JimAndNena

Might be time to find one of these:

38 minutes ago, BD said:

It is a shame that I can't access that news article. I am very interested in this turn of events, but can't read the that you referenced. Can you try again and give something that will work?

Copied from Bonnie's link.

Beijing Just Poached Panama, Among the Last of Taiwan’s Remaining Friends
•    BY BETHANY ALLEN-EBRAHIMIAN
•    JUNE 13, 2017 - 1:27 PM
•    BETHANY.ALLEN
•    @BETHANYALLENEBR
•    
•    
 
At a time of growing Chinese investment, Panama has cut ties with Taiwan to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing. But China’s real impetus for bringing Panama into its fold is most likely political, seeking to punish Taiwan’s independent-minded president by poaching one of the island’s few remaining friends.
Panama President Juan Carlos Varela announced the switch on Tuesday. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a press conference that the two countries would cooperate in trade, investment, and tourism. Wang also encouraged Panama to participate in the “Belt and Road” initiative, a vague but sweeping plan championed by Chinese President Xi Jinping to forge trade deals, build infrastructure, and bolster Chinese soft power around the globe.
Chinese investment in Panama has vastly expanded in recent years as Beijing has pushed to secure trade and investment deals around the world. The Panama Canal, the narrow choke-point through which virtually all Pacific-Atlantic maritime trade must flow, has been a particular target. In 2016, the Chinese state-linked Landbridge Group signed a 99-year lease for Panama’s largest port, Margarita Island, which handles distribution of goods on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. Chinese state enterprises have also looked to develop approximately 1,200 hectares of land around the canal.
While lack of official ties with Panama hasn’t seemed to hinder investment, the growing business links have certainly deepened China’s interests in the Central American nation.
But it is politics, not economics, that most likely motivated Beijing. The loss of a diplomatic ally — and Taipei is down to 19 countries plus the Vatican — puts heavy pressure on Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
Cross-strait relations have remained tense since Tsai was elected last year, ousting the Beijing-friendly KMT party and giving Tsai a mandate to push back against Chinese influence on the island. Beijing cut off official communication with Taiwan in June 2016 after Tsai refused to explicitly affirm the “1992 consensus,” which holds that there is only one China.
Beijing can easily lure Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to their side through the promise of trade deals, though allowing some countries to maintain relations with Taiwan can also serve China’s own purposes. It allows political bargaining chips to be played when Taiwan crosses the line.
Beijing has steadily chipped away at Taiwan’s presence on the international stage, blocking its participation in multilateral organizations and committees. Most recently, under Chinese pressure, the World Health Organization blocked Taiwan’s participation in its annual assembly, refusing to grant it the observer status it had enjoyed since 2009.
Panamanian recognition of China is the latest diplomatic blow to Taiwan. The other 20 partners have been recipients of Taiwanese development aid — a remnant of Taiwan’s “dollar diplomacy,” in which it competed with Beijing for the allegiance of developing states — but it’s a shrinking club, down from around 30 in the 1990s. Before Panama, Beijing’s latest catch was the small island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, as punishment for Tsai’s phone call with then-President-elect Donald Trump, the first time since 1979 that a U.S. president or president-elect has spoken directly with a Taiwanese head of state. Since the United States does not have official relations with Taiwan, to China the call was just a little too intimate.
Now, Panama is defecting. “Despite our national security team having prior knowledge of the situation and making every possible effort, the end result was still deeply regrettable,” said Tsai in a June 13 address.
“Although we have lost a diplomatic ally, our refusal to engage in a diplomatic bidding war will not change.”
Panama’s change of heart suggests that Taiwan’s other relationships in the region may be in jeopardy: Nicaragua also maintains relations with Taiwan, and it has also received billions of dollars of Chinese investment.
In 2013, Chinese billionaire Wang Jing signed a $40 billion deal to build a canal through a 170-mile swath of the country, a deeper and wider rival to the Panama Canal. Domestic opposition and red tape has so far prevented significant progress on the massive project

Didn't Taiwan fund the new marketplace in Boquete?  I remember reading that somewhere (but then I am also trying to remember where I left my shoes...).

jim

One area of traffic interest where Panama is ahead of the game is a national law against driving and cell fone use. Even hands free cell fone use should be illegal because it is the mental distraction, not the use of your hands, that causes accidents.

