Penny

Dottie Atwater (honcho dog person from Volcan) will discuss the vitamin C treatment for snakebites at this coming Tuesday Talk.

I love the "musings" forum. Think I've used it a couple of times myself. Let's just be nice to each other when we write in it.

 Can you believe it??? !!! 41 confirmed vendors and probably more coming !!!

Well, it's been awhile since I hugged Bud but tell him he's owed one when he's back in town.

I remember Bob Bartlett (no longer with us, RIP) telling about how he and his radio were a major means of communication during a crisis. Can't remember what crisis it was, . . . maybe the American invasion of Panama.

I may be the only person in Boquete who knows that the street in front of the feria and Hotel Ladera is Avenida Buenos Aires.

I had about 25 minutes to ponder this more the other day. My friend had paid her entire bill, had signed numerous insurance forms and was waiting for me to put her into my car in Hospital Chiriqui. Suddenly the admissions people discovered a $16 charge that hadn't been paid. They wrote up a small slip indicating the amount and gave it to me to take to the caja. Of course, there are 3 cajas on the main level of Hospital Chiriqui but I found the correct one and forked over the note and the $16. I swear to you it took 25 minutes of computer poking, head scratching, note writing, etc, etc, to process the $16 payment. Of course, in the meantime, my car was illegally parked in the emergency room drive because I was expecting to immediately load my friend into the car and drive home.

Sometimes I think these folks go to University to learn exactly how to consume the most time possible doing a simple task.

Be calm my soul and be low my blood pressure . . . . .

Folks

This posting also inspired next week's "Tuesday Talks" 10:30 in the BCP theater. Description below:

Tuesday, June 21 – Pet Care in the Best of Times and the Worst of Times. A panel of local experts will talk about routine care of your pets and what to do in case of an emergency. They will offer up their advice based on years of working with domestic animals in Panama. The panel will consist of Alicia McGuigan and Dottie Thompson co-presidents of Amigos de Animales, Beth Abraham. co-chairman of ARF (Adopt, Rescue, Foster), Kris Berg, owner of Howling Success K9 Services, and Dottie Atwater, founder of Spay Panama-Chiriqui,  the spay/neuter clinic in Volcan.

The man had family, political status, a good business, and a great life in Panama.

What does he have now in his lonely ivory tower apartment in Miami?

Wow !! That video is outstanding !!!

This is Panama and it is what it is.

Of course it makes no sense, but, as stated above . . . this is Panama

Speaking of organ transplants I've learned recently that Medellin Colombia is one of the world's leaders in organ transplants and it's all because of the numerous scooters on the roadway. All emergency room personnel call motorcycle and scooter riders "future organ donors."

So, that's what Panama needs -- more motos and abolish the helmet law so there is an abundance of donors.

With great sadness we report the passing of Gary Jackson, Canadian ex-pat who resided for a long time in David, Volcan and Boquete. Many of you knew Gary as a Spanish teacher, Dos Jefes tour guide,  and all around handy-man. Gary is survived by an ex-wife in David, an ex-wife in Canada, and a sister, brother, father, and daughter in Canada.

We are trying to make contact with the family in Canada. If anybody has any contact information, please email Penny Barrett at pjbarrett@aol.com

Occasionally the Newslady sends back an email waiting for distribution because its omissions are  so glaring that it just wastes the news.boquete time and bandwidth and would burden 1850 some inboxes with useless email. Having said that, it's really not the Newslady's job to proofread emails for content and accuracy. The smart people who want their email to have some effect, will proofread and respect the resources of news.boquete. The rest usually fail in their endeavors or business.

So I went to the social security clinic in Boquete this morning to get one of their inexpensive ($13) x-rays for a persistent cough I've been experiencing. It's always a grand cultural experience when a gringo does something like this. First of all the whole process is like a Chinese fire drill -- no offense to the Chinese intended. There is much scrutinizing of documents, much pencil tapping, much computer poking, and, of course, much stamping. This is before you take the bill to the caja to pay it. When you return the receipt, the whole process is started anew. Then you wait, and you wait, and you wait. The waiting room for the ultra sound and the x-ray seems to be a well-used shortcut for folks going back and forth in the clinic. I saw about six Panamanians I knew and all stopped to talk. Everybody who walks through gives the obligatory "buenos dias" and all the waiting folks chime in with their own "buenas dias". Many folks say that the primary characteristic of the Panamanian people is their friendliness . . . or their happiness. I am quite sure it's their patience. Now, I'm the first to admit that patience is a virtue . . . especially in Panama but one has to wonder if it perpetuates the same old inefficient system and nothing will ever change because nobody complains. Something to ponder on an overcast Monday morning.

