Dear property owners and
friends of Valle Escondido,
It has been a busy
month with a lot of construction progress and a lot of
visitors. The hurricane in the Caribbean sent a lot of rain
our way for about 10 days, but the work continued with only a
little delay.
First, let's take a look at the "unseen"
progress. We have added to our management staff and our
construction crew in Valle Escondido. Dave Emiliani is our new
acquisitions manager for materials and home cost-outs. Jessie
Lezcano takes over the accounting department and handles wire
transfers from home and lot buyers. We currently have 15
people in management positions, and 85 construction workers
not including the 20 full-time Indians who work in the coffee
plantation. We are growing fast and expect to triple these
numbers in the coming year.
I am sorry for all of the
delays on the website but our webmaster John Nelson has been
very busy working on our new site at http://valleescondido.net/.
Our website has had a new face-lift, and I believe it is more
complete and easier and faster to modify in the future. New
Valle Escondido and Los Establos brochures are being developed
and printed by our marketing consultant Patricia Lassiter, patriciaal@mindspring.com
, who also bought a Valle Escondido lot herself.
We
are in the beginning of cosecha (coffee picking
season), and the amount of coffee coming from the plantation
is astounding. This year we expect to produce over 75,000
pounds of roasted and bagged coffee. We do not want to sell it
in bulk into the market because the prices are so low we get
less than the cost of production. Unfortunately, you do not
see the lower costs when you buy coffee in the store. Soon we
will have Valle Escondido Coffee available in its gold foil
labeled package in ½ lb and 1 lb bags. Please let Patricia
Lassiter know if you would like to begin to receive fresh
coffee from your own plantation to give as Christmas gifts or
to consume yourself. It is the best in the world! We are
always in need of buyers' stories as well, so let her know if
you would like to submit one for the website.
We have
negotiated a special rate for cellular phones with Bell South
that will be available to homeowners very soon. We have made
arrangements with the Marsh insurance group for home, auto and
life insurance policies for Valle Escondido homeowners. Also,
on the website, there will be a new heading called
"construction schedule". This will have the expected
completion dates of the various parts of the project such as
the pueblito, medical clinic, country club, individual homes,
etc. Another new section will be "community relations and
support" which will have the latest in our continuing effort
to help the local Boquete community. And one other important
page will be the "partnership opportunity" page. This is where
you can get involved in working with us as a business partner
by starting your own services business catering to people
coming to Valle Escondido. We especially need homebuilders to
work as subcontractors. Learn more about these here at the
website soon.
Now on to the
construction update!
We have made a
decision to use concrete interlocking paving stone for the
road surfaces in the valley. They are extremely durable and
beautiful and give us a lot of flexibility to make changes
with out tearing up the roads. We have purchased the needed
equipment to make these, as well as all other concrete block
we use here on the project. We will begin paving some of the
road surfaces in the next month or so.
The main gate
area is finished, and the small house has been modified to be
our office for the construction accounting department.
The work at the stone bridge continues with a new
stone powerhouse nearly completed. We intend to have a small
hydroelectric plant there to power the lighting of the roads
and bridge. The spillway is beautiful, and the pool above it
is deep and will make a nice home for the trout that will be
stocked in it.
The pueblito area is coming along
splendidly. We now have 10 foundations finished including the
main activity center. The steel perlins for 4 buildings are
up, and we are putting the roofs on them. Each building is
being very carefully planned for esthetics. They have to look
different with a variety of facades. Each elevation and roof
is different with some having arched windows and others bay
type. We are trying to keep the concept of an old village,
with the amenities of the 21st century. The workers call it
disneylandia.
We are building 5 pools cascading
one to the next in the park of the pueblito. The first pool
starts just below the church steps and the last one at the
activity center on the other end of the park. They are under
construction now and should be completed by my next report.
The next building completed will house our showroom for doors,
cabinets, plumbing fixtures, lighting and tile that we have
available for the homes we are building. We make the doors,
cabinets and decks in our own wood shop. We make the ironwork
such as railings, chandeliers and curtain rods in our iron
shop. We will be making our own aluminum windows in our window
shop within the month. The tiles all come from Spain, and we
will have a web page devoted to them in a few more weeks. The
furniture showroom will also have a web page devoted to it so
you can see the variety of furniture we make and have
available to homebuyers should they not want to ship theirs
down.
The first two duplexes are nearly ready. The
windows went in this last week. The old tile roofs are
absolutely spectacular. They add so much character to the
buildings. The first coat of base white paint went on last
week as well. The final wash finish will start this week. The
tile is expected in from Spain in the next week, so all looks
ready for our move in the middle of December.
We will
break ground next week on the first two-level duplex. We have
sold several, and the owners are eager to move in. We expect
to have them completed in April next year.
The
underground utilities are under way. This requires a lot of
digging and then concrete with tubes for the various electric,
phones, security, etc. We expect to report next month to have
power in the pueblito and duplexes. I sure hope so because my
wife refuses to move in without the use of a hair dryer.
We are working with Casa Esperanza (House of Hope) for
a charity event in Valle Escondido to be held in the pueblito
on the 16th of December. They work with the Indians here in
Chiriqui province to better their conditions through support
and education. This will be an afternoon family event with
three or four bands, food and beverages -- and the finale of
the lighting of the two 80-foot Norfolk Island pines on the
ridge above the pueblito! Valle Escondido is donating $5,000
to the location as well as personnel of Casa Esperanza. All of
the money for entry will also go to the charity. If you would
like to personally contribute, please let me know. We would
like to continue this as a yearly charitable event in the
valley.
Well, those are the highlights for the month.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or
suggestions.
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