I did read of a couple of solutions to improving traffic safety. One was a steel spike on the steering column pointed at the driver's chest as a method of maintaining a driver's attention.  Another solution was to build all cars within the steering set to pull to the right the moment the driver loosened his/her grip on the wheel. Those familiar with sailboat piloting will understand that operation.

41 minutes ago, Brundageba said:

Jim and Nena...hey we ARE learning....learning how to drive while looking at all directions at once, counting on a dumb move when other options would be safer.  Accepting that on any trip out of the house in my car I could lose my life and it probably wouldn't be my fault. ...and lastly: Panamanians who drive have enormous faith.  Faith that a car won't be coming at them when they pass on a curve in the opposing lane while going uphill.  This was my exact comment to my husband when we observed this on the curving hill while driving out of Boquete town when the road was still 2 lanes.   

I said:  "One thing that can be said about Panamanian drivers.....they have enormous faith" 

His response?  well it had something to do with the size of certain round male parts.   Ok that said, I doubt anything we do will change thing quickly.  I did think the cardboard cops on the roadside was a real good idea. 

No doubt about it, there is an enormous amount of "Mike Machoism" involved on the roads even by those drivers with females parts. The driving gets worse with the distance from Panama City. Out in the boonies it becomes the wild west mentality. Until the national government decides on a real vehicle inspection enforcement, and funds a real traffic police force, nothing anyone does will change.  Of course, fixing the infrastructure to provide drainage, signage, lighting would help but don't look for that to change soon either.

Bottom line, you one chooses to live there, what you see is what you get.

What happened to the interest in learning another culture?

The urge to "we can show you a better way" is what separates the locals from visitors.

(I'll wait for the deluge of "down" arrows now.)

jim

I agree.  We had foreign assignments when I was working and while our kids were school age.  The assignments were 18 months to 3 years, and involved 50 to 100 people plus their families and they always followed the same pattern.  The first several months were times of exploration, and great friendships, and solving problems. Next was the month after month coping with each new challenge of living in a foreign culture. The last 4 months were filled with readying for repatriation, packing, disposing of household goods, etc.

The difference between those moves, and starting retirement is the realization at some point that there will be no repatriation and the month to month challenges will never end.  It is at that point that a decision must be made to stay or return or leave for another destination.  Returning may not be an option. Another destination may not be an option.

One extra factor is even if one does due diligence and finds paradise for a year or two, paradise itself may change into something that does resemble paradise.  The Boquete that is being sold now is not the Boquete that was sold in 1997.  And the changes have not all been good.

jim

So, basically you are just saying:

On 6/7/2017 at 9:19 AM, Keith Woolford said:

With the recent opening of Super Baru I've been seeing more vehicles turning left on to Calle 4A from the main street to go over there.

It's actually not permitted to turn left off the main street at that intersection in front of the Park when coming from either direction, and sooner or later it will be enforced.

Although this type of signage is not customary in North America, It's clearly marked on the pavement at the approach that there are only two options, either driving straight ahead or making a right turn.

Actually, left is possible if driving southbound?

7 hours ago, JudyS said:

This is a photo managing app on Yahoo.  If there are any experts out there, I have a question about sharing albums.

Hola Judy, since Yahoo acquired Flickr it has gotten steadily worse. I pulled all the photos and started a photobucket account. Now that Yahoo has new owners, the problems with Flickr (really Yahoo problems) got even worse.

Don't know the answer but I would look for another photo sharing option.

jim

PS just found the link to the status on Flickr.

http://downdetector.com/status/flickr

4 hours ago, Siempre Soluciones said:

 

So if one attempts to rob a store with one of the above guns the clerk can simply state "Silly boy, you've got the wrong gun for a robbery."

 

 

Sexist comment. Girls can do robberies as well as boys.

What crimes, hunting without a permit? Not the kind of arms used in robberies.

5 hours ago, Penny said:

To find Radio Chiriqui and listen to the new English language show on the internet is much easier than the above writer made it out to be. Simply go to www.radiochiriqui.com, scroll down and on the right side you will see "103.3 en vivo" . Just click on that and you're listening to live radio.

