Richard Detrich’s Boquete, Panama Weblog

Built in Panama by Panamanians.  Designed by Gringos.  Floor and roof tiles from Spain.  Slate from India.  Granite from Brazil.  Exterior lights copied from some lights we found in a flea market in Chile.  Chandeliers hand made in Boquete.  Plumbing fixtures from China.  Cabinets of cherry wood from Burma, constructed in China and assembled . . . well, in Panama, by you know whom.

 Actually the cabinets are gorgeous: Burmese cherry and made in China.  Even with the cost of shipping and importing they are far cheaper than anything we could have purchased locally and the quality is far, far superior.  The wood is properly aged and solid cherry, not laminate, and the finish is baked on.  And they are far, far cheaper and far superior to the “high end” cabinets we used in Ventura from Home Depot.   The only catch is we need to assemble them.  Not that it’s that hard.  It’s really quite intuitive and simple, it just takes time.  And I’ve got less than three weeks between cruises to have them all together . . . so guess what we are doing?

If you’re in Panama and want to take a look sometime shoot us an email, or I’ll put you in touch with my friend Brad Abijian who has the same cabinets and helped us to get these from China.

You had to ask, didn’t you!  After being away 22 days . . . it’s actually coming quite well!

Understand that the builder promised it would be ready “before Christmas” . . . he didn’t actually specify what year, however, and I never really believed him.    Yesterday we had what I affectionately used to call in real estate the “come to Jesus talk”, when you force a client to face up that the house he thinks is worth $800,000 is really only worth about $500,000 so it’s time to lower the price or find another agent.  Anyway, the talk went well, considering I don’t speak that much Spanish and the builder doesn’t speak English.  At this stage it is not uncommon for the builder to run out of money, and with the price of every building material soaring, I was getting concerned.  But he showed me his figures and made a timeline plan as I requested, and it all makes sense . . . I hope.  So, now we’re looking at finishing in June. 

Unfortunately, today, we  had one of those “moments” . . . last night I woke up at 4 AM to trek to the john and suddenly remembered, “Did I check the level of the slate floor on the entrance?”  I want to be able to hose off the porch, garage, and terrace and have the water quickly drain away which requires a minimal slant . . . away from the house.  The guy who is doing my tile is doing a fantastic job!  I have never seen anyone so precise!  That gave me a pang of fear . . . what if he is precisely installing the exterior slate level?  So early this morning I was up at the house with the level . . . and all this progress to the right . . . is now torn up.  I am sorry, but I told everyone bidding on the job that I would be a stickler about this, and other things, and if they weren’t interested, not to bid.  The contractor agreed, and it was just a slip up.  But a slip up that will probably add another two weeks . . .

Welcome to Panama!

Well, we ARE making progress!  The house was supposed to be finished before Christmas, Christmas ‘07 that is, but I never really expected it to be finished by then.  Panamanians, including builders, will tend to tell you what they think you want to hear.  So now we’re just about 1 year under construction . . . and I’m hoping to be moving in by June.  June ‘08, not June ‘09!

Since we started the price of steel has doubled and cement has increased by 18%.  Construction costs are now running $60-90 a square foot.  But we ARE making progress!  Things DO get done in Panama, just not always on one’s “Gringo schedule.”  Tough pill to swallow or a Type A personality . . . like I used to be!  Now, I chill . . . relax, and enjoy life!

Here are some shots of the house.  This is the house from the end of a very long driveway . . .

Front of the house in Palmira . . .

Cedar ceiling in tower [note OSHA-non-approved scaffolding] . . .

Master bedroom Palmira . . .

Since the whole point of living here is the indoor/outdoor lifestyle, we got a little carried away with the back porch . . . it has a fireplace for chilly nights!

Spot assisting Nikki with color selections . . .

Thank you for visiting my blog!!  I’m thrilled with the number of folks who are visiting and I hope that you will stop back soon!  I’m committed to posting daily and I welcome your comments, either on the blog comment, or by email.

And, please tell your friends who might be interested.

If you have questions, let me know.

Thanks again for visiting!

“Bloggy Award” has reviewed our site and given it a “10″ for “Useful Info” . . .

“This is the strongest point of the blog - it contains tons of information for anyone who is interested in Panama. I think that even if you were not that interested in the first place, you just might end up wanting to pay this country a visit after reading this blog!” 

View the complete review at “Bloggy Award”

Much of the area overlooking Boquete is part of Volcan Baru National Park.  Volcan Baru is the dominant feature of Chiriqui and, at 11,477 feet, is the highest point in Panama.  The Volcano last erupted some 500 years ago, so not to worry.  A trail runs between Cerro Punta, a tiny town above Volcan, to Boquete.  It is called The Quetzal Trail because much of the trail runs through the habitat of the spectacular, and elusive, resplendent quetzal.  The bird’s body is about 15″ and the male’s tail adds another 15-30″, so you can see why it gets the name “resplendent”!

Hotel Los Quetzales in Cerro Punta, from whom this photo is borrowed, is a favorite or bird watchers from around the world.  Nikki took a bird walk from Los Quetzlales and saw not one, but three resplendent quetzales!

The hike from trail head to trail head takes about 6.5 hours and is a good work out for someone who is in fairly good condition, and a bit more strenuous for someone my age and in my condition.

Understand that the trail heads are themselves a good distance from the towns of Cerro Punta and Boquete and there aren’t taxicabs sitting and waiting, or even phones from which to call a cab.

