Panama Farm Life August 18, 2025

 "So, what do you do with yourself all day?"  

I muster the nicest and most genteel smile I can for our visiting friends from San Jose, CA.  Behind that smile my head was chattering...'What?  Are you nuts?  What a stupid question!'

Calmly and sweetly I suggest to David and Pam to follow me around for a few days and see for themselves.  Their question comes innocently enough from a place of curiosity.  Mostly about what retirees do to keep busy in Boquete. Their visit is focused on whether Boquete might be on their bucket list as a location for retirement.  I get that.  I did the same.  I remind myself I must have sounded innocent and, well, clueless when I was investigating locations for retirement and asking expats all about Boquete.  David and Pam were about to learn that we are not the typical retirees in Boquete.

David's sister, Belinda, and I go way back.  And that is how David and his wife Pam end up visiting us. It is better to know someone where you may one day go to live. We are always thrilled to have visitors and the red carpet is duly rolled out!

This July, the weather is a gift.  Normally it is one of the rainiest months. The Little Summer of San Juan, a break in the rain that happens each year at this time, offers a period of warm sun and calm winds for a few days. This July the break is more than just a few days.  Encouraged by their good fortune, our guests begin to fully explore all that Boquete and the surrounding areas have to offer.  The best... without all the flooding, landslides, auto accidents, trees crashing down and roadway disintegration.  The dry weather also brings a dearth of births... things that hatch.  Moths...and some as big as bats!

For the first few days, the rhythm of our farm life is of interest.  The dogs, the horses, all the farm maintenance activities, the various projects in motion, discussions of future projects, deliveries, trash and recycling drop offs, workers coming and going, coffee consulting, local friends calling for assistance, dinner plans, and all else that consumes most every hour of every day for us is on full display.  David now understands how stupid his question is and this becomes a running joke between us.  All in good fun!

 And then, they are off!  Rental car, Google Maps and a list of suggested places to visit in hand, I wish them a fun exploration. The only requirement being an end-of-day report with what they had seen and done and their impressions.  No stone is left unturned. I don't worry about them.  David is a fluent Spanish speaker.

Our former renters, Don and Debbie, returned to the states permanently in mid-July to assist with family.  Our Villa is now up for rent once again.  This time we decide to post the rental flier on local Facebook pages as well as honor our contract with our realtor.  We did not take the public approach the first time around as Gary nor I wanted to sort through the 'curious vs the serious' on our own.  We were very lucky with our first renters.  

After a few, shall we say awkward, meetings with the curious that contacted us from our ads, our realtor introduced a perfect match and Colleen is now on the farm.  A retiree from my former location, the San Francisco bay area, we welcome her to the finca with her two indoor kitties.  Hopefully, our farm will welcome her without all the drama that Don and Debbie graciously endured. And we are still thankful to them for being our first renters and doing the 'shakedown' for us.  If something was going to break or malfunction in the newly built villa...it did!

Among the newest farm projects is the enclosure of the lower terrace.  The intense sun fades the furniture fabric and cracks the wood. Wind and rain hurl insects, dust, bats and bits of this and that onto the terrace.  Keeping this area clean becomes another regular chore. The elements make the area uncomfortable to enjoy and the outdoor kitchen difficult to use.  We also want additional security. The lower terrace is too easy to access from the ground.  So, we gather quotes, make decisions and the project is now underway.   The entire surround will be safety glass and security strength screen. Then my next project begins. I will make all new cushions for the patio furniture. 

Concurrently...Drill, baby, drill! Water. Not oil. The Panama Beverly Hillbillies we are not.  Panama has a shortage of water.  Yes, seems illogical given the copious rainfall.  The challenge lies within the lack of modern systems for collection and distribution.  The Boquete valley has 14 water districts.  Each serves a specific locale with some districts sharing a common source.  Sometimes the common sources runs dry.  All districts are run by a water board, local folks typically without knowledge or expertise on how to maintain or improve the system.  They mean well.  Intent and outcome are two very different things.

Our farm is independent of Naturgy, the electric utility, with our solar installation and now we will be independent of the municipal water.  After a walk-about on the farm with devining rods in hand, Erick the well driller points to an area and smiles.  The water is here but we just don't know how far below the surface. Queue the drilling rig!  A smaller version of an oil rig but still a lumbering piece of equipment that takes time and finesse to place in position.  The actually drilling takes about 3 days. Through dirt. Through clay. Through rock. Mud and black water spews out from the top of the rig.  Erick is prepared. Dressed in a plastic industrial strength raincoat he balances a black umbrella above his head while manning the controls of the rig. 140 feet down. Geyser! We have water!  I review the documentation. The acquired permit gives us time to find the water.  We have. Now we file for another permit to actually use the water.  TIP. (This is Panama) 

David and Pam return from a long day of touring, chatting up expats and befriending local Panamanians.  David asks if we could invite some of our friends over for a meet and greet.  Expats that could help inform their curiousity about living in Boquete.  I set that up for the following week and include Amanda, Carlos and Pilar.  Halfway through their visit, David and Pam have heard all about our adopted family but have not yet met them.  And it turns out that an introduction doesn't happen...this trip. 

Harold, our coffee consultant, is a very hands-on guy.  We see him on Sundays and he takes
measure of how the coffee is doing.  In short order, his instructions to our farm worker yields a spurt in the quantity of the coffee beans growing on each tree.  A couple of guys with chain saws thin out the shade trees to allow more sun and discourage growth of fungus.  

The tree cutting is done only on Sundays to avoid discovery by the Panama environmental agency, MiAmbiente. They don't work on Sundays.  Harold talks about them with a smirk on his face.  Not one of his favorite agencies.  He knows the reality of what they don't do versus what they are chartered to do and the monies they collect from coffee farms as agreement to stay out of their way. Graft. The language of business.  And not only in Panama. 

 The cut wood is taken away for free by another contact of Harold's to be dried and sold as firewood. Fine with us. A thousand more coffee tree-lets are lined up to be planted.  Harold tells us that within the next two years, our coffee farm will produce close to capacity. We are not yet sure what he means by that. 

David and Pam return one night after a dinner in the company of a local Panamanian woman,  the director of the Boquete Visitor Center, and her boyfriend.  The boyfriend says he knows us!  Was the bartender at our wedding on the farm.  Now he is building a house on his family land just over the ridge of our coffee farm! Boquete is a small village.  I tell David and Pam what my mom would say to me as a kid...never pick your nose in public.  Someone who knows you will see!

David and Pam now know what we do with ourselves all day...