OR  just click on this link and then bookmark it in your browser.

http://radio.garden/live/david/radio-chiriqui-103-3/

and yes, I AM the laziest person in the world.

jim

11 hours ago, Roger B said:

Bonnie

There is a trend in the architectural world to design buildings that complies with some requirements of environmental issues.  For example the design must be one that could save electricity by having better ilumination elements in its design that allows sun light to illuminate in daytime and some special lamps located in some places that will give better illumination at night.  Other things are regarding the use of fixtures at toilets, bathrooms, etc that will save sustantially water any time you flush it.  Also the type of material used should be one that could be recycled or is recycled and wont contaminate.  Those norms and points are actually under what is called in the US    LEED. 

Insert other media

Hola Roger, I have been reading about a recycle project in Bocas for a couple of years.  Building with plastic bottles.  Interesting idea but probably not usable in very many areas.

Why live in a plastic bottle house?

Average humans can consume 15 or more drinks in plastic bottles a month. If you were born after 1978, and live until 80 years old, you will leave behind a minimum of 14,400 plastic bottles on this planet. These bottles take hundreds of years to break down into tiny pieces of plastic, never to completely disappear. Most of the waste is consumed by fish and birds, which has shortened their lifespans greatly.

The story is here: https://www.plasticbottlevillage.com/espanol/

jim

This reminds me of one of Chiriqui's most adventurous explorers, halfthrottle (Ryan).  Some of you may remember his videos of his trips by motorcycle around Panama and Chiriqui especially.  One trip involved taking lunch to the people who live in the landfill in David.

From half throttle's youtube channel:

Or perhaps the officer just knew you had beers and was hoping for a handout? :-)

Good planning on getting delayed to be in time for alcohol sales.  It looks like there may be something to that " mañana" culture that guy was touting.

Is the mall construction going to be a long term lane closure or just a one day thing, do you think?  Looks like June will be our travel month this year and we will be on that road.

jim

Varela has 2 years left of his term. Expected construction begins next year. Any chance Varela will get a chance to inaugurate the project?  All presidents hope to have their name attached to something before leaving office for the history books.

Third time's a charm?

Fingers crossed.

argumentum ad hominem

Typical for a huckster backed into a corner.

Very well put, Bonnie.

I would only add

https://www.thestreet.com/author/1660831/ChuckBolotin/all.html

It still puzzles me how so many places can be the best. I am used to only one superlative. 

jim

Dottie, I just added spa repair to my Credits! We had a return filter that wasn't working and after no help from the manufacturer, I pulled it apart and fixed it. Talk about your stress Relief? Getting the spa working was it's own reward.

Our story parallels yours only ours was a HUD home in Texas. NONE of the plumbing worked when we got it. We hauled 5 gallon jugs of water from our other house for 2 weeks. Lucky for me that Nena grew up in Boquete doing the same thing.Ha

jim

8 hours ago, Chuck Bolotin said:

I forgot to respond to JimandNina regarding how I never post the data or methodology. I post the data all the time, and its in the actual studies that I refer to, usually with a link. Before making your accusations, did you go to the studies, Jim?  If you did not, and regarding the methodology, here is the link to the actual study: https://bestplacesintheworldtoretire.com/download-free-ebooks

In the Expects: Expectation and Reality Study, you will notice that the survey methodology is discussed throughout the introductory pages and in great detail starting on page 74 and the entire set of results for the study in general, without any comments whatsoever, are in the appendix, starting on page 78.  You'll also notice that we offer to make the raw data available to anyone who asks.

Just because you don't remember something doesn't mean it didn't happen.  The world exists outside of your understanding of it or your memory.  All you had to do was take a look, and you would see that what you said was wrong.

Also, Jim, we're not RVing, as you stated incorrectly.  Do you just make this stuff up?  The bigger question is: Why do you make it up?  And just so my comment is complete, we do have to worry about trash, electrical, etc., and we've had to several times, because we're not in an RV and we have to stay in rentals along the way.  Two of them were so bad, we had to leave, which I wrote about: https://bestplacesintheworldtoretire.com/stories/story/two-house-rentals-gone-wrong-and-a-guardian-angel

Maybe you didn't see it, so it didn't happen for anyone else, either.

