Bud

I have never seen a video like this, and never expected to see such. It was absolutely hilarious.

We had a champagne experience in David about midday yesterday. I am applying for a handicap parking placard (already have one from Texas, but want to be completely legit here in Panama). We are smiling now because of how smoothly this process went; it took less than 15 minutes (once I had all of the necessary documentation). Here are the details in case you need to apply for a handicap parking placard. First of all, the name of the government agency that deals with these matters is called SENADIS. That acronym stands for the Secretaría Nacional de Discapacidad. The David office of SENADIS is in Edificio Brencan. Brencan is literally facing the main town square in David, on the same side as the Catholic Church. It is a three story building, and the SENADIS office is on the secundo piso, oficina #27. (That means it is on the third floor, given that the ground floor is known as PB.) See more location information below. Next is a scan of the documentation requirements: There is no fee for this service. Apparently the placards are prepared in PC, and then shipped to the office in David. The agent told me that it will take about 15 days, and then to expect a telephone call to come by their office. A few comments here about the process and how it worked for us. We stopped by our doctor prior to going to SENADIS (the first time), and the doctor wrote a "prescription" type document to indicate the medical basis justifying the application. We then took a copy of my driver license and cédula, and went to SENADIS about a week ago. We were not successful on our first visit, but only because they have a specific set of documents that are needed, and I did not know that in advance. See the scanned version of their documentation requirements as shown above. It turns out that the documentation needed is NOT onerous. Note that the medical justification must be a signed, original version, as no copies will be accepted. Obviously the other documentation will be copies. On our second trip we had the required documents, and the total time in their office was less than 15 minutes. We left with a smile on our faces. One comment about the medical justification that the doctor/doctora needs to provide. A general practitioner is not authorized to sign these kinds of applications. You will need an internist or other specialist doctor to sign the medical justification. At the current time there is only one doctor in Boquete, and that is Dra. Digna Virginia Diaz, who practices at the Boquete Medical and Associates (next door to La Reina). I would assume that there are many qualified doctors in David, but have no referrals to provide here. Here is a map showing the location of SENADIS in David. If is directly facing Parque Miguel de Cervantes (the main parque in David), but the entrance is on the side street. For those who use Google Maps, the SENADIS office is located at 8.428777 -82.425734. Here is what the entrance looks like, and again you will see a sign at that entrance with the Edificio Brencan name clearly on display:

Impressive! Certainly will appeal to a different group of people who wish to "experience" something rather than just "see" something. I suspect that means a younger group, younger either physically or based on mindset.

Having a doctor appointment at Consultorios Médico Alfa yesterday morning, I diddly bopped into town a bit after 11:00AM. I quickly saw that something special was about to start because there were lots of police on motorcycles and people standing in the street in front of Melos. I was not aware of anything special scheduled for Friday morning. My initial instinct was that it was a protest. Fortunately my appointment was on the main street, and so I thought how lucky I was to avoid that blockage. I make it to my appointment, finding a parking slot in front of the medical office (next door to La Reina) and am sitting in the waiting area for my appointment. And then the festivities started. It was not a protest, but rather a parade. Leading the parade was the Alcalde Emigdio Walker. I then had a frequently occurring disappointment that I did not know in advance of the parade. But this time I felt vindicated because others in the waiting area (mostly Panamanians) indicated that they likewise had no idea that there was a parade scheduled for that morning. The first significant group that I could identify was the Red Cross. There were many bands, drums, groups marching in formation, drums, dancers, flags, etc., and oh, did I mention LOTS OF DRUMS. Glad to read Deborah's posting explaining that this was celebrating an anniversary of the Red Cross, which explains why the first group following the mayor was the Red Cross with their banner. Per Keith's posting, maybe I need to listen to the radio more frequently. I completed my medical consult, and then went to the other side of the street (in front of Mail Boxes, Etc.) for a better viewing point. Here are two photos that I took after I left the medical office. The entire event lasted about 30-45 minutes.

Oh, such sad news. Our sincerest condolences go out to Lisa and their family. With love, Marcelyn and Bud

Was able to shut down the generator about 15 minutes ago. About five hours of outage. Glad that we are percolating again. And no, I don't believe a word of the hucksters pushing their wares on the various countries. I just ignore them.

Or raise your stress levels! Electric power is again a problem in our area. 82 volts at most this morning. Running on the generator right now to protect appliances and be able to get something productive done. Hopefully Gas Natural will be here soon.

Again, just a few days ago upon returning to Panama from international travel, Marcelyn and I found the same four categories for arriving passengers to go through the passport control station. Long lines in categories 1 and 3 as listed above, but we were the only two people in the category 2 line (returning Panamanian legal residents line). We were through there in less than three minutes. And again, no fingerprints were taken, no pictures taken, etc. A very pleasant arrival experience. My conclusion is that fingerprinting and picture taking of arriving citizens and legal residents is now history. Maybe it was too much trouble with too little benefit.

