Penny

My friend Olga and I had lunch at this fairly new place yesterday. It's on the old David - Boquete road across the street from the Multi Motores used car lot. It's very cute and well appointed inside. Several choices of gourmet burgers, pasta, soups, etc. No beer (sigh) but a big selection of batidos including oreo, corn flake, etc. Also, every kind of juice you would ever want including kale (ugghhh).

It's worth a try.

I think sometimes we old comers forget about all the things that make Boquete the most unique expat community in all of Central America (maybe in all of the world). Once in a while we need some reminders. And maybe the newcomers haven't yet realized it.

Anyway, we're all due to be reminded tomorrow in the Tuesday Talks at BCP. Penny Ripple thought the grass might be greener on the other side of the canal in Ecuador. She discovered no cohesive expat community there and struggled to create something similar to what she had known in Boquete. After a year she gave up and returned and will never leave Boquete again.

Find out about what she learned. Tuesday, 10:30 in the BCP theater.

Thank you all for the help. Before visiting Pars I took John F's suggestion, turned the thing upside down and beat on it. Also took my old toothbrush and some rubbing alcohol and cleaned the crud off the keys. Voila !!! It now is working. You guys are the greatest !!

All of a sudden my computer started going berserk when I used the shift key to make a capital letter. Not all the time for all letters but most of the time. I can make the capital by putting on shift lock and then taking it out of shift lock mode. Also, the control key that I use to copy and paste no longer works so those functions don't work. I'm hoping it's just a matter of getting a new keyboard so am seeking advice on where in Boquete or David to buy an English language keyboard as most stores seem to sell the spanish ones.

Thanks for any advise you can give me.

PS -- SOME DAYS IT WORKS FINE

Ja, Ja.

Gonna print out and vote my absentee ballot today.

Do the bathrooms at the Bocas airport now work? For many years they didn't.

It was great. Unfortunately the cell phone photos my neighbor took were pretty dark. The seats were almost full and the audience loved it. Somewhere Sheila Strunk posted some photos. I thought it was on C.L.

Fills the whole El Cacho gym. Lots of bargains. Come early (9 AM). Buy breakfast and buy lunch; buy drinks.

Use your money to support the spay clinics and get some good stuff at the same time.

Or the person who needs to pay with a $100 bill.

What really gets me is the woman (yes, it's usually a woman) who will stand there idly while the cashier rings up 35 items. When the total bill is finally tabulated she begins to open her purse and fish around for her check book. She finally finds the check book and then fishes around for a pen. Having finally located all necessary items she first asks the cashier for the date and then asks her again for who to make the check out to.

Arrggghhhh

We've booked these wonderful people from Nutre Hogar to be our speakers at the BCP Tuesday talks on October 11. Put it on your calendar.

As an indication of their importance, they will be introduced to the Foreign Community in Boquete by Price Peterson, Phil McGuigan, and Pedro Detresno. Now, that's a line-up deserving your attendance.

Do you have a veterinarian on your staff?

There's a guy who sells goat milk and cheese and yogurt at the Tuesday market. I believe his name is Pietro and his farm is at the top of the Palmira Road.

Having Angel Rodriguez speaking about Volcan Baru at the BCP Tuesday Talks yesterday reminded me of a scary period in Boquete history. It was May, 2006 and we started to have earthquakes almost every day in Boquete. And they weren't the gentle rumblers that originate in the ocean off the coast of Costa Rica. These were sharp, loud explosions that seemed to originate from directly under our feet. I'll tell you that the population was nervous and rumors went wild. It was said that the Panama government sent scientists to take the temperature of the local rivers and streams and that they were getting hot. Some folks decided to move away from Boquete because they were scared. Finally, to bring calm we brought in an expert from Panama City to speak to the foreign community at the Tuesday Talks which, in those days were not associated with BCP and were held at the Panamonte Hotel. The purpose of this guy was to explain that we weren't in any danger and to stay calm. The funny thing was that as he was walking to the front of the room to take the podium, we experienced one of the bigger earthquakes right at that moment. There was a lot of nervous laughter and tense grins.

