El Cacao

About El Cacao:

El Cacao covers about 177 km² of hill country in the northern half of Capira district, between Lídice and Cirí Grande. The asphalt runs from Capira town through Lídice and into the village, which has a school, a health post, an agriculture ministry (MIDA) agency, churches, kiosks and the junta comunal grounds where the fair is held. Past the village the road carries on towards Cirí Grande, and the turn-offs to Bajo Bonito, Altamira and the smaller hamlets are earth and gravel. On those tracks a 4×4 is the sensible choice, and some of them ford the river more than once.

Farming still pays the bills. Oranges and other citrus ripen from December to February, and the hillsides also carry coffee, plantain, vegetables, poultry and beef cattle. Since 2005 a group of entrepreneurs has pushed the corregimiento towards agrotourism, and several working farms, among them Miltonias, El Paraíso and Guadalupe, now take day visitors and overnight guests alongside their crops and livestock. Small guesthouses in the village centre host visitors with local families, more were being built for the 2025 dry season, and over 5,000 people came through in 2023. The local tourism committee runs trips to the La Gloria and La Golondrina waterfalls and the Arenilla bathing pool, while families along the river sell food and keep paths open down to the water.

The Río Cacao rises in Altos de Campana, the national park created in 1966 as Panama’s first, and it shapes daily life in the village; plenty of houses have the river as their back yard. The village sits at under 300 metres, so this is green, warm valley country rather than a cool highland retreat. What the seasons change is the water: the dry months bring breeze and easy fords, the rainy season brings strong currents to the same crossings. Drinking water comes through rural aqueducts run by local water boards, and the environment ministry has been working with them to improve intakes and distribution in El Cacao and Cirí Grande.

History is part of the local identity too. In 1889 a young Victoriano Lorenzo, later the indigenous leader of the Thousand Days’ War, was named corregidor of El Cacao, where he lived with his family. Today the buyers who come up the road are mostly cattle people adding pasture, families from Panama City and La Chorrera looking for a weekend finca with a river, and people with an eco-lodge or agrotourism project in mind. In 2025 Panama’s Technological University opened a small centre in El Cacao that turns recycled plastic bottles into 3D-printing filament, a sign that the corregimiento is not only about farming any more.

Houses in El Cacao:

Houses here almost always come with land. In the village they are modest family homes along the river and the main road. Further out, the bigger properties are farms first and houses second, and some of them already earn their keep as agrotourism fincas with rooms for guests. Now and then something larger comes up: a four-bedroom house with a swimming pool on 26 hectares, fronting the asphalt and pitched as a home, a private retreat or an eco-lodge. If you are browsing houses for sale in El Cacao, Capira, ask whether the house has its own aqueduct connection or a spring, and how far it is from the paved road.

Land and Lots in El Cacao:

Land is the real market, and the range is wide. At the small end there are titled parcels of four hectares around Yerbabuena, six-hectare plots at Bajo Bonito and flat, sandy-loam ground of under two hectares sold for crops. At the other end sit cattle fincas of 70 to 86 hectares with improved pasture, fruit and timber trees and live water, often titled and open to segregation. Per square metre, a large finca here costs a small fraction of what lotified parcels near the Interamericana fetch. The trade-off is access: some of the big farms have no electricity yet, and the last few kilometres can be dirt with shallow streams to cross. Before you commit to land for sale in El Cacao, drive that last stretch in the rainy season.

FAQ:

• How do I get to El Cacao, and what is the road like?

  Turn north off the Interamericana at Capira town and follow the paved road through Lídice; the drive takes about 45 minutes. The village itself is on asphalt. Bajo Bonito, Altamira and many of the fincas are reached on earth and gravel tracks, some with river fords, where a 4×4 makes life much easier.

• The seller says the land is titled but “has to be segregated”. What does that mean?

  The parcel is part of a larger titled finca and still has to be split off as its own property. Until the segregation is approved and recorded, you cannot get a separate title for your piece. Ask for the mother finca’s number, check the owner and any liens in the Registro Público, see the survey plan for the new lot, and agree in writing who pays for and handles the segregation before money changes hands.

• Will a finca have electricity and water?

  Not always. The village has power and rural aqueducts run by community water boards, but some of the large farms further out have no power line yet and rely on springs and creeks. Confirm both on the ground, and if the property depends on the community aqueduct, ask the water board about the connection.

• Can I run an agrotourism farm or guesthouse here?

  Others already do. Working farms in El Cacao offer day visits, trails and overnight stays, and the local tourism committee brings groups in, especially in the dry season. Check with the Capira municipality what a lodging business needs on the specific parcel before you buy with that plan.

• Is any of the land inside Altos de Campana National Park?

  The Río Cacao rises in the park, so the upper end of the valley runs towards protected land. If a finca sits at the head of the watershed, ask the environment ministry to confirm that it lies outside the park boundary before you sign.