First is Mono Feliz hotel/hostel, a rustic place on the tip of Punta Burica with a view of the Island commonly called Isla Punta Burica.

The accommodations are open air and on the water. Like most places in Burica getting there isn’t always easy, but once your there it is hard not to appreciate your  natural surroundings. Mono Feliz is located a short walk from the Playa burica lots. Playa Burica Lots

Hotel Punta Burica is more expensive, but its one of a kind experience.

The last time I went there we had lunch and Juan “the owner” and his wife put together a lunch that consisted of a 25lb pound snapper that had been reeled in from right in front of the hotel. It was delicious, I had to sit in one of the hammocks to recover from eating to much.

The atmosphere is very home like.  I say that because you literally eat in the family kitchen, the community ambiance allows for some fun social interaction.

Hotel Punta Burica has created a video that gives a general tour of the facilities. It is absolutely “classic” Panama, don’t miss it.

You never know, you could be recommending Hotel Punta Burica to the “in laws” once you have bought your lot.

I’ve done a lot of exploring lately – the place is wild! It’s almost untouched and undiscovered, and it’s almost hard to imagine the adventure potential I can live while I’m here.

There aren’t any tourist traps around here at all. The people who do live here are good, rural folk who run small farms, and there are some ex-patriots living in small houses, too. It’s like an escape, a tropical haven that was never really developed, but at the same time it’s safe and friendly.

Eventually it will be, of course. Who wouldn’t want to live here? The peninsula is surrounded on three sides by water, with Panama on one side and Costa Rica on the other. Someone is going to realize the potential and start to develop this place.

Ha. I’ll be waiting for them with this piece of real estate to offer up. It’s a great opportunity, and I can’t believe it’s mine. I was talking to a local who mentioned that prices for beach land are starting to go up, and he pointed out how lucky I am to get in now while real estate prices are low.

I can see that interest in the area has already begun. They’ve laid down a new road recently and they’re working on getting the road construction as far as the tip of Punta Burica. To reach the tip right now, you have to wait until low tide and drive on the beach.

The David International Airport nearby had some upgrades done recently too. Access is opening up, and this place is going to turn into an exclusive resort, I bet. I’ll be waiting. This investment is going to pay off for sure.

We’ve done some more exploring in the meantime, and it’s amazing. The fishing here is great. Some farmer was fishing by the shore the other day and I saw him pull out this huge tuna. It weighed in a 24 pounds – caught right from the shore!

The crazy part is that the fishing camps nearby charge up to $8,000 a week – and I can fish right here from the reef break if I wanted to. Free.

I’m there. Fish on.

I have to write about the first time we arrived here. The drive from the airport to our property was like something out of a movie – I thought I knew what this place would be like, but it was more than I ever imagined.

The airport (Enrique Malek airport in David) was small, but it was really nice for a Central American airport. They keep it clean and everyone’s very welcoming.

The espresso we had while we were at the airport comes the Kotowa coffee company, and it’s considered one of the finest coffees in the world. It’s amazing to think that the coffee fields are only about 30 miles from the airport. You can’t get fresher or more organic than that.

David Panama Airport

David Grocery Store

David itself is the third biggest city in Panama, and it was great to know that even though we’ll be out in a tropical area, civilization is right nearby. We stopped at a grocery store for some supplies, and the place was modern – nothing lacking here.

I don’t think I’ll be hanging much around the city, though. There’s way too much exploring to do around the property.

The drive winds through these small towns that dot the area here and there. We could see this huge volcano off in the distance. I stopped to ask someone about it and they said it was Volcan Baru, which has a height of about 12,000 feet. Amazing.

The landscape kept changing as we drove, moving from jungle to towns to ocean-side road and back to jungle. We crossed the Chiriqui Viejo river, which I’ve since found out is a whitewater rafting river with over 90 class II to V rapids over a 13-mile stretch.

I’m there.

The peninsula is split between two countries, with Panama on one side and Costa Rica on the other. There’s a duty-free zone at Paso Canoas, and I heard someone mention at the airport it’s a great place to get cheap liquor. We didn’t stop this time, but next trip, we’ll stock up for sure.

I got lost at Puerto Armuelles, which is a freakin’ maze to navigate. The streets don’t really have a pattern I could follow. But getting lost gave us a good chance to take a tour of the town.

