{"id":257,"date":"2014-03-11T12:26:38","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T16:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/?p=257"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:16:18","slug":"off-to-the-highlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/2014\/03\/11\/off-to-the-highlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Off to the Highlands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The next phase of our trip took us to the western regions of Panama, where we are looking for a place to escape the Pennsylvania winters. Actually, we haven’t totally settled on Panama as our destination country, but it has eclipsed Costa Rica in our calculations, and we haven’t yet ventured to Nicaragua or Ecuador, two other prospective countries we’d like to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After returning from the Pearl Islands on a morning flight to Panama City, we had several hours to kill before boarding another plane for David, the major city of western Panama. Not wanting to sit around the domestic airport all day, we phoned our taxi driver pal and had him pick us up for a tour of a couple places we’d been meaning to see, the Reposa Gold and Silver factory and the Panama Canal Museum.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/a>
A worker shows off a gold-plated reproduction of a pre-Columbian artifact, fresh from the plating tanks at the Reposa Gold and Silver Factory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"reposa4\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We had read about the metal-casting place in our Lonely Planet guide, and decided it might be worth visiting. Essentially, it is an investment-casting company that casts jewelry and reproductions of early Panamanian artifacts in precious metals. I was familiar with the lost wax process \u2013 creating the rubber mold from the original, casting the wax model, making the plaster mold, melting out the wax, casting the base metal, blasting it clean and then plating it with gold \u2013 but, for anyone who isn’t, a tour through the Reposa factory is a pleasant introduction. They showed us a ten minute video and then led us around a mezzanine overlooking their factory floor, where each step of the process is clearly seen. After the tour, we made an obligatory visit to their gift shop, where I found a nice little anniversary present for Candy and a new Panama hat for myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, we headed back across town to the Miraflores Locks, where the Canal Museum is located. The museum is tiny, but full of artifacts and historical photos of the Herculean efforts that went into the construction of the Canal. Now, a hundred years after its completion, Panama is rushing to finish up a new set of locks that will enable super-tankers and other larger ships to pass. They’re hoping to begin operations in early 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our flight to David was short and pleasant, aboard a German-made Fokker jet that may have been the quietest plane I’ve ever ridden. Since we were arriving in the evening, we decided to stay the night at one of the only two respectable hotels in David, the Gran Nacional, a large, sprawling hotel that was probably resplendent about 50 years ago, but today it struggles to be a shadow of its former self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, we haggled a rental-car deal at the airport and set out on the first leg of our drive-about, up to the Reserva Forestal Fortuna, a national forest about an hour north of David. We had booked a room at a tiny, two-room B&B located along the road right in the preserve. Our intention was to stay there for two nights en route to Bocas del Toro, the archipelago at the northwest corner of Panama near the Costa Rican border.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"El<\/a>
El Refugio, a tiny B&B at the top of the road to Bocas del Toro, was our home for two nights. The views and the food were superb.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The B&B is hosted by a lovely couple, Stefan and Olga, who had operated a restaurant in Bocas for many years before heading up to the mountains. Stefan is French-Canadian and his wife was born in Cuba and raised in Paris and elsewhere. They have created a truly memorable refuge here on the mountainside, with amazing views, eclectic accommodations and some of the best cooking we’ve ever had. Olga’s recipes and presentation were awesome.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Stefan<\/a>
Stefan and Olga, our hosts at El Refugio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"This<\/a>
This great little two-room hostel is one of the undiscovered treasures of the Panamanian cordillera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"This<\/a>
This dining table consists of a large piece of plate glass supported by a forest of tree branches.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"El<\/a>
El Refugio’s commons at night. Stone and cement are the ubiquitous building materials of Panama.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"The<\/a>
The inside of El Refugio during the day. The decorative floor painting was done by the hosts’ daughters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For reasons unknown and unexpected, I managed to suffer a back spasm on our first evening at the Refugio and spent the rest of our stay crooked and aching. There was no way I could endure a trip to Bocas in this condition, so we changed our plans and decided to head for Boquete instead. I found a chiropractor, Dr. David Ahrend, along the way, in the dry, sleepy town of Caldera and was treated to an excruciating but successful couple of massages that had me nearly back to normal in two days, thank heavens. For a while there, we thought we might have to cancel the rest of our trip.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"David<\/a>
David Ahrend, the chiropractor in Caldera, is an American ex-pat, who lives in this tiny house and makes his weekly rounds to offices in Boquete and David. He was a life saver for me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Dr.<\/a>
Dr. Ahrends uses gravity to help straighten out this suffering wayfarer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Here's<\/a>
Here’s a chiropractor with a sense of humor. He could scare the hurt out of you with his collection of native masks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"The<\/a>
The cashew fruit is photogenic and unique, not to mention nutritious.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"The<\/a>
