Panama Living Newsletter

Catch the wave in Panama

Continental Airlines inflight magazine is carrying this article about Real Estate in Latin America. There is a nice feature on Panama.

Excerpt;
“Both the ex-pats and the Costa Ricans themselves who live near the border were saying you should be looking in Panama,” he recalls. The reason: Costa Rica had been so successful at making its beachfront real estate appealing to North Americans that bargains were becoming harder and harder to find. Panama, on the other hand, has many of the same attractions as Costa Rica — including mortgage financing, title insurance, and an easy process for buying a second home — but at much lower prices.

Go here for the complete story.

Now you can bet on turtle races

Here is a facinating science story of tracking Leatherback turtles and watching their progress on the internet. You can even bet which one will win!

From NSNBC

MSNBC staff and news service reports

Updated: 10:55 a.m. ET April 10, 2007

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Eleven leatherback turtles are swimming across the Pacific Ocean to the Galapagos Islands in a "race" that will be tracked online to draw attention to the plight of the critically endangered creatures, which have inhabited the oceans for 100 million years.

Colliers Int'l Pushing 167 Acres on Panama Canal

Globe St.com
PANAMA-One of the world’s greatest engineering feats is now yielding a humongous commercial real estate opportunity. The 167-acre Isla Margarita is considered the last remaining developable waterfront parcel on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, according to officials at Colliers Multimodal Services Group, which has been retained as brokers for the property.

Port and terminal operators and similar firms involved in maritime industries are among those expected to pursue the one-time US naval installation, says John Carver of Colliers, executive director for the multimodal services division. “Furthermore,” he adds, “the Isla Margarita has more than 2,000 meters of pristine coastline offering the potential for other forms of development, such as beachfront hotel, restaurants, retail or entertainment.”

Banana train of Almirante

Last Year John Goldrick of Ledbury, England visited Panama and rode the Banana train in Almirante near Bocas del Toro. John  heard that the train would soon stop running and be disassembled and sold for scrap metal. Being a train buff he tried hard to find anyone who could forestall the demise of this historic relic. Unfortunately scrap prices and other costs made it impractical to save. Even so, John saved a bit of the history by photographing and making the story available on the net. Here is his note to me and his photos site. If you like trains you should visit.

Hi Sam,

It is amazing how my 2005 visit to Panama keeps on running………………….

As I understand it, the Almirante Railroad is now no more. It drew to its inevitable conclusion and went the way of most, if not all of the other Central American Banana Railroads, with the last of its locos being dispatched to Mozambique. Realistically nothing could have been done. Complete closure was inevitable.

However, I found the correspondence that ensued to explore the chances of alternative options very rewarding. I have particularly enjoyed conversing with Clyde Stephens of Bocas and Florida. I now have a copy of his fascinating Banana People book and copies of a railroad chapter from an earlier publication.

This has inspired to me document my visit in more detail and I have chose an Internet format to do this. It is my contribution to Banana and Panamanian History!

I wish to share it with you, too, because I also much appreciated your interest. Without it, this small contribution would not have happened.

I hope you enjoy it,

John

 

http://www.ledbury.plus.com/arra.htm