Pajonal

About Pajonal:

Pajonal lies about half an hour’s drive from Penonomé, where the hospital, the banks, the supermarkets and the Interamericana are. One paved road carries most of the traffic. Built in the 1990s, it serves Pajonal, Cerro Colorado, Membrillo, La Mina, El Águila Abajo and Chorrerita, and for years it went without serious work until the Ministry of Public Works scarified and recompacted it in April 2026, starting from the Instituto Carmen Conte Lombardo. Away from that road, communities such as Turega depend on rougher tracks that are hard going in the long rainy season, and Turega’s suspension footbridge collapsed with people on it. How a plot connects to the paved road, and what that connection is like in October, matters more here than almost anything else.

The economy is farming and handwork. Oranges and other citrus, vegetables and greens go down to the public market in Penonomé, and poultry, cattle and pig farming have grown in recent years. Pajonal is also one of the places where Coclé’s crafts are still made: hats, mats woven from bellota palm fibre, carved wood and figures cut from soapstone. La Mina de Membrillo holds a Festival de la Piedra de Jabón every April, which reached its sixth edition in 2026, and the Soto family’s Finca Palma Bellota at El Águila has hosted the Feria del Águila around its palm-fibre work.

The name comes from the straw grass that covered the hills around the first settlements, whose people spoke of going “to Pajonal”. The villages sit at a little over 200 metres, among rivers and streams with bathing pools and small waterfalls, and hikers climb Cerro Turega for the view. History passed through here too: Victoriano Lorenzo, the Penonomé leader of the Thousand Days’ War, dug in at Pajonal and directed his forces from these hills, and the corregimiento split off in 2022 carries his name. Rain is the one climate fact that matters to a buyer, because from about May to November it decides which tracks a car can use.

In 2023 Pajonal had 7,678 residents on 63.7 km², after more than half of its old territory went to General Victoriano Lorenzo. Farming is the main living, with crafts alongside it. The houses and land that reach the market are aimed at people from Penonomé and Panama City who want a weekend or retirement house with land, or a small eco-tourism project beside a river. A lot on the paved road with power and community water is a very different purchase from a hillside parcel reached by a dirt track, and the price reflects it.

Houses in Pajonal:

Houses here are single-family homes on their own land, usually with plenty of it. Fruit trees, a fenced perimeter and a reserve water tank are standard, because water comes from community aqueducts run by local boards rather than a city utility; Sofre added an 11,800-gallon storage tank to its system in 2023. The larger houses for sale in Pajonal stand on 4,000 m² or more, with three bedrooms on a single floor and room for a garden and an outdoor social area. Before you buy, ask which aqueduct board supplies the house, whether the connection is in the seller’s name and how the supply holds up at the end of the dry season.

Land and Lots in Pajonal:

Building lots come up along the paved road, where power and community water are close at hand, and on the hillsides that drop to the rivers further out. Riverside parcels are a category of their own: a stream that runs all year, natural terraces with room for a house and views across the hills, on plots of around 8,000 m² offered for a private home, a weekend retreat or a small eco-lodge. On that kind of ground slope is the main constraint, along with how a truck will reach the site in the rains. Ask for the survey plan and walk the access from the public road yourself, because a track can cross a neighbour’s land without any registered easement.

Fincas in Pajonal:

Farmland in Pajonal mixes citrus, pasture, woodland and the small pig and poultry operations that have spread in recent years. Fincas are sold by the hectare on rolling ground, often with a spring or a stream, and some come with a farmhouse. In rural Coclé a good deal of land was titled only through state adjudication and some is still held under possessory rights alone, so establish which of the two you are buying before anything else. Check too that the plan places the finca in Pajonal rather than in General Victoriano Lorenzo or Chiguirí Arriba, since a few communities were split between them.

FAQ:

• Is Churuquita Grande still part of Pajonal?

  No. Since Law 296 of 2022, Churuquita Grande, Churuquita Chiquita, Rincón de las Palmas, Sonadora, El Guabal, El Nanzal and several other villages belong to General Victoriano Lorenzo, with Churuquita Chiquita as its seat, and Pajonal Abajo and Caimito are split between the two. Adverts, and even the posters for the Feria de la Naranja, still use the old name, so check the corregimiento on the survey plan and in the entry at the Registro Público.

• How long does it take to get to Pajonal, and what is the road like?

  Allow about half an hour from Penonomé. The main road is paved and was resurfaced in April 2026 on the stretch toward Membrillo and El Águila Abajo. Side roads to outlying communities such as Turega are rougher and can be difficult in the rainy months, so see a property in that season before you commit.

• Where does a house in Pajonal get its water?

  From a rural aqueduct run by a community board, the Junta Administradora de Acueducto Rural. Sofre, Cerro Colorado, Membrillo Arriba, Águila Arriba and Turega each have their own. Ask the board whether the property is connected and paid up, and budget for a reserve tank if the house has none.

• Can a foreigner buy land in Pajonal?

  Yes. Pajonal is far from any border, so the limits on foreign ownership near the frontier do not apply, and titled land at the Registro Público can be bought on the same terms as a Panamanian. The difficulty comes with land held only under possessory rights, which has to be titled first; have a lawyer confirm which kind you are being offered.

• What is there to do in Pajonal?

  The Festival de la Piedra de Jabón at La Mina de Membrillo in April and the Feria del Águila at Finca Palma Bellota show the local crafts at their best. Hikers climb Cerro Turega, and the rivers have bathing pools and small waterfalls. The Feria de la Naranja, at the end of January, takes place just across the new boundary in Churuquita Grande.