Santa Lucía

About Santa Lucía:

Santa Lucía is one of the five corregimientos of Remedios district in eastern Chiriquí, created by Law 10 of 7 March 1997. It covers about 25.7 square kilometres, starting at the eastern edge of Remedios town and reaching north-east across the Panamericana. Its two named hamlets sit at either end. Finca Santa Lucía runs into the town itself, while El María, which has its own school, lies out on the highway towards Tolé. Public transport leaves from Remedios, and the turn-off from the Panamericana into town takes about five minutes to drive.

The corregimiento takes its name from the Río Santa Lucía, which crosses it on the way south to the Gulf of Chiriquí. When the Interamericana’s bridges over the San Félix, Tolé, Santa Lucía and Fonseca rivers were built, the material came in by sea and was landed at the old pier at El Puerto, in the same district. That pier had long shipped cattle out of eastern Chiriquí, back when Remedios, founded in 1589, was a required stop on the road between Santiago and Alanje. Santa Lucía keeps its own patronal festival on 17 and 18 December.

For daily needs, people here rely on Remedios town: its schools, clinics, pharmacies, police station, grocery shops and buses. The district lives mainly from crops and cattle, and most of Santa Lucía’s open land is worked that way. It has the smallest population of the district’s five corregimientos, and the number has hovered between 500 and 600 for more than twenty years. Hospitals, larger shops and the airport are in David, about an hour west.

This is Pacific lowland, a few dozen metres above sea level and hot all year. Water is what you read first on a plot. In August 2021, heavy rain arriving with a high tide pushed the Santa Lucía over its banks and into homes downstream in El Porvenir, El Cucuy and El Puerto. Land up by the highway and land down by the river carry different risks, so check where a parcel sits before you judge its price. South of the corregimiento, the Remedios coast at El Puerto, La Porcada and Boca Vieja looks out over the islands of the gulf.

Houses in Santa Lucía:

Homes here are single-family houses on their own land, concentrated in Finca Santa Lucía, where the corregimiento meets Remedios town, and along the roads around El María. Buyers who want houses for sale near Remedios with town services on foot will find Finca Santa Lucía the practical choice. Out towards El María the houses are more spread out and closer to farmland. Ask how water reaches the house and whether the power line runs to the gate, because services get thinner the further you go from town.

Land and Lots in Santa Lucía:

Land is the main market. The larger parcels are cattle and farm fincas sold by the hectare, while smaller house lots come up around Finca Santa Lucía and near the highway. Anyone looking for land for sale in Santa Lucía, Chiriquí will notice that Panamericana frontage is the obvious selling point, whether for a roadside business or simply for access that holds up in the rainy season. Before you count frontage, confirm where the road’s right-of-way ends and how much land is left to build on. Parcels that touch the river need the same check for the riverbank margin.

FAQ:

• Is this the same Santa Lucía as the one near Boquete?

  No. The Santa Lucía near Volcancito is a highland neighbourhood of Boquete, in the mountains north of David. This one is a lowland corregimiento of Remedios district on the Panamericana in eastern Chiriquí, about an hour east of David, so check the district on any listing you find.

• How far is Santa Lucía from David and from the beach?

  David is about an hour west along the Panamericana. Playa Las Lajas, a grey-sand beach that stretches for more than 14 kilometres, is about 15 minutes from Remedios town, and the district’s own shore at El Puerto and La Porcada lies to the south.

• Does the river flood?

  It can. In August 2021 the Santa Lucía overflowed after days of rain that coincided with high tides, and water entered houses in downstream communities near the coast. If a plot sits on low ground near the river or one of its streams, ask neighbours how high the water came that year and walk the land in the rainy season.

• What should I check before buying a finca with highway or river frontage?

  Start with the edges. On the Panamericana, the Ministerio de Obras Públicas right-of-way can take a strip of what looks like your frontage, and riverbank parcels carry a protected margin you cannot build on. Then confirm in the Registro Público that the finca is titled and that the seller is the registered owner, since some rural land in Panama is held only as possession rights.

• Where do residents shop, study and see a doctor?

  In Remedios town, a short drive or a walk from Finca Santa Lucía. It has schools, clinics, pharmacies, a police station, grocery shops and public transport. For a hospital, big supermarkets or the airport, people go to David.