Siempre Soluciones

14 hours ago, Penny said:

I understand there is a new road replacing the old path and steps the locals would use to walk into Boquete. The road comes into the Boquete-David road near the bottom of the hill to Alto Boquete. What I don't know is where it comes into Volcancito. I want to drive it but, since it is steep in some places, I want to drive it from the top down. Who knows where in Volcancito I can access this road?

Attached is an updated diagram depicting where the old path and steps (110 steps) access via Boquete.  I do not know where the path begins on this unnamed road since I've never walked it but I do know people who have walked it regularly so I'll ask.

At least Cable Onda's Internet service lasted three hours during the four hour outage.

Mary,

B&B Moving Service here in Boquete has been in business for ten years.  Yes, they do both inbound and outbound international moves.  B&B is well known for great service and satisfied customers.  It is recommended to use a company local in Panama with their network of customs brokers.

If you contract with Rainier, their primary moving company in Boquete and all of Chiriqui is B&B Moving Service.

You'll never see them advertising because they have no need to.

bbmovingservice@gmail.com

Reviews:

http://boquete.ning.com/group/boquete-s-business-rolodex/forum/topic/search?groupId=1434455%3AGroup%3A513173&q=brent

El Palacio de la Carne just stocked aged beef packages with various cuts.  20 pound packages for $120.  While supplies last.

They're easy to find.  Simply make the turn at DK Auto from the Panamerican highway from the south or after a u-turn from the north and drive three blocks.  Or turn north at the first opportunity on the old McDonalds/Dairy Queen road from the traffic light on the Panamerican highway and drive four blocks.  They're directly across from Hotel de Palacio. 

730-3746 or 6969-1420

1 hour ago, Uncle Doug said:

I have an Android phone,  so this may be irrelevant. But when the internet is down and I am at home and want to access it using phone data, I have to turn the WiFi off on my phone. If I don’t,  the phone still is locked onto my home WiFi and it won't use data. Your home WiFi is still generating a signal even though the internet is down. 

Interesting.  I gave up smartphones when I retired and use them casually now so I'm only a novice user.  I thought the days of this problem were long gone in that the software didn't possess the ability to detect whether or not the Internet was actually available and reported that it was simply because the local link was still active. 

I bet someone has written an app to solve this problem.

Bonnie,

Either Mas Movil doesn't have battery backup on your local node or any intermediate node connecting to the main office, or they do and their battery backup was exhausted by the time you attempted to access the Internet. 

In my previous residence, Cable Onda did not have battery backup on our local node.  Where I am now they do but it only lasted a couple of hours this morning before their batteries were exhausted.

.

11 minutes ago, Keith Woolford said:

Perhaps I'm being cynical here, but it has crossed my mind that with so much money being made by providing cancer treatment, the incentive to find cures becomes diminished.

BD,

It's not complaining when simple solutions are available.  My point is that a private corporation is allowed to negatively impact a communities' quality of life.

Having lived in a Panamanian neighborhood for two years now I now socialize more with Panamanians than gringos.  Many are college educated, speak English, and have lived abroad.  I've learned a lot, as my neighbors point out, it's only a problem to gringos if it affects them.  I could go on but it's beyond the scope of this discussion and gringos won't want to hear it. 

And these discussions on "stupid people" really is out of line.  I'm beginning to understand the Panamanian "anti-gringo" sentiment more clearly.

Bonnie,

You wrote:

"I think your concerns may be unfounded, Siempre. Your initial post makes clear what your concern is, and everyone understands that discussions routinely move outside the bounds of the original post. The change in the title alerts readers to what is being discussed and makes the quality-of-water issue searchable."

However, if they don't read the discussion they won't discover that and just think I'm complaining.

That won't be a problem moving forward since I'll be very cautious as to what I post since god knows how it could be changed and hence make me look.

we 

CLARIFICATION:

I just checked and much to my surprise this discussion's title had been changed.  When I created this discussion the title was:

"Another Day Without Water in Bajo Boquete"

The title apparently has been changed to:

"Another Day Without Water in Bajo Boquete, and Water Quality Issues"

Which completely changed the scope of the discussion and makes it appear that I'm complaining about water quality.  For the record, I have not complained about the quality of water in Boquete.  I'm expressing my dissatisfaction with the lack of availability of water during a basic routine sewer/water project.

Moderators,

I  completely understand that this is your website and your rules apply, however, what prevents you from changing my original title to:

"Another Day Without Water in Bajo Boquete, Water Quality Issues, and Panamanians"

In the event I expressed my disappointment about a response from a Boquete government official on a particular subject?  Nothing.  A simple change can have far reaching implications.

2 hours ago, Keith Woolford said:

Are people really so naive as to believe that there wouldn't be interruptions to water service involved during a complete overhaul of the aqueduct system?

As with private homes, it's in the best interest of commercial establishments to have plenty of reserves for the use of their clients.

