountain town in highlands of West Panama, Boquete is also a world class tourist destination--a flower-filled valley village with gourmet coffee farms on its slopes, spectacular mountain views, nature-rich flor and fauna and springlike weather year round.
HOW TO GET THERE: By air, car or bus. You can fly Air Panama or Aeroperlas from Albrook Airport to the nearby city of David. Airfares are around $150 round trip. From David, you rent a car or take a 45 minute taxi ride to Boquete. It also is an easy 7 hour car trip from Panama City or you can take a bus ($15) from the Albrook Bus Terminal in Panama City.
ABOUT CHIRIQUI PROVINCE
Panama Developers Blog
April 7, 2008
New construction in David is at an all-time high, and the local government will do all it can to ensure that it continues, said Ínes María Samudio, municipal engineer of the Chiriquí province.
Already this year, $27 million has been invested in new projects, she added. One of those is a 40-story apartment building that its Panamanian investors hope will be approved for construction in front of the Plaza Terronal shopping mall, on the Inter-American Highway.
"The plan is currently being evaluated and has not yet been offered up for public discussion," said Samudio, adding that once it is approved by the public, the area will then undergo analysis by the Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Nacionales, a process that is likely to take several months.
The $25 million apartment complex project would necessitate a change of zoning for the land in question, as there has never been such a tall building in David.
Meanwhile in David´s city center, two 5-star hotels have been proposed. The first involves the old Hotel Panamá Rey, which has been sold for $1.5 million to an American investor, who plans to transform it into a modern resort for an estimated $800k.
David´s mayor Francisco Vigil said that all of the projects pending approval will be obligated to provide ample parking.
CHIRIQUI SHOWS GROWTH - La Prensa Newspaper
12 March 2008
Panama's real estate boom is not confined to Panama City, according to statistics from the Contraloría General de la República.
The agency said that David and Chiriquí province has also experienced a high level of growth in the past few years, which has meant more jobs. The area's unemployment rate fell from 8.5 percent to 6.1 percent over the past year.
Tourism seems to be one of the main reasons the area is growing. More people are arriving by plane and car, according to immigration statistics at the border town of Paso Canoa and at the Aeropuerto Internacional de David, Enrique Malek. Border crossings are up 17 percent from a year ago, while airport traffic has increased 38 percent.
Several residential projects are either planned or underway, including Palo Alto Mountain Club Boquete and Las Nubes in Cerro Punta. Also planned are new malls, hotels and restaurants.
"The real estate industry is the economic activity that is bringing more jobs to this province," an official in the Contraloría General de la República's office said.
The area's population has increase slightly in the last 18 months, from 154,000 to 159,000.
Business owners say that they believe the area is going to continue to grow.
The government is planning to expand the airport with a $720,000 renovation which will mean that the facility will be able to accomodate more airlines and daily flights.
ABOUT CHIRIQUI
Chiriqui, the westernmost province of Panama's Pacific coast, is blessed with Panama's most varied landscapes, ranging from stunning beaches to steep mountains. Cattle ranches, orchid gardens, tropical forests famous with bird watchers, and coastal islands are all icons of this unique region. The beauty and diversity of this area rival anything in neighboring Costa Rica.
David, third city of the republic, is the provincial capital of Chiriqui and the regional business and transportation center. Hotels and tourism installations can be found in the cooler climate of Boquete and Volcan. Boquete is the nation's prime supplier for florists. Cool mountain streams flow down from the semi-extinct Baru Volcano (11,450 feet) through Boquete, Cerro Punta, and Volcan. In addition to fantastic trout fishing, horseback riding, whitewater rafting and hiking, underground hot springs can also be found in the area of Boquete.
Las Lajas, about an hour's drive from David, is the best known of Chiriqui's beaches. The valleys of Boquete are home to Panama's coffee growing industry. Chiriqui is also cattle country and the nation's prime thoroughbred raising area. The Guaymi Indians call Chiriqui's central mountain chain their home.
For all these reasons, the area of Chiriqui has become a popular retirement destination for foreigners and Panamanians alike.
David, a city located in western Panama is the third largest city in Panama and capital of the Chiriquí Province. David is located on the David River and land south of a volcanic mountain range. The city was founded in the 1730s as a gold-prospecting camp and is currently home to more than a hundred thousand inhabitants.
Today, David is a trade center along the Inter-American Highway. Crops located in this area include: sugar, bananas, rice, coffee, cacao, and timber. Some of the local industries include: cattle raising, ceramics, furniture, shoe, clothing, and soap making, and sugar refining.
David is the perfect stopping point for travel within the Chiriqui province to locations such as Boquete, Cerro Punta and Bocas del Toro. It is only 45 minutes from the border of Costa Rica.
Local Newspaper: The Bajareque Times http://www.boquete-bajareque-times.com/
