Bonnie

I can't speak for Keith, but the obvious question that occurs to me is, if you were moving money between two sources in the U.K., why you sent it to Panama at all?

From a Rodny Alert member email yesterday: "Just today we learned that Boquete is issuing permanent resident access IDs for your cars. These will be used to give residents access to the town during ferias and parades. It is unknown whether they will also be used for the security checkpoint at the Caldera turnoff in the future. You can pick them up for each of your cars free from your local corrigidora. Knowing your vehicle license numbers is helpful."

For what it's worth, on the few occasions when I have made wire transfers from the U.S. to Panama, they have been accomplished overnight. I can't understand why transfers within the country would take longer.

There are TWO cards. I have seen them. One is permission to cross the bridge and is obtainable from the Mayor's office. The other, which is laminated, proclaims one a resident of Boquete. It would seem that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing if the Jaramillo Corregidora is telling people that the laminated card will get them across the bridge and personnel at City Hall are sending people to the Jaramillo Corregidora for bridge passes. Still confusing.

If they had not yet switched to Rodny Direct, the number in their phone would have been that of Alto al Crimen. So, yes, it should worrisome to all AAC clients that the call went to voice mail rather than being answered. There's the possibility, I suppose, that Franc was on another call. But in that case he should have returned the call as soon as he was free. I assume he did not as there is no mention of it.

Both Mark (see earlier post) and another Jaramillo resident who telephoned me this afternoon said they got their stickers from the Jaramillo Corregidura and were told they were annual stickers recognizing everyone living here as residents of Boquete and that they also would gain them passage across the feria bridge while the fair is ongoing. This, of course, conflicts with the information Pantah received, which is that the stickers are solely for passage over the bridge during fair days and available only from the Jaramillo Corregidura. What about the rest of us who don't live in Jaramillo but cross the bridge to get home? Are the stickers only available from the Jaramillo corregidura, as suggested, or do we get ours from our own Corregidura? If they are permanent and not merely for bridge passage, will other residents be able to get them from their respective Corregiduras after the fair is over? I can't make sense of any of this. The Mayor needs to issue a statement--perhaps to News Boquete or Boquete News on Facebook--clarifying the issue. With all the fair-related traffic, it's a terrible time to be running around trying to figure it out. Or, as Keith suggested, maybe a bilingual person will find out and let us all know.

Mark's post saids as follows: "It appears that all Boquete residents are being issued permanent vehicle IDs. These could be for letting residents get to their houses during ferias/parades, but much more interesting, would be the logical first step to implementing a real checkpoint at the entrance to town." It's something totally separate from a bridge pass if everyone living here is eligible to get one. The bridge passes are available at City Hall, as usual, beginning today. This is according to someone who went by for one earlier.

Has anyone who has traveled to Medellin have a hotel recommendation (preferably near Parque Lleras)?

As I read it, Bud, they're trying to figure out if there are enough people to schedule such a class.

I agree with Brundageba. I have been a client of Rodny's since the beginning, and I have never been disappointed. Adding to the quoted post, Rodny has developed extensive contacts with law enforcement which serve him well in emergency situations.

To Keith's observations, I would add the following. Richard Moore is a (former) volunteer with AAC. He gave of his time and expertise on behalf of the organization without compensation. When he was struck by tragedy, rather than jumping in to report the assault and expressing concern for his health, AAC said nothing until incorrect information had spread through the community. When AAC finally issued a public statement, it made no mention of Mr. Moore's AAC service, expressed no concern for him. Rather the announcement consisted of an excuse for why AAC, that claims to be foremost crime prevention organization in the community, didn't report anything sooner.

Does Panama even have a fingerprint repository? I thought I had heard that it does not. And if not, what good are fingerprints in identifying the assailants unless they are caught for committing another crime?

Wow! And for first offenses? I can see some of these for second offenses, but not for first. "Conducir con aliento alcoholico" means driving the alcohol on your breath. A fine of $300? I guess there won't be a glass of wine with dinner anymore unless we stay home.

