Brundageba

A gas tanker and hauler truck collided in the west bound lane in the area of the Regional hospital around 10 am this morning. Gasoline poured onto the highway from the overturned gas truck and traffic was stopped. ( This is not a good day to do your PriceSmart shopping.) We were stuck in the jam for over an hour and fortunately were able to get out . Some were not so lucky. I saw the lady behind me get out of her car and pour water over her overheated radiator. Attempts are being made to not only redirect the traffic jam but as well to contain the flow of gasoline . ( it's a no smoking zone now) Regional Hospital ER was reportedly closed and patients redirected elsewhere..

We just spent 1 1/2 weeks on the coast of Veraguas. This time of year it's always dry but this year it's extreme. Palm trees and Mangos remain green but pasture lands and grass are a dead dust bowl for the most part. Rivers are rock trails . Private wells are compromised. Serious ! Folks are advised to collect water when it's on in any container they have because there is no guarantee when it will run again. Electricity is off a lot...and it is mighty HOT! We have much to be thankful for living here in Boquete.

A neighbor who is out of the hospital for recent surgery asked me to buy some chewable tablets for intestinal gas. The pharmacy wanted 80 cents for each tablet. Ridiculous! I bought 3.

Your vote. We told them we were traveling around the world and on an indefinite schedule receiving our mail by mail forwarding. They were AOK with that. That puts our addy in the USA...Miami. 11 years and so far without Proof of Life filing we have been receiving our Soc Sec notices and as well our IRS docs through MBE.

Bonnie....yes. I signed up our Soc Sec before we had left the states and set up deposit to Wells Fargo Bank. That's the way it's been for me since we left the USA 11 yr ago. Now my husband signed up after we moved here 7 yr ago an he was able to sign up for Soc Sec on the VOIP phone from here......giving them a USA addy ( relative ) informing then that we were in retirement and traveling the world and that addy would be our home base. No problem they said...it was a done deal and the Soc Sec checks have been entered into our USA bank ever since. That said....everything seems to change in time but so far so good. When we get our Soc Sec information each year it's sent to the PTY MBE addy the one we gave them telling them that it was our home base for mail.

Yes...and one would think a tax audit flag would go up on that situation. I know one of our attorneys here and a good friend, told us years ago that the US tax investigation team came into his law offices asking to see account records of clients. ( he did not share them without a warrant ) His point of view on this was the US was pretty invasive and he was very very wary of not filing whatever forms required by the US Feds and accurately.

Goes to show you how very closely we're being scrutinized.

Ours arrived at MBE. That's the addy SOC Sec and IRS have for us. Been here 11 yr and so far no issues with it...knock on wood. Thanks for your pointers though! I WILL pass it on to our young folk friends just qualifying for Medicare.

Agree. Hematology expert there... and meds that can increase the Red Cell Count. Worth research

Thanks for the reminder Evelyn. My husband is on his way now to MBE with a donation. Every little bit will help !

Culturama of Chiriqui produced the book as one of their collection. I wonder if that operation is still functioning. Have you tried the publisher? Impreso en los Talleres de Arte Grafico, SA in David? It used to be available on Amazon but no more. I know Price Pederson did have her speak at the library so maybe he might know how to get in touch with the author. I guard my book with my life !!!

My husband stepped on a bee once and his entire face got so swollen he would not be recognized...tongue as well . I had benadyl in the house and as a nurse knew that you can take enormous doses of it without harm and so gave him 100 mg then 50 mg orally every few minutes until I could see it was not progressing. Max dose is 300 mg a day but I have assisted doctors in the ER administering as much as 500 mg . I would not recommend it...but when it comes to maintaining an airway in serious anaphylactic shock a large dose of benadryl is the least of your problems. Once a patient loses consciousness you have lost the oral route of medication administration and may shortly lose his airway. Ambulance EMT support here is not what it is in the US or Canada. This is an on-line picture but pretty much this is what my husband looked like. As I remember the whole thing took about 30 minutes to peak. He immediately made an appointment for an allergist and started de-sensitization treatment. We do have an epi-pen in the house now. Fast response is key to survival. Benadryl can be obtained in the pharmacy and as well though Amazon

Serious! Heads up in Boquete. Bite? Run to enclosure if you see others swarming...like inside your car. Shut the doors. Assess the situation and honk for help if you think you need it. Once one is swatted and killed the others swarm and after that it's bad !

Let me know by private message. We'll connect. March school starts. Heavy burden on the top of grief for her. We feel really bad about this. Alison

Bill and I would love to contribute to some help. This is awful for this young wife and her 4 kids.

Hope he's OK...bummer. (fingers crossed)

GREAT ! ...and buy a few textbooks for the schoolkids.

Bummer there are no tiles this year

Ok so it looks like a Facebooker took a real news report from Telemetro of over 700 Cubans and Haitians at the Panama border with Colombia en-route to ( apparently) the USA and exaggerated the number to 30,000 people in this migration. Panama definitely does not want to be stuck with them so the talks with Colombia and Costa Rica are now occurring so as to try to figure out what to do with these people.

It's hard to imagine 30,000 people there in the jungle marching into Panama. How are they eating, sleeping and taking care of basic needs? That's an entire city of people.

Yes. Making something useful out of the garbage seems to me to be a worthwhile venture. Between the plastic & the old wine bottles Boquete could have a thriving cottage industry

Double thumbs up on that. I do hope they find it successful. Lots can be done with plastic and God knows we have an abundant supply never-ending