Keith,

You wrote:

"Are people really so naive as to believe that there wouldn't be interruptions to water service involved during a complete overhaul of the aqueduct system?"

Service continuity is a vital component in any engineering project.  Simple and effortless measures could've been taken to avoid many of the interruptions during this project but for many reasons weren't.  There was and is zero supervision of this project and for good reason:  There were no financial penalties written into this contract for time delays, quality, impact to community life, let alone end results.  At least that's what two of the supervisors told me and it shows.

To give you an idea, if this were a project in a first world country, there would be a team of people ensuring on a daily basis that the community would be minimally impacted and if not the project would be adjusted accordingly.  Here, zero.  It was sad to see the workers laugh at us when we had to carry my 87 year old neighbor in her wheel chair in ankle deep mud down the street week after week to see her doctor.  I take it you must reside in a gated gringo community with private roads.  I'm sure your community wouldn't accept that level of service, you'd fire them and replace them.

9 hours ago, Uncle Doug said:

The US State Department doesn't monitor water quality or quantity anywhere in the world. Not here or domestically in the USA. 

Their focus is entirely on diplomacy and foreign politics. And one can question how well they do in regards to that.

I'm not sure anyone outside of Boquete monitors anything here. 

Uncle Doug,

You wrote:

"The US State Department doesn't monitor water quality or quantity anywhere in the world."

The US State Department is engaged in water and sanitation projects all over the world executing their Global Water Strategy through their USAID organization.  Panama is not a participant but a friend of mine who visited me here in Boquete in 2014, a State Department employee, fell in love with the place and has been evaluating Boquete as a potential retirement location.  However, as we know, after Boquete's sewer/water project commenced, water issues became a common day occurrence.  In fact many of our mutual friends canceled vacations to Boquete due to this reason.  One of our friends who is familiar with many of Strategy's projects joked that Boquete is worse than many place in Africa.

I don't know how much you get out, but many of the tourists I run across aren't happy about waking up in their hotel without water and then later visiting an eatery for breakfast also without water. 

Mr. Hampton,

I used to think along the same lines until I reached graduate school where there were no text books and the only dumb question was the one that wasn't asked.

Does anyone have any idea when the water will be turned back on?

A friend of mine in the US State Department is laughing at the fact that in the last year Boquete's water availability is rating lower than many cities in several African countries. 

Very sad.

Nothing beats dealer service, however, there's a guy in Bajo that works on small gasoline powered equipment in his front yard.  Every time I pass he's always out there working and a couple of long time Boquete residents swear by him.

Drive through town to Multibank and make a left.  Drive about 1.5 blocks and he's the second house on the left after the new two story construction. 

21 hours ago, Jim and Judi said:

Felipe Motta in David has a wonderful store near El Rey. You'll find most anything there. Closer to Boquete, Dorado's market has a good selection but so does Super Baru and we've found their prices are better. 

Jim and Judi,

I agree 100%, Filipe Motta definitely has the best selection of alcohol as well as premium food products.  I just wish they'd stock 1.75 liter bottles of Kettle One.  Their bread, baked daily, is excellent.

Whskyman,

I have to disagree, the scotch and other alcohol I've purchased at Ivan's is definitely higher priced than Dorado.  However, it's the only tienda in Boquete where you can purchase a case of cold Balboa with the cardboard holder.  Super Xtra in David does so too.

I have to say that Dorado's prices are the best, at least for the scotch I buy.  Plus most of the time they ignore the 10:00 AM minimum purchase time!  It depends on the cashier present.

Penny,

You wrote:

"In fact, my two guests were from San Francisco and observed that you can eat more cheaply at a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco."

Tucked away in the side streets throughout San Franciso's China Town are little restaurants where dinner entrees can be had for under $4.  Amazing in that incredibly expensive city.

Someone already posted page two of the menu on Chop Stick's Facebook page.

"There is a complete other side of this menu with more dishes (including all the pork dishes)."

Keith,

When will you post the other side of this menu?

7 hours ago, Keith Woolford said:

Here's the Menu.

I'm sure it will expand with demand.

Yes, this is Daniel's place.

So an appetizer, two soups, two entrees, two upgrades to fried rice, and two cokes and we're almost at $50 without tip.  Are those entree prices for the small or large cardboard containers for takeout?  The Steakhouse, Palacio, and Neuva China will still get my business.

Keith's reference to "downtown" David made me curious.  I pride myself with successfully navigating David about 80% of the time after studying Google's online maps.  I was curious to see what if any definition of "downtown" was specified in Google maps.  Entering "downtown david panama" in Google maps results in the outline of the entire city limits.  It also displayed a photo of a new shopping mall anchored by Cochez and Romero with a map showing its location in south west David.

Has anyone visited this new mall?  Are there any stores there that aren't present in any other malls?