I don't see how this would work for a passport. How would the authorities know that the name page and the entry stamp page were from the same document? (It does work for cedulas and carnets, though, which are single-sided.)

If BCP rents the building, shouldn't the owner be responsible for maintenance costs? Just curious.

We LOVE Ivan's. Most things that you run around town all day for can be found with one stop at Ivan's. (My favorite story is about the man who found an obscure part there for a 1983 Datsun!) And, yes, the service is the best. It's a pleasure to shop at Ivan's.

I attribute a lot of this to publications like International Living (and others) that paint an unrealistic picture of what the costs of healthcare in Panama are. Nowhere on any of these sites do I see where anyone has revealed that an extended stay in a private hospital can cost upwards of $100,000. Rather, they tout $3 to $10 visits to local doctors and seguro social clinics. The fact is that a major injury or illness could be ruinous financially, assuming you have the wherewithal or the credit card limit to pay at all, or ruinous health wise if you don't. Six years ago, during a short hiatus in his health insurance, my husband broke his foot. Subsequent infections and surgeries and hospital stays added up to over $70,000, And that was six years ago, and that was with a lot of bargaining with the surgeons. This isn't new. It's just been underplayed.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, they were paying something into seguro social rather than expecting Panama to totally take care of them. But on the other hand, if they (an entire family yet) had made anything close to full use of medical care available under s.s., i.e., a term or terms of hospitalization, they still would be getting off cheap at the expense of Panamanians. Moreover, in virtually every case I have heard about an expat going to Regional, they have ended up, by their own choice, being transferred to either Chiriqui or Mae Lewis--at their own considerable expense or at the expense of the gringo community which was solicited for their care. All in all, I don't think this is the solution. Rather, people who are contemplating a move to Panama should investigate and budget for healthcare before making the move.

I enjoyed being with Lily, when she visited before she moved here and then for a short time here when her health was better. My condolences to Betty and Joyce, with whom I had lunch only yesterday.

My husband is interested in buying a stationary bike. If anyone has one for sale, please either leave me a message here or write me at ridgelandres@yahoo.com.

Okay, okay. You guys have convinced me I need to do this. Thanks for the explanation of benefits.

When your passport expires, all you have to do is go to Immigration and have the new passport number linked by computer with your Jubilado/Pensionado carnet, for which there is no charge. There is no requirement to get a new card. Other benefits I hear touted are that an E cedula makes it easier to open a bank account and easier to deal with government agencies. The bank account issue may be important for newcomers who are facing increased hurdles with opening an account with a bank, but I already have a relationship established with a bank and therefore wouldn't benefit in this respect. And I don't know exactly how an E cedula would make things go more smoothly with government agencies. (My guess is that nothing will go smoothly with a government agency regardless of your type of visa.) I haven't found these reasons sufficient to go to the expense of time and money involved in getting an E cedula. If I have suffered in any way from not having one, I'm not aware of it.

While it's true that the victim wasn't named, anyone who lived her at the time would know that Jackie was referring to the death of Joe Petrobenko. Not only do people not believe that Joe dealt in drugs, but nothing in the investigation suggested such a motive. Joe, Betsy, and Betsy's mother Lorraine were well-loved members of this community who suffered terribly. Betsy and Lorraine likely will suffer for the rest of their lives. I pray that they did not see the post, and hats off to Chuck for removing it. And shame on Jackie for writing such a damaging post based on what must have been an idle rumor.

Some of the errors might be attributable to typos, and another reader advised the writer that "alot" is not a word. But he overlooked the most egregious error: "would of been." I don't think homeschooling is a viable option in this case.

I believe you can buy a Roku in David. Try Panafoto or Multimax. We bought ours from Juan Arauz at Overclock, who also installed it and enrolled us in USTVNow. We also got our IPTV box from Juan, but he no longer is selling them. Carlos De Campos, of whom people speak very highly, also sells IPTV and sets it up. He comes here many weekends from the Azuero Peninsula. He was just here from December 30 through today. You can reach him to set up an appointment at 6752-0782 or carlos_decampos@hotmail.com. See LINK for his announcement here.