Introduction

Crab mentality, sometimes referred to as crabs in the bucket, describes a way of thinking best described by the phrase "if I can't have it, neither can you." The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs. Individually, the crabs could easily escape from the pot, but instead, they grab at each other in a useless "king of the hill" competition (or sabotage) which prevents any from escaping and ensures their collective demise. The analogy in human behavior is that of a group that will attempt to "pull down" (negate or diminish the importance of) any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of envy, conspiracy or competitive feelings.

It didn’t take long to get thrown into the Panama bucket, but took a good deal longer to understand we were in the bottom of the bucket, and most likely, there was no way out.

It seemed such an obvious decision at the time, after all real-estate was booming, the baby-boomer generation continued to be the most sought after market, and I had some experience in construction.   Panama was still an unknown market, but its assets were obvious; the US dollar as its currency, its proximity to the US market, its banking industry, its strategic importance to the US with the Canal, and its diversified beauty in landscape of beaches and mountains.   And then there were the government chum and lures that became just vacant promises.   The lucrative tax incentives for retirees and investors that were nearly impossible to attain or unenforceable once you did.  But I digress, we will get to all that dark stuff later.

The eight year family quest for a Caribbean property finally came to an end, Bocas Del Toro, Panama was the new frontier that begged to be discovered (and developed).   In March of 2003, my dad and I spent a few weeks travelling all over Panama looking for the perfect place.  We thought we would develop a small little surf lodge that we could build from a far with partners and have a warm spot to escape Minnesota winters where we lived.    We hopped from the beaches in the remote Perl islands to the mountains of Boquete, and back to the Pacific beaches but didn’t find anywhere we wanted to stake our flag  Once my we landed  in Bocas, however, we knew we found the place.  Caribbean blue waters, boat taxis, lush green rainforests, white sandy beaches, and a laid back funky village teeming with a laid back island mojo.   Our last realtor tour in Bocas was a place called Red Frog Beach.   We landed on the leeward side of the property  and walked on a narrow trail through the jungle sweating as we started to hear the waves crashing as we approached the windward side.  The ground shook as we emerged out of the towering rainforest and the white sandy beach being pounded by Caribbean blue waves unveiled itself.  This was what we wanted to buy, but it wasn’t for sale.