4 hours ago, Pat said:

Are all these individual requests for money because Bid 4  Boquete went away?

I believe a lot of the charities that Bid 4 Boquete used to support are really beginning to feel the pinch and have had to learn how to fund raise on their own accord. Maybe in hindsight they are learning that it would have been far easier to give Bid 4 Boquete more support than it is now to try to make up the missing funds.

The BCP has committed to running this test for 3 months. The first month it was free for vendors and was a wonderful success in terms of both vendors and customers. In preparation for the free market we did a lot of re-wiring and purchased chairs, tables, electrical cords, etc. So it was a costly experiment. The second market will be held on June 18 (always the 3rd Saturday of the month). It will cost vendors a nominal fee of $7.50. We expect it to be equally successful. There are already 22 vendors signed up. There will be a 3rd trial market in July and we will charge the vendors the full price of $15.

If you know someone who might like to sell at this market, email our facility manager, Elena Serracin    serracin62@gmail.com or call her at 6920-1111.

Stop by the big flea market at Chiriqui Storage. Lots of vendors, lots of stuff to buy. Stuff to eat (the famous $1 hot dog). You'll see your friends and neighbors and maybe find a bargain.

See you there. 10 - 1. 1.5 km north of the Terpel gas station in Dolega. Free parking and free admission.

3 hours ago, Bud said:

The Tasa Unica currently is $400.00 per year. Must be paid in cash at Banco Nacional.

It can also be paid at Caja Ahorros which is another government owned bank. The registered agent fee varies by attorney providing the service. My attorney charges nothing. Before you ask, he is retired and not taking new clients.

I have had a request to post a photo of Ralph:

There is no immediate funeral planned. Later this summer there will be a celebration of Ralph's life at Emily Haworth's Honey & Hummingbird Finca.

Here is the link to a 32 minute video Ralph produced:

I think this is a great idea. I have never been able to find a source for these tags in Panama. A long time ago I had a friend in Boquete whose daughter was a vet in San Jose, C.R. She got me some of these tags through her daughter. Funny story -- I had a german shepherd mix dog named Daisy who was the smartest thing on 4 legs. Daisy really belonged to the town as she would leave every morning on her rounds of leading backpackers down hiking trails and tourists through the El Explorador Garden pathways. She would always come home in time for dinner. After I put the tag on her I would get at least 3 or 4 calls a week about Daisy being on the sidewalk downtown or wherever. I would just say to leave her alone and she would come home. I finally took the tag off her as it was too much trouble explaining to folks that she was just on her walk about.

Of all the public infrastructure projects announced by the president and our own mayor, the one I'm most hopeful for is the rebuilding of the bridge over the Caldera River next to the Panamonte hotel. The history of this project is that the bridge originally washed out about 9-10 (I'm horrible on dates) years ago. The next year they rebuilt it as the one-lane bridge it had previously been. Now, I love the one way bridge. It gives you an opportunity to slow down, defer to the opposing car, and share a friendly wave with each other. This whole process didn't take more than 15-20 seconds out of your day. I guess I was in the minority because there was a growing outcry -- mostly from ex-pats I think -- to make the bridge a two laner. So the mayor had his crew go out and start excavating around the base of the bridge in order to put in a second lane. And then along came the next big flood. Now, my theory is that the bridge had been so weakened from the excavating that it was no match for the flood. Of course two floods in 2 years was demoralizing and it looked like the bridge would never be rebuilt. I'm so happy that they're reconsidering. I always think of the workers who live on my side of town (Jaramillo and Palo Alto) who have to walk twice as far to get to work in downtown Boquete.

I also think it would be good for business for the Panamonte. There were many times I would stop by for a take out hamburger and fries on my way home and I expect other folks who live in my neck of the woods did also.

The most common mistake people make is assuming that everyone else is engaged in and/or knowledgeable about the programs that are close to their heart. This is a posting from Joan (Radash) James who currently runs the ferral cat spaying and feeding program. Joan is moving back to the U.S. and has found the Quimbys to take over the program.

You're right, it's a little obtuse. Not a good way to ask for money. People zip off a message to news.boquete on their i-phones and don't give it a second thought about proof-reading or making sure the message conveys the correct information in an easy to ready format. They are asking us to burden 1850 odd mailboxes with information that they didn't spend 10 seconds composing. That's why one of the rules is "no do-overs."

I wish he would sell beef like he did for awhile in the David store. He would grind your hamburger to order (20% grasso) and it was delicisous.