Valle de Agua Arriba

About Valle de Agua Arriba:

Valle de Agua Arriba was split from the old Almirante corregimiento by Law 18 of 2009, when this whole area still belonged to Changuinola district. When Law 39 of 8 June 2015 created Almirante district, the corregimiento went with it. The 2009 law names eleven communities: Valle de Agua Arriba, which is the seat, Valle de Agua Abajo, Nueva Estrella, Quebrada Pastor, Quebrada Pitti, Quebrada Cacao, Loma Azul, Renacimiento, Río Oeste Abajo, Río Oeste Arriba and Valle de La Perla. At the 2010 census the corregimiento had 3,163 residents on 70.3 square kilometres. The seat is one of the smaller places on that list. Quebrada Pastor and Río Oeste Arriba are both bigger.

The Almirante–Chiriquí Grande highway works as the corregimiento’s main street. Valle de La Perla and Nueva Estrella sit right on it, and from Río Oeste Arriba the drive into Almirante takes about fifteen minutes. Everything heading from Almirante to Rambala, where the road meets the mountain highway into Chiriquí, comes through here, heavy trucks included; one loaded with banana boxes once overturned at Nueva Estrella. The school in Valle de Agua Arriba runs through premedia to ninth grade, and Valle de Agua Abajo and Valle de La Perla have primary schools of their own. For secondary school, the hospital, banks, supermarkets and the water taxis to Bocas Town on Isla Colón, people go into Almirante.

Cacao is what the corregimiento is known for outside it. In Río Oeste Arriba, Ngäbe growers farm certified organic cacao under forest shade, and their association runs the Oreba tour: three to four hours through the plantations and the whole process from pod to chocolate, finishing with a Ngäbe lunch. Oreba is the Ngäbe word for chocolate, and the tour money goes back into the community’s schooling and health care. Quebrada Pastor has a collection point where a cacao buyer takes in beans from the farms around it.

The country here is hills rather than mountains, with the seat at around 190 metres. The Río Oeste rises on the Filo de Riscó, the ridge it shares with Valle de Riscó, and the streams that give Quebrada Pastor, Quebrada Pitti and Quebrada Cacao their names cut across the land on the way down. This is the wet Caribbean side of Panama, and after hard rain those streams have run over the highway and slides have brought earth down onto it near Valle de Agua. For anyone building, that matters more than the view: look at drainage, the distance to the nearest stream bed and the angle of the slope before anything else.

Houses in Valle de Agua Arriba:

Houses come up now and then, mostly family homes on their own lots beside the highway at the Almirante end, around Valle de La Perla. They suit a buyer who wants a yard and a short drive to the port. Before you make an offer, watch how the lot drains in a downpour, find out whether the water comes from a community system or a private spring, and check how close the front door sits to the trucks.

Land and Lots in Valle de Agua Arriba:

Land is the main thing on offer. Along the asphalt between Valle de La Perla and Quebrada Pastor, parcels can have electricity, water and direct road frontage, and the frontage is what lifts the price. Away from the highway, towards Río Oeste and Loma Azul, the ground gets hillier and you reach it by side road. When you compare land for sale in Valle de Agua Arriba, measure how much of the parcel is flat enough to build on and how far the nearest power line runs.

Fincas in Valle de Agua Arriba:

The larger holdings near Quebrada Pastor run to tens of hectares, with road frontage, power and spring water. Cacao is the obvious crop, and with a collection point in Quebrada Pastor the beans do not have to travel far to a buyer. If a farm is sold as organic, ask whether the certification belongs to the land or to a growers’ association, because it does not always move with a sale. A big hillside finca in Bocas del Toro this close to Almirante is a working property first, so walk the boundaries in wet weather before you agree a figure.

FAQ:

• Is it Valle de Agua Arriba or Valle de Aguas Arriba, and which district is it in?

  Both spellings mean the same corregimiento; the 2009 law that created it says Valle de Agua Arriba, and locals often shorten it to Valle de Agua. It has been part of Almirante district since 2015. Before that it sat in Changuinola district, so older plans and deeds may still say Changuinola. That is not an error in itself, but the parcel on the plan and the one in the registry entry must be the same.

• Can I buy land around Río Oeste or Quebrada Pastor?

  Only with care. Law 10 of 1997, which created the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, lists Río Oeste and Quebrada Pastor among the annex areas set aside for Ngäbe communities in Bocas del Toro, with their limits to be drawn later. Land inside an annex area is held collectively and cannot be sold to outsiders. Before you pay, have the parcel’s survey checked against any delimitation with ANATI and confirm its status in the property registry.

• What happens to the road in heavy rain?

  The highway is paved, but streams have spilled over it and slides have come down near Valle de Agua after downpours. Side roads to the hill parcels can be worse. Visit after a few wet days, ask how long the road stayed blocked the last time, and find out whether your access is a public road or a right of way across a neighbour’s land.

• The seller has possession rights, not a title. Is that a problem?

  It can be. A good deal of rural land in this part of Bocas del Toro is held under derechos posesorios, a right of occupation that has to go through titling with ANATI before it becomes a registered finca. Until then a bank will not lend on it and you cannot register it in your name. If the land came down through a family, make sure the inheritance was settled, or the person signing may not be the only owner.

• Where do people go for shopping, schools and health care?

  Primary schools are spread through the communities, and the one in Valle de Agua Arriba goes up to ninth grade. Supermarkets, banks, secondary school and the hospital are all in Almirante, about fifteen minutes away. Changuinola, the province’s largest town, is further on.