Siempre Soluciones

I guess now I'm going to have to convince the sewer/water contractor to remove the 6' high pile of dirt they piled in front of my entry gates at my home so that I can go shopping in David!

https://www.facebook.com/supermercadosromero

From Grupo Rey's Facebook page:

"dear customers:

King group, focused on providing the best shopping experience to our customers, has recently begun implementing a new computer system.

this has caused, temporarily, the lack of certain products in some of our stores.

The we apologize for it and inform you that we are working hard to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

We appreciate your understanding and trust they place in our and reaffirm our comprimised in offering the freshness, quality and service every day."

3 hours ago, Keith Woolford said:

If you have a grain of salt, you might take it with the rumour.

I took three grains and nothing.

One of my Panamanian neighbors is telling me that the computers at Romero's parent company, Grupo Rey, were hacked and their supply chain was compromised.

Where's that salt!

Well at least the Baru restaurant in town now offers home delivery so I can get some decent food without having to walk through ankle deep mud.

I normally don't consume the precooked food available at the Romero in town however with the ongoing water outages associated with the sewer/water project (two weeks on my street alone) I kind of have no choice.  However, they've not had precooked food available recently - no pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, pastries, salads, empanadas, or even bread.  A friend mentioned to me that some of their meat cases in the back are empty too.  I heard a rumor that they failed a health inspection and can no longer provide precooked food for a while.

When I ask the employees they give me a funny look.

Any ideas?

I'm in the market for a new water pressure tank and was wondering what seems to work the best here in Boquete, a bladder, diaphragm, or air/water tank.

I hope it looked nothing like this

Pars in David on the Miguel Angel Brenes road across from the Supper99.  I just purchased an English Logitech wired keyboard there for $20.  They also stock many other brand name computer parts and accessories including Kingston memory modules.

And their impact to law enforcement is is disastrous:

“It’s ridiculous—we are talking about the biggest retailer in the world. I may have half my squad there for hours”

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-walmart-crime/

if so how much?

20 hours ago, Bud said:

Siempre, great use of imagery to provide directions. What kind of tools did you use to create the annotated JPG? And where did you get the image (from Google?)?

Yes, the image is from Google, Google Maps.

The annotations were made with Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac.  The only features I use are insert picture, shapes - block arrows, text box, and then save as a JPEG file.

Directions to Agro:  While traveling the PanAmerican highwa west from David (towards Costa Rica) you'll pass PriceSmart, Chiriqui Mall, and then a truck stop on the left.  The entrance to Agro is the gravel road just after the truck stop on the left.  Their complex sits behind an empty lot on the PanAmerican highway.  You will have to pass the gravel road since there's no cutout in the median to turn left so you'll have to make a u-turn.  All mentioned locations are annotated in the attached image.

Agro provides complete repair and maintenance services for Honda products as well as stocking parts.

As for price, I'd rather not comment online.

Additional notes:

Since the Honda uses a four stroke engine, it runs much quieter and requires much less RPMs than a two stroke due to the inherent nature of a four stroke engine having more torque. 

As for cold starting requiring two pulls, after reading the provided instruction manual it appears that Honda implemented a primer bowl on the carburetor as is customary on two stroke engines.  I don't think I've ever seen one on a four stroke engine.  Now it starts on the first pull when cold after priming.

The four stroke uses less then half the fuel and considerably less oil than a comparable two stroke model as indicated in the attached photo.

This Honda incorporates the Speed Feed Head which allows reloading of the trimmer line without any disassembly.  Check out the video below, very slick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9utqbjghY30

I didn't make a decision on what anybody told me.  My thoughts were that as Panama makes progress as a developing county that the PanAmerican highway would improve greatly.  I find it sad that I had read that a rum company in Chiriqui transports their rum via boat to Panama City through Pedregal when they should be using the PanAmerican highway.

As for proximity, it's all relative.  What I loved about living in Europe versus the United States was the close proximity to everything.  When I lived in Amsterdam I could drive to Berlin or Paris in four hours. 

As for traveling between Boquete and Panama City, I've always flown, I only took the PanAmerican highway once by bus with a friend years ago and what a long and treacherous drive it was.  My only need for traveling by car to Panama City is for shopping so I don't have to use companies like Fletes Chavale.

Ok, I hit a home run!

While visiting the Stihl store in David the other day there was a 30 minute wait since it was busy and apparently there was only one clerk on hand.  During my wait I chatted with a fellow expat who was getting parts for their Stihl chainsaw.  I asked him if he used a Stihl weed whacker and he replied no, he was using a Honda for seven years with no problems.  He provided me directions the Agro dealer that sells Honda products in David. 

