If you put your finger on the map of Panama, at the Caribbean mouth of the Panama Canal; and then slide your finger about 2 inches to the right (or east), you’ll see the city of Portobelo. In the middle of the seventeenth century, ships full of priceless treasures left those harbors regularly, en route to Spain.  It is suspected that the Portobelo Bay in the Caribbean Sea contains one of Christopher Columbus’ ships and at least 20 other shipwrecks.  At the ruins of Fort San Lorenzo, you’ll find what remains of the cobblestone route called El Camino Real (the Royal Road).  So how is this fort and the royal treasure road important to our story of Bala Beach?

 

What must first be made clear is that young Henry Morgan was a rogue, not a pirate! With members of his family on both sides of the war in Britain, he was doing the work of a privateer for England. This meant that he held a paper issued by a representative of the English government. The governor of Jamaica empowered him to fight the Spaniards on England’s behalf. His pay was in effect what he managed to steal from Spain.

Although today this might seem a dishonorable way for a government to conduct itself, in the world paradigm of the 17th century these were accepted means of conducting European naval war. Hence Henry Morgan was a sea-raider authorized by an English Letter of Marque, not an outlaw pirate.

 

Admiral Henry Morgan was a handsome 25 year old Welshman when he attacked Fort San Lorenzo. It’s at the mouth of the Chagres River, in the bay harbor of Puerto Bello (now known as Portobelo) on the shores of the Caribbean Sea.  He was an ardent young man, who had set aside some of the traditions of his family to go to sea for England.

 

As one of the fortunate few, he had found the love of his life at a young age….in Genevieve Graham. She was a courageous young woman who found joy in posing as the captain’s cabin boy, to the undisputed king of the buccaneers.  Because of her family’s deaths on shipboard in transit from England to Jamaica; the theft of the family valuables on ship, and her arrival without financial support; it had been necessary for her to learn very quickly to take care of herself, or surrender all.

 

She had learned aboard ship that her slight figure allowed her to masquerade as a young man, safe from the unwelcome affections of the crew. And with time, her pose became the only safe way for her to go ashore.  Outrageously, she was discovered the first time she went to shore in Port Royal, Jamaica. She literally ran into then Captain Henry Morgan and he knew instantly he had not run into the body of a man, so he wanted to know more.

 

In discovering her secrets from the past, he lost his heart to her, and when the Captain brought her aboard his ship, she was in disguise. From then on, she posed as the Captain’s cabin boy.  Only Jonathan, a lifelong Welsh friend and one of his closest companions was trusted with their secret.
 

Then the Captain received a huge surprise from his family, the Morgan’s were moving to Jamaica en masse and his Uncle Colonel Edward Morgan had made it his deathbed request that Captain Morgan marry his daughter, Mary Elizabeth.  With great ceremony, Henry did so, after sharing many tears with his beloved Genevieve.  Yet Genevieve was not willing to give up her berth as ‘Captain’s lad’ and beseeched Henry to be allowed to continue sailing with the ship. As usual, he conceded.

 

When Admiral Henry Morgan went to attack Puerto Bello, he was concerned for Genevieve’s safety. She’d had several close calls aboard ship during their most recent battles, and the challenges expected from the Spanish at Puerto Bello were great.  She was very unhappy as she was insistently shoved into a small boat and rowed to shore, a days’ sail away from Puerto Bello and left there with a complaining monk, a small detail of armed men loaded with supplies to camp on the beach and the courageous Jonathan. The rest of the ship’s crew went to attack Fort San Lorenzo with 9 ships in tow.

 

At the end of June, 1666 Admiral Henry Morgan’s ships were posed at the great harbor of Puerto Bello, on the northern coast of the Isthmus of Panama. In a daring attack he took the town, held its citizens for ransom and beat off 3,000 strong troops coming to the aid of the town from the city of Panama. But it took two weeks to control the surrounding area, and defeat the remaining troops.

 

It was Admiral Morgan who was horrified though, when after the attack he returned to the beach, halfway between Puerto Bello and Colon to find all of the small party from his ship, lying dead in the sand.  With Jonathan’s body closest to Genevieve’s, he could see that his friend had spent his last bullet – a silver one –to save her from an even more horrifying death by their angry native attackers. 

 

Genevieve’s body lay crumpled at the foot of a tree, and as he raised her into his arms to hug her one last time. Admiral Morgan saw the bullet that took her life, a mangled lump of silver wedged into the trunk of the tree, and remembered that he and Jonathan had molded a small number of those bullets from silver reals. 

 

Genevieve, Jonathan and their men had fought bravely for their lives, dug deeply into the sand and their bodies were surrounded by empty weapons and marks in the sand where native bodies had been drug away from the scene. They had fought with great honor.   The Admiral Henry Morgan wore that scrap of a silver bullet around his neck for the rest of his life in memory of a woman of strength and courage, whom he had loved without restraint, and a best friend who had given his all trying to protect her. 