Anyway, at the end of May the earthquakes ceased and everything returned to normal. An interesting time to be living in Boquete.

On Sunday 4 of us took the long ride up the mountain to Seasons Restaurant in Lucero. The restaurant is very nice and well appointed with dining both inside and outside under the covered patio. The only thing I was disappointed in was the bill. The food was OK, but not spectacular. Three of us ordered the ribs which were verbally presented as a special of the day. We should have asked the price but were thinking they couldn't be much more expensive than the ribs at the Rock. Big mistake. They were $29 and when we asked for the pensionado discount were told that it wasn't available since they were "a special". This triggered memories of how Craig used to list his most popular items at Las Ruinas on the chalk board instead of the menu. By doing this he felt he didn't have to give the pensionado discount.

Now, the law doesn't say anything about not discounting "specials" especially if the special isn't offered at a discounted price.

Anyway, while it's a very rare restaurant in which I ask for the discount, this flouting of the law pisses me off. I think I won't return.

We're having a blow-out book sale in the lobby of the BCP from 10-2 on Wednesday, Sept 21. We have hundreds and hundreds of books and all will be priced at either $1 or $2. We also have DVD's and note cards.

If you have any of these items to donate, you can drop them off to the Handicap Foundation in Alto Boquete or give them to me at the Tuesday market this week or next. I'll be hanging out in or in front of the theater preparing for the Tuesday talk, which will be a great one this week. We have Angel Rodriguez, the guy who monitors volcanic activity on Volcan Baru and who (hopefully) will give us all fair notice when it's getting ready to pop its top. The meeting starts at 10:30 in the BCP theater.

I learned a lot from listening to this podcast and now have a newfound respect for Michael (Rehm, not Schwartz). Have always been amazed at Heidi's hard work and perseverance.

Oh, yes, I also think Michael Schwartz is great with a very professional voice and approach to these interviews.

I would bet that the doggie barko lounger is Allison's work and not Bill's.

I may be wrong but that is what I would bet.

I will be at the pancake breakfast with my sweet foster dog Rudy Patootie. Rudy's still a pup and appears to be a lab-shepherd mix. Very loving. He loves to cuddle and has never had an accident in the house -- other than knocking over the garbage can -- but that wasn't really an accident.

If he doesn't get adopted into a full time home it won't break my heart.

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Incredible. Inga definitely is one of the "grand dames" of Panama in general and Boquete in particular.

I can't remember the name but it's on the Volcancito Road in the building that used to be Casa Colonial.

Has anybody had any experience selling stuff through them -- good or bad?

Thanks.

After cancelling and re-booking about 3 times, we are finally getting Jose Arias to come to the Tuesday talks this Tuesday to tell us about his newly opened crematorium in David. I think it's mostly gringos who use crematoriums and the local Panamanians held protest marches against it's opening -- hence the delays.

Also there were numerous governmental permits that took forever to obtain. Anyway, it's up and running and for those of us who plan to stay in Panama until we're "called home" this is great news as there is no longer any need to take a body to Panama City for cremation and therefore the service is much cheaper. Also, Jose speaks English which is a help for us -- especially in times of distress.

The Tuesday talks starts at 10:30 in the BCP theater.

I may be wrong but in the past I believe they divided the money between FPI (Handicap Foundation) and Buenos Vecinos de Boquete (food distribution).

Nice titled lot with views of the best beach in Panama and also the river. The lot is 1753 square meters and is priced at $33.65 per meter ($59,000). Nice trees including cashew trees and palm trees. There is electricity and year-round road. Road deadends at lot.
Call 6510-8934 

This is an adult Flexstone drum set which includes 5 drums, two cymbals, and a stool. The set is like new. It belonged to a friend who died before ever learning to play it. He paid $350 for the set. The first $300 takes it all. Email pjbarrett@aol.com