The cashew fruit is juicy and sweet. The nut, which grows in a pod at the end of the fruit, must be roasted to be edible. David Ahrend was amused to see Candy deal with the profuse amount of juice in this fruit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The stop in Caldera proved to be eventful in other ways, too. We couldn’t find a hotel room in Boquete, half an hour up the road, so we wandered into a little guest-cabin spot along a picturesque river in Caldera. The proprietor, Frank Stegmeier, who was originally from Allentown, PA (believe it or not), didn’t have any vacancies in his three gorgeous little casitas, but he invited us in for a juice drink and some conversation about buying property in Panama. As it turned out, Frank just happened to have a couple 12-acre lots adjacent to his property that he’d love to sell us, for about a tenth of the going price of land in Boquete.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Frank<\/a>
Frank Stegmeier’s compound along the river in Caldera is a self-contained paradise he has built and landscaped over the past 25 years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Frank's<\/a>
Frank’s latest project is this onion-shaped treehouse he’s building along the river. He already has over $50,000 invested in just the steel superstructure. I hope I have as much energy as he does when I get to be 74.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

While we were chatting, a neighbor, Chris McCall, stopped by to borrow a chainsaw. When he heard that we didn’t have a place to stay, he offered to put us up at his place. Why not, says we. We weren’t disappointed. Chris is a displaced retiree from Colorado who is in the throes of a divorce from his wealthy wife. He lives in a hilltop house that he built himself, a wonderful three-bedroom home with a wrap-around veranda overlooking the surrounding grazing land and the cordillera beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Chris<\/a>
Chris McCall kindly opened his home to us for as long as we wanted to stay. He has a stained-glass studio and a collection of woodworking machinery in his very comfortable home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Chris<\/a>
Chris McCall tends to his small herd of cattle. He also has chicken and two dogs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"These<\/a>
These cows must have been pretty bored to be interested in the dog’s tennis ball.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Chris<\/a>
Chris McCall’s house is spacious and nicely furnished. We enjoyeed several days here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"The<\/a>
The view from Chris McCall’s porch looking north toward the cordillera. Boquote is about 15 miles northwest of here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We stayed for four nights with Chris, and spent our days driving up to Boquete and looking at real estate. One day, though, we ventured up to an amazing waterfall in the middle of nowhere and spent the afternoon swimming and picnicking with Chris and two of his friends. The water was cool and crystal clear, cascading about 50 feet into a large, deep pool and then spilling over into another shallower pool. It was an unforgettable place.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"waterfall4\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"A<\/a>
A prehistoric creature surfaces under the rushing waterfall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Boquete is internationally known as an ex-pat community halfway up Volcan Baru, an extinct volcano on the cordillera near the Costa Rican border. There are a few reasons why this area appeals to us, not least of which is the climate. Panama is only 8\u00ba north of the Equator, so low-lying areas are extremely hot. Boquete is at 3,500 ft. above sea level, where temperatures year-round average around 65\u00ba at night and 85\u00ba-90\u00ba during the day. There are micro-climates in this region as well, with the lower elevations, such as Caldera, being hotter and much drier, and the higher elevations cooler and almost perennially misty. Boquete is backed up against the Amistad International Park, a huge national wilderness area on the Caribbean side of the cordillera that encompasses a biome called \u201ccloud forest,\u201d where the rain and mist create an otherworldly jungle environment, unbroken by roads, and where the only human inhabitants are aboriginals living the way they have for centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Here<\/a>
Here is a development along the road to Caldera from the main Boquete-David highway. It is being developed by a Dutch gentleman and his British wife. They’ve built walls around the individual lots, using the local volcanic rocks that litter the ground in this area of the country.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Boquete<\/a>
Boquete is nestled in a little river valley, surrounded by mountains on three sides, including the 12,000-ft. Volcan Baru on the west.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If the climate is ideal here, the real-estate prospecting is less propitious. The area has been in the throes of big-time development for a couple decades now, and the bargains are all gone. We drove all around the area, up and down the steep roads surrounding the town, and visited several homes and building lots with realtors, without finding anything that particularly resonated with us, and the prices for properties were astonishingly high. The rich seem to have inherited the earth, at least here in Panama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Realizing that this area was already too far gone for us, we decided to scale back our search and look at other regions in Panama. But, it is becoming clearer all the time that big Panamanian and international money has already locked up most if not all of the desirable real-estate in Panama, including vast undeveloped areas on the Caribbean coast. Small players like us can still find reasonable investments, but the premium places are likely to be beyond our reach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The next phase of our trip took us to the western regions of Panama, where we are looking for a place to escape the Pennsylvania winters. Actually, we haven’t totally settled on Panama as our destination country, but it has eclipsed Costa Rica in our calculations, and we haven’t yet ventured to Nicaragua or Ecuador, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-panama-2014"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}