Chiquita (yeah, the banana company) built the town for its workers and executives. The company moved out a few years ago and left the town, so the place looks a little bit down and depressed.

On the other hand, there’s a feeling that it’s going to take off again. Everyone looks happy and the place is right on the ocean. I can see how easily it’ll become a nice coastal town within a couple of years.

Once we got past Puerto, there was this big tanker checkpoint, which was cool. It’s a petrol station that you have to drive through, and there are these huge tankers from the Pacific docked about 50 yards from shore.

The tankers hook into the station’s pipelines and they send petrol through the pipes. The pipes cross the whole country to the Caribbean, where other tankers are hooked up to pick up the petrol. I’ve never seen anything like it.

We took the new road after that and headed in. It’s still under construction, and the drive takes you right onto the beach. (Beware chicken crossings.) If the tide is in and high, you can’t cross, so you have to catch the low tide to get through.

That five-mile drive down the beach was truly amazing. The ocean with its sand and rocks and waves was on one side and the palm trees, locals and animals were on the other. Suzie kept taking pictures because she figured no one would believe us if we told them about the “road”.

We had to drive right through a river, too, which was wild as hell. By the time we got through the first one, my heart was pounding like I’d been bungee jumping. It was great. There were a few more small rivers after that, and by the time I crossed the last, I had the hang of it (but I could still use some practice.)

We arrived at the end of the peninsula about two hours after we left the airport – and man, that’s when the real fun began.

This afternoon, I felt completely at peace. I love my job and the city, but there’s nothing like the feeling you get here, just relaxing and lazing in a hammock strung beneath two coconut trees.

That’s what I did this afternoon – recharging my batteries before we head back home tomorrow.

Suzie put up the hammock this morning and spent a few hours reading a book while I bush-wacked around in the jungle (with my Indiana Jones hat on, of course).

After lunch I commandeered the hammock while she went for a swim and I just lay there watching the ocean and the birds. The water here is clear, blue, and warm as can be. The sun makes the ocean sparkle, too. Pretty.

I had a moment today where I stood still, just looking around. This place is nothing like the city. Everything is so wild and primitive. I couldn’t believe that this place belongs to me. It’s like living a dream. Anytime I feel like it, any time I need a getaway from the office, I can just fly down here. Amazing.

Sometimes I think about whether I could live here full time. I decided that I don’t ever want to. I like the city, we have a great apartment, and I love the fast pace. Suzie does too. I have a solid job, I’m moving up fast and there are opportunities to make it big in the corporation.

Buying this place was the best idea ever, though. Buy cheap, sell high. This place is brand new and once the area starts being developed more, people are going to want this – and they’ll pay the price for it, too.

In the meantime, I get to live the good life. Best of both worlds.

This place is amazing. I can’t believe that I’m standing here on my own piece of tropical beach.

We were having lunch on Friday at that little restaurant downstairs and Randy asked, “So what’s everyone doing this weekend?” You should’ve seen the looks on their faces when I said, “Oh, I’m heading out to Panama for the weekend.”

That’s the best part of this. Suzie and I were thinking of buying some land by the lake and building a summer cottage. It would’ve been twice the price of this place just for real estate, and then I’d have to invest in building. The contractor I spoke to said I was looking at spending an easy $200,000 for just a small two-bedroom cottage.

Here I’ve got the surf, the palm trees, the warm air and sun, and it’s a fraction of the price. I can fly down for a weekend or even a few weeks anytime I want. Amazing.

The place is wild, too. It’s like a jungle. Hey – it is a jungle. There are toucans in the trees, and one of them landed right by the breakfast table this morning. Suzie took some pictures.

There are howler monkeys too. I never thought I’d wake up to the sound of monkeys instead of that damned alarm clock. The experience is crazy good. I get a kick out of watching them play – they’re all jumping about and swinging from the branches.

Randy was saying I’ll be like the Indiana Jones of the corporate world. The joke stuck and Friday after lunch, the guys left one of the Indie hats on my desk. I brought it along to wear, and it’s actually perfect for the sun.

The cabana’s great. It’s rustic and makes me feel like this place is some tropical jungle adventure. Ah, but with the little luxuries of easy living – Suzie made some of that great coffee with the French press this morning. I’m going to buy one of those for the apartment when we get back.

We sat together with our coffee and watched the sun rise over the ocean this morning. It was nice. The waves were swishing up on the beach and we could hear the crash of bigger ones on the reefs nearby.

