Panama
And Costa Rica
Thoughts
On Both ~ Page Two ~ by Matthew Atlee
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| Investing
In Costa Rica
Costa Rica
has been criticized lately for being a place unfriendly to outside investment.
Some of this is true especially when it comes to investing in land. A lot
of Costa Ricans are upset about the fact that most of the beachfront land
in the country is owned by foreigners. The other issue that has upset people
is the growth of the sex industry. Places like the Hotel El Rey and the
bar Key Largo have become centers of prostitution and drugs. If you drive
by these places at night you will see people that you would normally see
in the suburbs of the U.S. or Europe doing things you wouldn’t want to
believe - but not too much on that. There are between 20,000 and
25,000 North Americans living in Costa Rica. Many of them moved to Costa
Rica during the 1970s when the country had a reputation as a “new country”
– meaning a country where you could buy land at low prices and set up a
business. Many of the people who came to Costa Rica in the 70s were Vietnam
veterans; you can still find large communities of Vietnam veterans in towns
like San Isidro in the south of Costa Rica. Most Costa Ricans claim that
the best years in Costa Rica were in the 1970s under the presidency of
Daniel Oduber. By the end of the 70s the large debts the country had run
up were taking their toll on the economy and inflation started to rise.
From 1979 to 1982 the country suffered a severe economic shock in which
many families lost half their wealth to inflation. |
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Helicopter
takes off from yacht near Coiba Island
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The
view from the helicopter down on the yacht
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Today, the
country is still a good place to invest, however, the problem today is
that countries like Panama and Nicaragua are attracting investors as they
are developing policies to attract capital away from Costa Rica. In Panama,
for example, many tour companies advertise by saying, “come to Panama rather
than Costa Rica”. And to be honest there is no comparison between Panama
and Costa Rica as far as tourism is concerned: Costa Rica is much more
developed and has much more experience in dealing with foreigners. I would
suggest you first visit Costa Rica and then come to Panama or go to both
countries during the same visit. If you want to move to Costa Rica the
normal waiting period for a visa if you are South American or Spanish is
five years, though you need to have two witnesses to your character; for
all others it's seven years. By the way do go to Costa Rican theater; it
is excellent and funny as hell.
Places To
See In Panama
The Pacific
Coast of Panama has become a popular destination and it has some of the
best white sand beaches in Panama. My favorite beach on the Pacific Coast
is Santa Clara: white sand, blue skies, blue water and great breezes. Most
of the beaches are very quiet and in Santa Clara you can find some very
nice small hotels where you can get a room for the night and lay back and
drink dark Panamanian rum and relax in the shade of a thatched rancho.
If you like fishing then the water off Santa Clara offers some of the best
sports fishing in the world. I am told by people who like to fish in these
waters that the sport’s fishing is great here because you don’t need to
go far offshore to catch Blue Marlin and Swordfish.
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| Hotel Las
Sirenas. The walkway to the beach |
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| There was
a ship at sea in the far distance |
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We stayed
in the Hotel Sirenas, which is located on the beach in Santa Clara and
is set far off the Inter-American highway. The hotel is set among some
of the best tropical gardens I’ve seen in Panama and the rooms in the hotel
are very large, some come with three to four bedrooms and most have large
kitchens. The beach in front of the hotel is clean and there are one or
two nice restaurants on the beach where you can grab a beer and lunch.
The beach is normally not crowded so you have great privacy. If you want
to get off the beach and into the mountains, then you can take a day trip
from Santa Clara to the mountain town of El Valle de Anton. In El Valle
the air is cool and the surrounding countryside is green and mountainous.
Another place
in Panama that you might want to visit is the Island of Coiba on Panama’s
Pacific Coast in the Province of Veraguas. Coiba Island is a beautiful
isolated island that has some the most beautiful flora and fauna in Panama.
It was also a prison island for many years. During the dictatorship years
in Panama the place was filled with criminals and innocent people who were
accused of political crimes. The inmates lived on the island in a kind
of commune/camp and worked small agricultural plots in order to feed themselves.
I met a former prisoner who had spent twenty years on the island - twenty
years is the maximum sentence you can get in Panama for any crime – there
is no death penalty.
This man never
talked about his experiences on the island. He was very reticent; he reminded
me of some of the Panamanians I met that had studied in Eastern Europe
during the 80s. Apparently during the 80s when U.S.– Panamanian relations
were at a low, the Panamanian government was friendly to Eastern Bloc countries,
and part of that friendliness was the creation of very strong cultural
and educational exchange programs. For example, there were a lot of people
sent from Panama to places like Bulgaria or Romania to study agriculture.
Many of the Panamanian women that went to Eastern Europe married men from
there; the Panamanian men on the other hand never said anything very good
about their time in the Eastern Bloc. An agricultural engineer that I worked
with for short time told me about traveling from Panama to Bulgaria: he
had never been out of Panama and landed in Italy without the correct paperwork
to continue on to Bulgaria; it took time to straighten out his visa problems
and when he did finally make it to Bulgaria no one was there to meet him
and everyone at the University where he was supposed to be studying didn’t
know who he was, why he was there, or even had a record of him ever enrolling
or even ever communicating with the University. He told me he stayed a
year until he could finally get out.
Coiba Island
was impossible to escape because the currents around the island are very
strong and push a swimmer away from the coast; also, around the island,
there are numerous sharks. To get to Coiba you normally leave the coast
from the small town of Puerto Mutis and take a boat out to the island.
I haven’t been on the island in quite some time but have heard that an
Italian firm is putting in a hotel with monorail and tours into the jungle.
The shoreline around Coiba is becoming a popular spot for people to camp
or pull their boats into – you see huge private yachts anchored around
the island. The fishing around Coiba is great and people are enjoying discovering
this rather obscure side of Panama.
Baha'I Temple
Another important
place to visit if you are coming to Panama is the Baha'I Temple. Located
on a small hill behind Panama City, the temple has the best view of Panama
City. On a clear day you can see downtown Panama and look back over your
shoulder and see the Caribbean Ocean and the outskirts of Colon. The Baha'I
Temple in Panama is one of seven Baha'I Temples around the world. The other
temples are located in Australia, Uganda, U.S., India, Germany, Samoa,
Israel. The faith began in 1844 and was founded by Mirza Hoseyn 'Ali Nuri
who lived in the Iranian city of Shiraz – famous today for its grapes.
The faith is ecumenical in that it wants to unite all the great religions
of the world into one faith. The temple is surrounded by beautiful gardens
and be sure to visit the temple in the morning as normally in the afternoon
it is closed. The temple is a great place to relax and think. It is located
on top of a small hill and the air rushes through the temple; there are
no services in the temple; it is a place of solitary contemplation.
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