My wife dropped us off at the trail head in Cerro Punta and then picked us up, tired and wet, in Boquete. We didn’t see any quetzals but it was a spectacular hike and well worth the effort.

Boquete’s harvest of high-altitude, shade-grown, gourmet coffee is slowly coming to a halt.  Thanks to the help from our Gnobe Bugle neighbors, we brought in most of our coffee last week.  We have a small “hobby farm” which my wife, the agronomist, promises eventually will “break even.”  This year it has been hard to get people to pick coffee since many of the traditional Gnobe Bugle seasonal workers have gone across the border to pick in Costa Rica, where, given the devaluation of the US dollar on the world market, they make more money.  Who would have thought 8 years ago that Indians in Panama would be turning up their noses at the US dollar?

Picking coffee by hand sounds like hard work, and it is, but it doesn’t sound like “skilled” labor.  Actually it is very skilled!  The coffee bean needs to be picked carefully without breaking off the tiny stem lest you inadvertently destroy the next years harvest since the bud for the next year is already forming.  It is a learned skill, so you’re always looking for good pickers, not just any picker. 

Over the holidays our daughter, Rebecca, and Nikki’s brother and his family were visiting, and all wanted to try their hand picking coffee.  All quickly learned to appreciate their cup of Starbucks, realizing just how much work goes into producing a cup of coffee!  The results were disappointing: after an hour they had picked enough coffee between them to earn less than $2!  We suggested they keep their regular jobs.

It didn’t help that my niece, Ryanna, found a snake wrapped in the coffee tree.  Good eyes Ry!   This little guys is hard to see when he’s wrapped around a branch.  This one isn’t venomous, although he does bite and snake saliva, even from nonpoisonous snakes, has lots of bacteria and can cause serious infection.  More dangerous is the eyelash pit viper, a very poisonous snake who likes to hang out in coffee trees.  The eyelash pit viper has a prehensile tail and, just like a monkey, can hang on by his tail and extend his body to strike not only your hands but also your face.

If you’d like to see picutres of the complete coffee process visit http://www.beautifulpanama.com/jaguar_java.htm

When people hear that I lecture on cruise ships they always ask, “So what do you talk about?”

I’m off on the VOLENDAM for 10 days this weekend on a Ft Lauderdale round-trip cruise to Holland America’s delightful out-island called Half Moon Cay, Aruba, Curacao, a partial Canal transit, Colon, and Puerto Limon in Costa Rica.   The lectures are designed to tie into the itinerary.  I’m putting the final touches on my lecture PowerPoint presentations.  So, if you are a guest on the VOLENDAM next week, this is what you’ll get.

“The ABC Islands” - The Dutch colonization of these beautiful, but dry, tropical islands as a transshipment point for African slaves, the history of the islands, and what to see and do in Aruba and Curacao.

“Panama 101″ - The land, the people, the history and what to see and do while in Panama.  For people to whom Panama is just Noriega and a Canal.  I want them to come back and visit on a more extended basis.

“The Panama Canal: Past, Present and Future” - The building and history of the Canal, the Turnover, present day challenges and the Canal Expansion.  How the Canal works, what to expect and how to get the most our of your day in the Canal.

“Beyond Starbucks: Growing Coffee in The Americas” - A fascinating look at the history of coffee, the growing and processing of coffee, “Fair Trade” and the real small producers, following the money and why a Latte costs $4.

“Escape to Paradise: Getting Off The Hamster Wheel” - By this time on the cruise 1,400 people have asked, “Panama: why Panama?”  So I tell them.  How we happened to move to Panama and things to consider if you ever get a hair-brained idea to retire to another country.

I’m doing the same cruises in March and you’re invited to come along!   www.hollandamerica.com

When I was a Chaplain on the ROTTERDAM I met this particular group of Embera Indians when the ship stopped in the Panama Canal.  We struck up a friendship over 5 hours and a lot of beer.  The Embera invited me back to Panama to visit their village which is a 2-3 hour drive from Panama City (depending on traffic) and then a 1-1.5 hour ride by dug out canoe up through the jungle to their village.  It was an intriguing invitation, so when I got back to California I began researching the Embera online and accidentally discovered all the benefits of retiring in Panama.  So we live in Panama because of our association with these folks!

The Embera are one of the seven remaining indigenous groups in Panama.  When Columbus and the Spanish arrived there were hundreds of indigenous groups.  The amazing thing is that seven remain!  The Embera Puru group are trying to preserve a cultural heritage and way of live, difficult in a country which is trying to move from “second world” to “first world” status.  Since moving to Panama we have become friends with these folks and visited with them several times as well as having them visit with us in Valle Escondido in Boquete. 

You may enjoy from my Web site:  Visiting The Embera , Embera Visit to Boquete and Embera Crafts.

Since our families were visiting in Panama for the holidays we decided to take them up to the Embera village to visit.

   Mikalia shows Nikki how to make an Embera basket

 Lounging by the river at Embera Piru - from here upriver 30 km there is nothing but jungle.  Interestingly in the days of the Spanish conquest this river and environs were the source for a lot of Spanish gold.

If you live in Panama and never have visited these folks . . . you should!!!  And if you are visiting Panama, whether on a cruise ship or as a tourist, I promise you that this will be the highlight of your visit to Panama!  Most ships offer visits to a somewhat “demonstration” Embera Village due to time restrictions.  If that’s all you have time for, do it!  A few ships offer the longer trip up to this particular authentic village and several day tour operators in Panama City offer it as well.  Check my Visiting The Embera  for details.