The surf here is amazing, too. I’m going to head out later and catch some waves. First, time for a nap.

I headed down to the end of the peninsula the other day with one of my new local buddies, Juan. When he showed up, Juan had these knee-high boots and a machete, and here I was feeling like a real gringo with my flip-flops.

“No problem,” he said, but let me tell you that it won’t be long before I get my own boots and machete.

We headed down the beach, and as I walked, I realized that I’m already becoming accustomed to the sound of monkeys and waves. It made me feel a true Panamanian.
There is an island that sits off the end of the peninsula, and Juan pointed out that it’s home to nesting turtles that come every year to lay their eggs. No one lives on the island and it’s covered in jungle.

You can walk out to the island from the mainland at low tide, and you can see most of the coast of both Panama and Costa Rica, especially the Osa Peninsula. We didn’t visit the island this time, but I want to go back to explore the place soon.

We passed Mono Feliz hotel (translation: happy monkey), which is a small place with open-air rooms. Juan mentioned it’s popular with the surfers and backpackers that have been coming here for years.

It’s a cool hotel, because they feed the monkeys bananas there every day and they draw in the animals from all over the peninsula. Suzie’s going to get a kick out of that.

The tide was high by the time we reached the tip of the peninsula, so we took an awesome trail the rest of the way. Only the locals use it, and not very many. The trail is right on the edge of the jungle but still close to the beach.

I felt pretty good about that, because Juan mentioned possible animals coming from the jungle. “What kind of animals,” I asked, and Ivon just shrugged. “Snakes,” he said, like it was nothing, and he held up his machete. (So that’s what it was for…)

The trail was pretty interesting, and we had to cross a few rivers. Alright, not rivers, exactly, but wading through the knee-deep water in flip-flops sure makes it feel like you’re crossing a river.

One river was sweet as hell, with this 50 foot waterfall pouring into it. That’s something else I want to explore next time I head out. (With better shoes. And a machete.)

There’s an American who has lived out here for a few years now, and we visited him for a while. He opened an animal sanctuary some time back, and he hopes to revitalize the area’s animal population.

He introduced me to his cat, which turned out to be an ocelot that the guy had rescued as a baby. I could go right into the cage with her, and the “cat” jumped on my shoulders right away to be petted.

She wasn’t very happy when she figured out I didn’t have a snack, and the guy said if I wasn’t interested in wrestling with her, I should think about leaving. Fair enough; sounds good.

By the time we made it back to the beach, I realized that the beach has about five different characteristic areas. Big waves to small waves, rocky beach to sand… this place really has it all and there’s something for every taste.

We made it to the border of Panama (and I use the term border loosely, because it’s more like guessing the last farm is in Panama). That’s about the point when I slipped on a rock and broke one of my damned flip-flops.

Great. An hour’s walk from the cabana through all sorts of terrain, and now I had to go back barefoot.

Ha, not so fast, buddy! Juan whipped out his machete, and before I knew it, he’d found a piece of rope, cut it, made this surgical incision into my flip-flop, tied it back together and I was good to go.

Yeah. I need a machete. Big time.

Construction is progressing nicely on the road. The next leg of the road scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2009.

That’s US Currency.

…enough said.

Bella Vista Ranch in Burica, Panama consists of 35 acres and one third of a mile of beach frontage (that’s 14 football fields).  It is among the best priced ocean front farms in Panama.

The property is unique in several ways.

First, its topography. The farm proportionally has a ton of ocean frontage, it also has a ridge that is set approximately 150 meters off the beach, with an elevation of 65 feet. There is potential for a row of ocean front lots, but also a row of ocean view lots with expansive ocean views.

Second, Location. On this website, there is  information about Burica, Panama and why we think it is primed for appreciation.  Bella Vista Ranch is located on the edge of the bay where a small boat can be launched from the peninsula. This gives special access to all of the great surf and fishing.  It is the last sizable farm for sale, working back from the tip of the peninsula. If you are looking for a larger piece at the end of Burica, this farm is your only chance.

Third, its wildlife. The farm has 2 streams that are teeming with monkeys of 3 varieties. White face, howlers, and red back squirrel monkeys visit the steams daily, along with toucans, sloths and exotic frogs making a rare appearance.

Here are a few more photos to give perspective. And we invite you to spend some time on the website to learn more about Burica.