Viguí

About Viguí:

Viguí became a corregimiento of its own in 1997 and covers just under 60 square kilometres of low, broken hill country. The Río Viguí marks its limit with Chiriquí, and the district of Tolé lies across the water. The Interamericana crosses the river on a four-lane bridge, which puts the corregimiento on the main road between Santiago and David and on the route of the long-distance buses heading west. When that stretch is closed, traffic is sent around by the road to Las Palmas town, by the El María–Zapotillo–Puerto Vidal route, or out toward Guabalá.

Farming is the work here. Yuca and ñame are what Viguí is known for within the district, and they go to market alongside rice, maize and beans grown mostly for the family table. Paid work beyond the farm usually means Santiago or Panama City, and Las Palmas as a whole has lost people to both. Ngäbe and campesino families live side by side, and the hamlets are small: even the larger ones, such as Barrigón and La Cucurucha, are only a few dozen houses.

Leave the highway and the ground starts to climb and fall, and the place names on the map tell you so: Cerro Grande, Cerro Iguana, Cerro Laja, Loma Alta. Other settlements, among them El Aguacate, Sahumerio, La Mona and Bajo Cobre, sit along secondary roads and paths between the hills. Primary schools serve El Viguí and La Cucurucha. Not long ago, older pupils from the interior walked for hours up and down those cerros to reach a school, and that says more about inland distances here than any map does.

Two different markets share this corregimiento. Parcels near the highway trade on access: a short drive to the Interamericana, power and water at the boundary, a paved road to the gate. Land deeper in the hills is harder to reach, and that difference shows in every decision about building, farming or reselling. The fincas that come up for sale are aimed squarely at that kind of buyer, whether the plan is to farm, to keep a country retreat or to hold the land for the long term.

Land and Lots in Viguí:

Land is what Viguí sells. Fincas here are measured in hectares, and the best of them come titled, with electricity, water and an asphalt road a few kilometres off the Interamericana. On a finca for sale in Viguí, access and title count for more than size: a smaller parcel on a paved road can be worth more than a big one reached only by a hill track. If you plan to build, check where the power line and water connection actually reach on the land, not just that they run somewhere nearby. Drive the access road in the wet months before you commit.

FAQ:

• Is Viguí in Veraguas or Chiriquí?

  Viguí is in Veraguas, part of the Las Palmas district. The Río Viguí is the provincial line, and the name also turns up on the Tolé side of the river. Make sure the deed and the survey plan name the right corregimiento, district and province before you go any further.

• What should I check on a finca beside the river or the highway?

  Along the Río Viguí the water itself often forms a boundary, and riverbanks shift, so the line on the survey plan and the line on the ground need to agree. Next to the Interamericana, find out how much frontage the widened road took and where the legal access to the land is. In both cases, get a current certificate from the property registry showing the owner, the area and any mortgage, and have the plan checked against it before you pay a deposit.

• How do you get to Viguí?

  The Interamericana passes through it, so buses between Santiago and David go by. The inland hamlets hang off secondary roads and paths, and some of them are a long walk from the highway. When the highway is shut at the bridge, the road toward Las Palmas town is one of the usual detours.

• Is Viguí part of the Ngäbe-Buglé comarca?

  No. Viguí is ordinary provincial land in Veraguas. Communities in the comarca’s Ñürüm district are not far off, though, so for land on that side, confirm on the plan exactly where the parcel sits.

• What do farms in Viguí produce?

  Yuca and ñame above all; El Viguí is one of the places the district’s root crops come from. Rice, maize and beans are grown too, mostly on a family scale. If you are buying to farm commercially, ask the neighbours what that particular slope yields before you plan around it.