 

And as he climbed the ladder to board his ship, he vowed never to return to the beach of the bullet. His crew (who had really known all along about Genevieve’s ‘secret’) passed his words along one to the other…calling that treasured cove of love, Bala Beach. Where the body of love may have died, but the spirit of love will always live on.

 “Recortes de Continental no afectarán a Panamá,” Friday August 1, 2008, Roberto Gonzalez Jimenez, laprensa.com.pa

“Turismo al día, Copa anuncia nuevos destinos y Tocumen licita el muelle norte,” Thursday August 7, 2008, Roberto Gonzalez Jimenez, laprensa.com.pa

                                                                        

 

More Flights Over Panamanian Skies

 

With all of the economic hardship making the news these days, airline companies have stood out as some of the hardest hit. Many air carriers are trying to survive any way that they can by laying off workers, adding new fees for passengers and by cutting back on flights.

 

Continental Airlines announced in June that it would be firing 3,000 employees and eliminating its least profitable flights. They have already begun to reduce their activity in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Chile and the Dominican Republic.

 

Panama however does not appear on this list. Continental Airlines manager in Panama Ana Lorena Arroyo says that the airline is actually adding the capacity for more passengers to its Panama flights by bringing in an airplane that seats 25 more people. Nor will the US-based company be dropping any of the 90 employees that it currently has working in on the ground in Panama.

 

While Continental reinforces its commitment to Panama, many other airlines are also strengthening their presence in the isthmus. The Amsterdam based KLM Airlines used to fly once a week directly to San Jose, Costa Rica. Observing changes in market opportunities, the company decided to shift this flight to Panama instead. The KLM non-stop Amsterdam – Panama flight was initially offered only once per week but as occupancy improved, KLM has now decided to operate the route five times per week.

 

Direct flights between Panama and Toronto are currently operating every Sunday and more flight options between Canada and Panama are expected to come as we approach the tourism high season in the coming months.

 

Panama-based Copa Airlines is expanding from Panama outward, opening new connections with Valencia, Venezuela; Oranjestad, Aruba; and Santa Cruz, Bolivia starting in December. Copa is also adding six new airplanes to its fleet bringing it up to 43 airplanes in total.

 

In order to accommodate all of the new activity, Panama’s Tocumen International Airport is proceeding with plans to add a new northern terminal by 2010. This expansion will effectively double the overall passenger capacity at the airport which has seen a 22.1% increase in passenger activity in the first semester of this year versus the same time period in 2007.

 

Panama continues to be an increasingly popular place to visit and major airline companies worldwide are responding. Even in today’s times of economic hardship, Panama is a location receiving lots of attention from all over the world, primed for consistent development and growth.

 

The Caribbean Sea is possibly the world’s most beautiful body of water. It’s light color sands, lush jungle canopy cover, and its bathwater ocean temperature makes it the ideal setting for the famous Corona commercials. Yet, during a portion of the year the Caribbean is in a state of alert.

During the rainy season the majority of Caribbean beachfront lays within the Hurricane effect areas. Hurricanes cause numerous different emotional and financial headaches for property owners. Emotionally, residents during Hurricane season are continuously monitoring weather reports in fear of having to evacuate their homes. Financially, residents must pay increased insurance premiums and other additional insurance coverage associated with being in a high risk area. In both circumstances, owning a piece of tropical paradise is made a bit harder than it could be.

(affected hurricane areas)

But what if you could own that piece of tropical paradise without fear of a Hurricane? Well, Bala Beach is located on Panama’s Caribbean coast where there is no risk of Hurricanes. As a matter of fact, never in recorded history has a Hurricane struck Panama. Panama is located far enough to the south in which Hurricanes push towards the north making it one of the main deciding factors in favor of building the Canal here.

Bala Beach enjoys the natural beauty of the Caribbean while eliminating the financial and emotional anxieties. This makes Bala Beach affordable and worry free!

When thinking about where to retire, residents from all over the world, younger and older, have a new exciting option for international living and for the cheapest place to retire. Panama offers a unique opportunity for affordable living with and active and exciting lifestyle.

Panama podría ser sede de una feria turística de ITB - 3 de Julio 2008, Roberto Gonzalez Jimenez

Turismo mundial creció 5% entre enero y abril - 3 de Julio 2008, Roberto Gonzalez Jimenez www.laprensa.com.pa

The arrival of international tourists grew by 5% between January and April of 2008 according to a recent report by the World Tourism Organization. All regions showed positive results for tourism growth with the highest levels witnessed in the Middle East, Asia and Central and South America.

