Boquete is the best place for retirees to live

09 March, 2009
Nestalí Geneteau / The Panama Post
nestali.geneteau@rimolamedios.com

Before coffee prices dropped precipitously at the end of the ’90s, the plantations of Boquete employed almost all of the workers in the Chiriquí province.

The closure of farms and lack of credit forced many coffee growers out of the business that had formed the basis of the local economy and been their livelihood for many years and.

In the middle of this crisis, American Sam Taliaferro rented a home in Boquete with his Panamanian wife.

Through determination and vision, Taliaferro acquired 50 hectares of coffee-growing land where he built his residence. It would eventually become Valle Escondido, one of the most well known destinations in the region.

Thanks to Valle Escondido, said Taliaferro, Boquete is internationally known as the best retirement destination for North Americans and Europeans, due to its pleasant climate and lush vegetation. The coffee economy has also recovered in the last decade and Boquete coffee has won international awards for its excellent quality.

Taliaferro spoke with The Panama Post about his project, vision and mission in Boquete.

How did you arrive in Boquete?

We lived in Boquete for a few years before buying this property that is now called Valle Escondido. We weren’t looking for a development opportunity because we never had any prior experience with real estate development. Around the year 2000, international coffee prices dropped dramatically and Boquete was not doing well economically.

Looking at the earlier coffee crisis, we thought we should do something good to help the region of Chiriquí, whose economy depended directly on coffee production.

We sought to create something different from other countries in the region, something that could attract foreign investors to Boquete with the aim of helping the community. We knew that we had to direct our efforts towards the international market.

When Valle Escondido began as a real estate development and tourism project, foreigners were not buying property in Panama. This made our development the first one to be targeted directly toward to the international market.

In order to develop this project in a place where there were no construction companies, workers, contractors or suppliers, we had to start from nothing.

Now, many developers come here to Valle Escondido and are impressed with what we have done. Others have come to develop projects, but they are not able to match the scope of Valle Escondido, even though the conditions for development are better today.

How did you begin to develop Valle Escondido?

We began development by contracting local people and we had only one foreigner. We had to train everyone to build a project of this magnitude, while I didn’t even know myself how large it would become.

Along with the construction, we had to develop a marketing strategy, because a project like this had never before been offered to the international market.

There was a perception at the time that the dictator Manuel Noriega would remain in power. We had to market Valle Escondido and change the wrong impression people had about the country in those years, which was very difficult.

Part of the marketing strategy was to promote the temperate climate, the low cost of living in Boquete for North Americans, and above all, the natural beauty of the environment that pervades this region.

I would like to point out that we never received help from any government official. The local government tried to deter me by putting up all of the obstacles they could in order to prevent the development of Valle Escondido.

The building code department wanted to stop the project as well. They were always looking for something that I might be doing wrong.

As a result of all of this interference, I can say that without the involvement of the government in the development, Valle Escondido would have been finished even sooner.

What was your key to success in finishing this project in the face of all of these barriers and obstacles?

It was my gumption, vision, and above all, the determination not to stop until I reached my goals.

The Panamanians who worked with us helped to complete Valle Escondido, because one man cannot do something like this alone.

The population of Chiriquí is different. They are friendly and have an interest in learning and doing different things. Because of this, we were able to complete the project in Boquete as opposed to other locations like the capital, Azuero, or other areas of Panama.

Now I am a consultant for the development of other projects. I also write a blog about investing that is read by people around the world.

Many developers come to me for advice about real estate development, learning a lot from the exchange of ideas.

How did you end up living here?

I love Panama and I didn’t even know about Chiriquí until I met my wife, Thalia Velasquez, who is from Chiriquí. She brought me to Boquete in 1998 and showed me a place that she visited frequently when she was young.

In the United States, I always lived in the mountains, because I like the alpine climate. My wife told me that she always came to this part of Chiriquí because of the climate.

After receiving my pension and retiring, I lived in Boquete a few years in a rented house in the mountains. When I saw the local conditions and the low prices of international coffee forcing young people to leave the area due to a lack of opportunity, I decided to do something different.

After three years of developing the project, Forbes magazine named it as the best place for foreigners to retire, especially for North Americans. We are in this magazine and many others.

I marketed Boquete as the best place in the world to live at a time when we had no international recognition.

Valle Escondido became an agent of change that increased investments in Boquete and brought with it the confidence of banks, investors, developers and others.

The government has changed immigration laws and reduced the tourist visa from 90 to 30 days, almost destroying this type of business for the area.

I hope that this situation changes in the next governmental administration, because people will not invest in homes if they can only stay in the country for one month. (The law requires registration with immigration to extend the tourist visa for 60 additional days.)

What is your perception of tourism development in Panama compared to Costa Rica?

There is one specific issue. When people think of this country, they only think of Panama City, which has a centralized government that doesn’t consider other areas of the country.

In the capital, there are only businesses and no tourist destinations, with the exception of the Panama Canal.

Boquete is a primary place in Panama that tourists visit, but the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP) doesn’t market it at all.

Last year only 82,000 visitors traveled to the countryside, but Panama City saw more than one million visitors.

In a sense, the foreigners that the ATP is counting are not tourists, but visitors who come to do business here.

This is important because tourism is not for business deals.