As far as promoting the manana culture, to some extent, I am, which is the only thing I can see that you got factually right. Some of us can learn that our own immediate problems aren't so great, after all, especially when we compare our First World problems to the locals who have so much less, and seem to be so much happier.  Maybe there's a lesson there for us.  Some people understand this.  Perhaps you can read it again.

 

7 hours ago, Chuck Bolotin said:

I forgot to respond to JimandNina regarding how I never post the data or methodology. I post the data all the time, and its in the actual studies that I refer to, usually with a link. Before making your accusations, did you go to the studies, Jim?  If you did not, and regarding the methodology, here is the link to the actual study: https://bestplacesintheworldtoretire.com/download-free-ebooks

In the Expects: Expectation and Reality Study, you will notice that the survey methodology is discussed throughout the introductory pages and in great detail starting on page 74 and the entire set of results for the study in general, without any comments whatsoever, are in the appendix, starting on page 78.  You'll also notice that we offer to make the raw data available to anyone who asks.

Just because you don't remember something doesn't mean it didn't happen.  The world exists outside of your understanding of it or your memory.  All you had to do was take a look, and you would see that what you said was wrong.

Also, Jim, we're not RVing, as you stated incorrectly.  Do you just make this stuff up?  The bigger question is: Why do you make it up?  And just so my comment is complete, we do have to worry about trash, electrical, etc., and we've had to several times, because we're not in an RV and we have to stay in rentals along the way.  Two of them were so bad, we had to leave, which I wrote about: https://bestplacesintheworldtoretire.com/stories/story/two-house-rentals-gone-wrong-and-a-guardian-angel

Maybe you didn't see it, so it didn't happen for anyone else, either.

As far as promoting the manana culture, to some extent, I am, which is the only thing I can see that you got factually right. Some of us can learn that our own immediate problems aren't so great, after all, especially when we compare our First World problems to the locals who have so much less, and seem to be so much happier.  Maybe there's a lesson there for us.  Some people understand this.  Perhaps you can read it again.

Hola Chuck,

For openers, the ID here is jim and NENA. Autocorrect or not, you still need to proofread before hitting send.  If your income depends on communication, spelling counts.

Yes, I downloaded that tome a couple years back when it was first proffered as THE source of info for expats. I also get the emails (although as I stated, I read them from my spam folder before deletion).  The point your website is missing is that only those expats with something to gain are posting.  Some are trying to fill rental properties they own, some need buyers for their used car business, some have arts and crafts for sale at the Tuesday gringo market, others are just in the "misery loves company" category in the hope that enough expats will move where ever they are to be able to change the environment to their liking.

I will admit that the RV description was erroneous. One can live in an RV whereas "vanning" just allows one to drag more stuff along. Your lifestyle revolves around your livelihood. You must visit many places and report on fun times and worry-free adventures or you won't get readers. The folks relocating overseas are going to be living in one place for perhaps the rest of their lives. They will not be able to pick up the next day and move to the next beachfront resort.  The one defining factor in choosing a place to settle down for retirement is knowing that every day you wake up you will be faced with what ever problems you had when you went to sleep.  Finding a place with minimum problems is the most stress-free. Folks who come from an environment of 24/7 infrastructure don't want to spend their retirement in the dark; tell folks about the number of times they will be without electrical power, water, sanitation, emergency services, etc.  BEST PLACES TO RETIRE, remember.

jim and NENA

fort worth, tx/Chiriqui

PS, it is Expats: Expectations & Reality  not Expects: Expectation and Reality as in your post above. 

A "substantial amount of money" is often the factor in any court judgement.  It is the Golden Rule: those with the most gold rule.

jim

4 minutes ago, Brundageba said:

Woa....Our good friend Keith is a used car salesman and what would our life be without him here?

Might be another clue about Panama, Alison. Only there would a used car salesman be considered trustworty!

jim

2 hours ago, Roger B said:

It is a very funny but real description of bureaucracy.

...and I thought that Panama was the only country with this problem of excessive bureaucracy.

Hola Roger,

the thing I thought about was my last trip to the DMV and dealing with a used car salesman just before that.  Gotta be two of the worst ways to spend a day.

jim