Miles of beautiful beaches on this rare island property

12,500 Re-Purposed Plastic Bottles.

July 27th, 2010 by Manya

When I was a little girl, I found it a little strange to watch my father rinse the ziplock bag and reuse it for the next day’s lunch bag. Times change quickly and you learn fast! Years later I find it that “re-purposing the ziplock bag” idea not only serves as a good “eco” and [...]

The Path Between the Seas

April 14th, 2010 by Jerrod

I finished Pulitzer Prize winning-author David McCullough’s epic book about the building of the Panama Canal this past weekend while sitting at the pool of Gamboa Rainforest Resort which sits on old canal zone land (fitting, I know). I was trying to envision myself operating one of the giant Bucyrus steam shovels at the Culebra [...]

No Hurricanes

February 16th, 2010 by Ben

While reviewing the (near) construction drawings for our model home last month, it became clear that the (US-based) structural engineers were designing systems capable of handling hurricane-force winds. An understandable tactic, I suppose, since we are all used to hearing about hurricanes battering the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and much of the US’s coasts every [...]

“From the Toilet to the Tank”

December 4th, 2009 by Frances

We seem to have potty minds here at Amble. We’ve had more blog posts about toilets than I care to count. It’s understandable, though. Access to clean, potable water has always been a concern in developing countries, and it’s believed to be a major concern for all of us in the future. To be ecologically [...]

Canal Expansion

October 28th, 2009 by David

Since its inception, Panama has been known as the crossroads of the western world. As a land-route bottleneck from North and Central America to South America, and with the canal passing through this isthmus, Panama factors into world trade as a crucial point in world economics. As such, Panama has been subjected to the growth [...]

Solar Decathlon

October 9th, 2009 by Mark

As you can imagine, Panama has an abundance of sunshine.  It’s an ideal location to get that perfect bronze tan; to watch the sweat dribble down the side of your cold margarita; or to just generally warm any anxiety you might have.  When I was first on Isla Palenque that line from Harry Nilsson’s, “Everybody’s Talkin’,” kept [...]

Press Release – Island Properties – An Inherently Ecological Land Form

September 14th, 2009 by Frances

CHICAGO, Sept. 11, 2009 — While real estate developers on the mainland often struggle with the economics of sustainable initiatives, island properties inherently lend themselves to environmentally responsible design. While not many island developers explore sustainability as a common sense strategy, there are some who are on the vanguard of sustainable practices – and reaping [...]

Sci-Fi Solutions

September 9th, 2009 by Frances

Ever fantasize about futuristic, sci-fi solutions to global warming? I do. I don’t have a very scientific mind, so my imaginings are rather childlike dreams of silver bullet solutions: I imagine giant air purifiers on the top of every sky scraper that somehow suck in the bad air and clean it, or big vacuum hoses [...]

LEED and The Cove

September 8th, 2009 by Mark

Since LEED is fresh on my mind (I clicked save on the LEED checklist we’re creating thirty seconds ago) I’m going to go on a rant.  This week The New York Times published an article about how “Some Buildings Not Living Up to Green Label.” The article describes how some buildings aren’t necessarily as energy efficient [...]

Photographer’s Notes

August 18th, 2009 by Ben

Adam Elliott, who took most of the photos we use on our website and elsewhere (and whom regular readers might remember from these previous posts), finally got around to writing his photo blog entry on the trip. As with most of his travel related posts, it provides a unique and interesting look into the area [...]