Pantah

What are the hours of operation? I went by there once when it started to rain during the daytime and they were packing up. If their hours are limited and I was a bad guy, I would go when they were not there, and after checking "waze" on my smartphone. Also has no effect on criminals that live north of the checkpoint. So what is it they really do and when? PS: there is a back way into Boquete via La Estrella if someone was really desperate.

I think you have a very clear grasp. The bad guys with smartphones can use the social program "waze" to show police check points rendering them mostly moot. Believe it or not I have never been stopped at a police checkpoint in any state or other country, except Panama. Can't be good for the tourism image. What's with that? I think I know!

Well stated Bud. I asked a Panamena shop owner about this and she said it was uphill near the Baru entrada and road to Volcancito intersection, which puts it much closer to the Moore residence. Still hearsay though. Like you, (and the other readers) I need more confirmation. Probably not many english speakers in the area, so info for us might be limited.

Noticias Chiriqui reported two days ago,an owner of a tienda in El Salto was shot in the leg. Three hombres involved. No other info provided. Any additional info on this? Note: El Salto is adjacent to Bajo Boquete.

The one balboa coins called "Martinellis" are now called by some "fugitivos". The first person I tried it on resulted in some serious stink eye. I should have known better! although I did get snickers from others. Trivia fact: "Martinellis" are the only circulating coins I know of that are attracted to magnets. Handy if you drop one down a sewer.

I wondered the same thing. What about the people that turn right past the bridge to go home? Being Panama, I would get a second opinion. And my info was from the Tesororia staff, not the best source maybe.

For what is worth, I asked the Boquete Municipio and they said these stickers were only available at Jaramillo Arriba Corregiduria for residents of that area. I got the info from staff in the Tesoria while paying my water and trash (up 40% by the way). Also, new speed bumps (black and unmarked, not cool!) just above Revilla and on the street west of Calle Principal.

Actually, as I understand it, the Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant commandments are somewhat different in wording and order, hence the banning of same in a Southern US courthouse. Sectarian preference and all. On a related note: when people ask me if I believe in the Bible, my response is "which one". After that I usually hear crickets!

I had an old rank and phone number for him. Great that he received a promotion. Thanks much.

A few years back, the contact person, Sgto Eric Nunez could be called if one encountered problems with a traffic stop. Does anybody know if this is still the case? I still have his number taped to the back of my license.

Mine is OK for the time being. I learned this today on a financial advisor podcast. Ric Edelman basically said save for retirement and don't consider your pension to be secure. If your pension is small enough you can cash out sometimes on request. I had no option other to choose when to start it. Sooner may be better than later. My opinion is that the PBGC may cover the smaller pensions to some degree. Not an easy call.

It is becoming more and more of a practice to shift over pensions to private insurance companies. Here's the kicker. Your pension normally is covered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) to ensure continued payment. Not so when shifted over to private insurance companies. Yikes!

Thanks again Hil. I read the same thing after I posted here. I was concerned that the "helper" guys were trying to pull off something. Totally agree that if you have all the right docs you should be OK. I am little concerned that maybe now they require proof of payment of a ticket, rather than an unpaid reservation. I do believe they check the reservation number on their computers if they have time. I have in the past experience at five different Panama border control points, and it is always a moving target.

Heads up for the Paso Canoas border crossing. On boquete.ning.com posted today that he, R. Blankert encountered irregularities that caused a delay and extra money to get back to Panama.

Thanks Hil and Bud. In reality the "fare" or "ticket" doesn't need to be presented, just a hardcopy of the reservation (for the last several years anyway). The British embassy travel info presents the same info about onward travel.

1. return ticket 2. fare back to home country 3. ticket to next destination So I assume the return ticket would be to the last point of debarkation, which was in my case Colombia. In any event the operative word is "or" Ask yourself this question, do you think the State Dept is doing funny business on this issue?

Here is a direct quote from the US State Dept. website “Tourists must present a return trip ticket or fare back to their home country or next destination upon arrival.” So there are three options. There has been "funny business" in the past about this. So cuidado. And no I will not mention on a public forum what the funny business is.

"Altruistically" is a typo, I think he meant "Autistically"!

Forgot to add that you can run Linux and MacOS simultaneously on the same Mac. No need to remove your MacOS. You can run it dual boot or using a virtual machine like VMware or Parallels.

Different flavors of Linux have been available for Macs for quite a few years now. Ubuntu 14.04 is what I run on my Macs and is a good, but not only choice. The oldest Mac I have is 7 years old and it runs with absolutely no problems. Maybe even runs faster, but I haven't tested it. It is mature software for Macs, so you won't have the teething problems like the other OSs.

Bummer, can you walk me through RSS setup for my.yahoo.com RSS feeds. If I am provided an URL for this maybe I can do it myself.

I see an RSS icon to click on, and I have Mozilla Thunderbird. I can't seem to get a good URL for it. Any help for this?

Years ago when the Tuesday meetings were at the Hotel Fundadore, a Panama City Atty. (Mayra I think) explained the pensionado program was extended to non Panamanians to entice the expats in Panama to stay after the canal handover. It has been unmolested ever since. These expats are here paying for goods and services that go in a very large part to locals. Also much higher tax revenues. The tax on materials on a $200,000 structure is $14,000 for example, not to mention jobs provided.

At one time I was interested in buying the one story wooden building that stood there before it. The current dispute involves encroaching property lines, I think. Glad I didn't buy it! I personally have had issues with my property lines. Very very common here, but nowhere near this fiasco.

12, ma' o meno'