A little background, about ten years ago in the states I did research as to why there were no four stroke weed whackers on the market.  The fundamental problem with using a four stroke engine on a weed whacker is that they are routinely turned at various angles which would prevent a conventional four stroke engine from lubricating property.  There was one manufactured by Honda which solved this problem with a clever crankcase design and by implementing a swivel shaft.  The problem being these were priced at over $1,000 and not a single Honda dealer carried one for fear that no one would pay that much.

Fast forward ten years and I'm thinking I'm going to have the opportunity to actually see a four stroke Honda weed whacker!  I definitely will have to evaluate the Honda after evaluating the Stihl.  After a 30 minute wait it was my turn so I tell the clerk "Yo necesito weed whacker."  And he begins to describe one of the models but at that point another customer entered with an emergency request.  I told him no problem, I'll wait.  After five minutes I told him "Regreso manana." and left since I was so eager to see the Honda.

The clerk at Agro, Alan, brought me to their equipment showroom out back and all they had in stock was the Honda Flex model pictured below.  He says let's go out back to the assembly/repair shop and sure enough they were assembling a standard model as pictured below.  We waited as the technician bolted the engine to the chassis, connected the throttle/ignition controls, added oil to the crank case, and filled the fuel tank.  Two pulls and it started right out of the box!  This model was around $100 more than the most expensive Stihl but I felt like Kevin Spacey in the movie American Beauty when he finally got his dream car, a 1970 Pontiac Firebird!  I had to have it!  Alan knocked a little off the price and I was out the door.

It operates like a dream plus it always starts with two pulls when cold and one pull when warm.  It's a bit on the heavy side at almost 19 pounds but it came with a double shoulder harness.  And it looks beautiful next to my Honda pressure washer

Thanks for all of the advice!

1 hour ago, Brundageba said:

Get one that can be repaired !   We bought one at DoIt years ago as a gift for our gardener.  When it broke not one of the repair places could fix it.  I forget the brand but I remember it wasn't cheap....like $300 or so.   He is now on his second Stihl .  The first one we bought him was a consumer style that broke.  We finally found a guy in Dolega at the feed store that is great at fixing those...and he has it up and running. 

Yes, serviceability is my primary concern.  Melo in Boquete used to sell Stihl, not any longer, they only carry some off brand manufactured in Italy.

Ok, so I need the exercise more so I've decided to purchase a weed wacker and cut my own lawn from now on.

Per many recommendations here, it appears that the Stihl brand is the way to go.  I was all set to visit the Stihl dealer in David until I read reviews on their consumer line.  It appears that all of the models in their consumer line received bad reviews.  The prices on the consumer line models run up to $300 where as their commercial line models begin close to $500, I really don't want to spend that much.

Does anyone have any recommendations for the Homelite brand?  Who carries the Homelite brand in David?

Thanks in advance.

Keith, 

Thanks for the prompt response. 

I thought that I read some time ago that if the vehicle was placed as an asset in a corporation that it could, it was something strange like that.

I'm posting these questions for a friend who doesn't have access to the internet.

Question one, can a person who resides in Panama on a tourist visa who owns a vehicle that is titled and plated in Panama drive that vehicle outside of Panama?  I read long ago that that wasn't possible but that there were ways around it.

Question two, this person titled and registered their vehicle in April of this year yet they want to tour South America for one year, can they register the vehicle early say next month in September to reset the registration interval giving them one year before having to return to Panama?

Thanks in advance.

16 minutes ago, Danielle said:

Proximity? Are you kidding? Boquete is probably one of the expat retirement cities that are farthest from Panama City.

 

I used to reside in an area of Florida that I could simply jump on the interstate and set the cruise control and be in Fort Lauderale or Miami within four hours to enjoy big city amenities.  I was hoping that in the future I could do the same from Boquete.

One of the reasons that I chose Boquete for retirement was its relatively close proximity to Panama City.  I estimated that upon completion of the expansion of the PanAmerican highway that using first world metrics the drive time would be around four hours.  Does anyone have any idea on when the expansion of the entire route will be completed?  In addition, upon completion will they raise the speed limit beyond 100 kilometers per hour in rural areas?

23 hours ago, JohnF13 said:

Guess you missed the "around here" part of the query...

It's all relative.

Panama City.

It's very common to experience two minute (exactly) outages between four and six AM in Boquete.  It's routine, they must be switching power grids.

The name is Mercado Público Cadena Frío.

I picked up a friend at the airport in David after connecting through two US flights last week and he had this in his carry on.  No questions.

They raised the rate to swim there to $1.50 per day last year.  I know a couple of expats that live in that neighborhood and swim there all of the time.