We officially own a piece of gorgeous land in Panama! I don't think we've fully processed leaving everything in California, let alone now owning a little over 17 acres of prime, raw land in a small beach town in Panama. The Lord brought us here for this, I am sure. The blessing and beauty of this land we found is overwhelming. In Turlock, we owned (well paid a mortgage on) just about 2 acres, so this is a huge upgrade for us.
I wanted to write about this land, how we found it, why we chose it, and of course share a bunch of photos that we've taken over the 6 or so times that we've walked this blessed place in the past 3 months.
Originally, we had our hearts set on a 30 acre property up in the mountains of Lajas de Tole, about a 40 minute drive from the town & playa we're living in now. Unfortunately, the price wasn't what we were hoping for and there wasn't room for negotiation, so we continued looking. A friend from my Costa Rica days, who has a relocation business in Panama, referred us to a local realtor he knew in the area. She reached out to us to find out what we were looking for, so I told her. Within less than a week, she had three beautiful farms in Las Lajas lined up for us to look at.
We followed her and her 2 associates around for the morning and stopped at three farms. The second farm (which was this one) really, really, really stood out to us. We fell in love almost immediately. We went back to look at it the next week to see some more specific property lines and ask more questions. We prayed and talked and talked and prayed and listened and thought and within a few weeks were prepared to put an offer in. It was an off market property, so there was no competition. We paid the asking price, which was right in our budget. And we bought it from a local Panamanian woman, not a foreigner, which we really love.
This farm has been used for pasture for horses and cattle. It has no water(plumbing) or electricity in place. There are no structures on the property. The land is right about 7.1 hectares or 17.5 acres. The borders are almost all fenced, there are a few areas where we will have to put up fencing. There is a beautiful year-round (some say seasonal) creek that runs through the middle of the property and splits it up between the front section and the large back section. It is mostly flat, but has some areas with steep hills, a few areas with some dips that will make perfect ponds, and some other gentle sloping hills. Since it has been used for pasture, there is a lot of open, deforested space. There are many large, beautiful, mature trees though. The property is only a 5 minute drive from the town center! It is only about 5 minutes from the local school, the pizzeria, small supercentro, and tool store. It is about a 15 minute drive from our beach. It borders two public roads, both are quiet residential roads and both are unpaved. Below is a google maps photo from above so you can see the shape of the property. The blue line in the center is the creek. You can see how de-forested it is, compared to some of the surrounding land.
We chose this land because it is almost perfect for us and checks all the important things we were looking for. It is over 10 acres, which was what we wanted. It has a creek and also has clean water that we can drink once our well is drilled. It is quiet but not too far out of town. It is close to town, so we can have community events like we did in Turlock. It is close enough to neighbors that the boys can ride their bikes to friends' houses as they get older and friends can visit easily. It is not flat, but has some hills, slopes, and areas for water capture. It isn't full of steep ledges and hillsides that are hard to manage, plant on, or get livestock on. It was in our price range. It is in a town that we have come to love and have friends in already. It is only a 15 minute drive to the beach. It has mature trees, not a lot but enough to get us started! It is not a completely wild jungle that we have to tear down trees to even build a house or walk through. It has electricity at the road and is bordering a main public road. It is so quiet here. And I cannot wait to watch the lightning storms and see the stars at night from the big sky views. We'll have perfect shows of the sunrise and sunset everyday. What more could we ask for?
Yes...we had to come all the way to Panama to be able to have enough land to raise all the animals we want raise; grow all the food we want to grow; have the clean water to drink and the fresh air to breathe; have the dreamy creek running through our farm; AND still be within 15 minutes of one of the best beaches in Panama. Yes. Yes we had to come here for that, and we're so glad we did.
We cannot wait to take our shovels, machete, and boots and start getting our hands dirty at our new farm. We cannot wait for the first set of hooves and chicken claws to hit that earth and start getting to work rebuilding the soil. We cannot wait to break ground on our custom built dome home. It's all going to start happening soon.
All the glory goes to God.
"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands."
Psalms 90:17