Panama joined the United States, Cuba, Jamaica, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Chile, Peru and Uruguay as the only countries in the Americas that experienced double digit tourism growth during these first few months of 2008.

Even as the world economy has experienced a slow-down in many important sectors, the World Tourism Organization is confident that this positive growth in international tourism will continue.

Panama’s record economic growth is related in many ways to this international tourism as it continues to attract foreigners who are increasingly coming to Panama to vacation, invest or even retire here.

Most foreigners travelling internationally are looking for a place with an agreeable climate, natural beauty and low prices. Panama offers all of those things and so much more, to the point where foreigners are committing an even larger amount of their time and money to this small, strategically located isthmus.

While commercial and financial incentives are certainly responsible for the surge in economic growth and activity occurring in Panama, the expansion and diversification of the tourism industry has also translated into more foreigners purchasing second homes, making investments and even deciding to retire full-time in Panama rather than in their home country.

Investing in Panama is more popular now than it has ever been before. It is attracting more and more attention as one of the best and cheapest places to retire because of the beautiful natural terrain and weather, easy access to North America and Europe, and the financial incentives offered to investors along a host of other reasons.

With the Panamanian economy booming like never before, the nation is building and growing in order to keep up with an insatiable new demand. Most of this new development is coming in the form of construction, infrastructure and services, and it’s forcing Panama to look for new solutions to accommodate new markets.

Major infrastructure projects are already underway including the Cinta Costera coastal road in Panama City, the new Panama-Colon Highway and the Panama Canal Expansion, but these projects are all located in the vicinity of Panama City and the Canal. Tourism minister Ruben Blades recently spoke on how a new airport is needed in Chiriqui in the western part of Panama in order to link and integrate all parts of the country into the booming tourism economy.

A German tourism company based out of Berlin named ITB is interested in holding its world famous tourism conference in Panama next year when they look to focus on the Caribbean region in 2009. A group of ITB representatives was in Panama earlier this month to review convention centers and infrastructure conditions to see how effectively the nation could host a tourism fair expected to draw nearly 200,000 visitors and presenters.

The ITB representatives had many productive conversations in Panama and left the country pleased with what they saw. Panama’s easy access with direct flights to the US, Europe and Latin America, its dollar based economy and high level of safety and security are just some of the reasons why the investigators left with a very favorable impression of the country and its potential to host such an event.

Already known as an international banking and commercial center with over 90 foreign banks and an outstanding world economic resource in the Panama Canal, Panama’s growing tourism industry only continues to solidify its presence and help it to realize its potential as one of the fastest growing countries in the world. Panama is in many ways a leader in its region and as it continues to develop it is making a name for itself as one of the central hubs of economic activity in the Western Hemisphere.

Find out more about the most promising new development in Panama:

visit the Bala Beach website at www.balabeach.com

]]> http://balabeach.com/balabeachblog/panama-investment-riding-wave-of-increased-tourism/feed/ 0 http://balabeach.com/balabeachblog/beachfront-condos-starting-from-the-ground-up/ http://balabeach.com/balabeachblog/beachfront-condos-starting-from-the-ground-up/#comments Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:19:41 +0000 admin http://balabeach.com/balabeachblog/?p=53

This past week marked another milestone for the Bala Beach Resort in Maria Chiquita, Panama as heavy equipment began operations to install primary infrastructure on site. Before any individual buildings can be constructed initial water and electric channels must be completed. The access road is already in place and fully functional since June, allowing for trucks and bulldozers to enter onto the beachfront and start with the new task at hand.

A new full time construction workforce will be a common sight alongside this small section of Panama’s Caribbean coast, joining the team who had already been regularly cleaning and maintaining the sandy beach. New changes are already evident as small sections of land are being cleared in order to prepare for the storage of the construction materials. The heavy machinery is beginning to open up pathways which will allow for the drilling of freshwater wells to provide clean drinking water for the resort. Other operators and equipment are starting to mark and dig out new spaces to put in electric and natural gas lines.

The dramatic change in the landscape of this small Caribbean fishing village is just now beginning to take form. After making many trips to the Bala Beach site without seeing any heavy work being done, it was hard to imagine how this raw piece of land would be transformed into the foundation for a large residential development composed of an orchestra of multiple concrete structures. But now with just a little bit of deisel powered action taking place, Bala Beach is taking its first steps toward its final goal.

It is an exciting time to be in Panama and especially exciting if you are in any way following or involved with the progress at Bala Beach. Development and opportunity are on the horizon, and the coming months will start this project on its way to becoming a reality. Almost all of the work still remains ahead of us, but from these first days forward, it will be easier and easier to imagine a new life in Maria Chiquita and at Bala Beach.

To see more visit www.balabeach.com