The silliness apparently continues. This afternoon (Saturday, May 13th), Marcelyn and I were returning from errands in David. We took the following pictures about 4:10PM today. The area is near Emerald Drive (just south of Los Molinos). We presumed from the lack of urgency on anyone's part that there were no injuries, although the pictures would suggest otherwise. One police vehicle had just arrived and two officers were walking around the accident scene. The roads were not crowded, there was no standing rainwater on the roadway, and nothing that we could see other than clear, straight roadway, etc.

I would think so, but apparently the world is changing.

I had my glasses (the frame, not the lenses) worked on by Opticentro Vega, which is across the street from Multibank here in Boquete. Friendly staff, had the tools, materials, experience, and attitude. Successful repair job, and cheap. This work was done in mid-April, just a couple of weeks ago. This is not a recommendation, but simply reporting on my experience.

I have delayed responding to my original question/topic so as to give a reasonable amount of time for those wishing to respond to have time to do so. It has now been a bit more than a week since I started this topic. Several replies brought up aspects of this tipping topic that I never even considered. I must be really naive. I have learned a lot. Thank you to all who have responded. A disappointing new awareness on my part has to do with a cultural or regional (?, not sure which, or both) aspect of this topic is the "tip sharing" concept. For some reason I never considered that as an option. Duh! I know that is the norm in some situations (e.g., aboard a cruise ship, etc.), and that doesn't cause me concern. Apparently, if I am understanding correctly, the pooling/sharing of tips is a common thing in Panama. A management decision to share tips can be presented as a good thing by some. But that wasn't the way I was raised. I actually do [now] see both sides of this issue. But that then defeats the purpose of my wanting to tip someone for good service. My mindset about a "tip" is that it stands for "to insure prompt service", and NOT to be an augmentation to salaries for all employees; to augment salary for the intended recipient is what a tip is supposed to be about to my way of thinking. I understand that many of you reading this will have different opinions, and you are free to share them and conduct your affairs accordingly. I am just telling you how I have always approached the subject of tipping (be it for a waiter in a restaurant, or a skycap for luggage assistance at an airport, or assistance with groceries at a store, etc.). It is not clear to me how this new awareness is going to affect my tipping protocol. Time will tell. Again, thank you to all.

Just wanting to understand what is really going on here. Infrequently, but seemingly at a growing rate as of recent times, some restaurant staff are now telling me when we are taking care of the bill for our food service that "the law doesn't allow us to put tips on the credit card; tips must be in cash". My understanding of the law (including the new law from earlier this year) is that tips cannot be automatically put on a bill by the restaurant, but nothing to the effect of barring customers from voluntarily putting a tip on the credit card charge slip. (And the credit card processing centers seem to validate my understanding, otherwise why would there be the ability to do such on the credit card transaction?) So what is really going on here? I'm an inquisitive guy who just likes to understand things.

Nicole and Daniel, Our condolences. A good friend is a certified translator. Her name is Mitzi Clare Nash Amat. Her cell is 6669-4786, email mitziclarenash@hotmail.com, website www.otralenguatranslations.webs.com. Mitzi is also a CL member.

On the Netflix part of this topic, Marcelyn and I just this week reactivated our Netflix account. For that TV we do NOT have VPN, and Netflix worked properly without any restrictions (well, at least so far that has been our experience). We have now watched three movies via Netflix. The only negative so far is that the audio is so low that we have difficulty hearing it. The volume was as high as it would go. Will check into plugging Netflix onto a different TV to see if we can boost the audio.

When Penny mentioned this sad news to me this morning at BCP, my heart just sank. Jim and Amelia were very involved in and committed to our special community. We were saddened when they announced they were returning to the US. For some unknown reason this morning, my second thought was a recollection of the first time I visited with them in their home. It had a stunning, hugely panoramic view of Bajo Boquete. And then I realized the correlation between that panoramic view and Amelia's (and Jim's) approach to life -- it was to look at every challenge as an opportunity, but act only after seeing the whole picture, not just through a peephole. RIP Dear Amelia.

We stopped by the Boquete office of C&W today and found everything locked up with a large sign on the fence. They have relocated to Plaza Los Establos. Don't know when it happened, but recently I suspect.

First I've heard of Barrios Seguros. I read the news article that was referenced, and it seems promising. Would like to know more about the project. Where can one learn more? Just curious if anyone knows where the "...'red' sectors..." in Chiriqui are located, and not sure what "judicialize" might mean. Thanks for posting this.

We are not into Droids (or Apple TV, etc.), but just curious if Juan Arauz might be of assistance if other options don't work out? Just a thought.

Interesting new spin on the term "Vecinos Vigilantes".

Marcelyn and I have been happy customers of La Casa del Cerdo in David. While in David today for errands, we stopped by again to pick up some pork chops (chuletas in Español). They were picture perfect samples of how pork should look. We noticed that they now have a new brochure, and so picked up a copy. It is attached here for those who wish more information. Note that I have blocked out a section of the brochure (lower right area in black), because they no longer have a store in Boquete (it used to be across the street from Fletes Chevales). La Casa del Cerdo still has a weekly presence in Boquete during the Tuesday Market at the BCP Event Center. BTW, the pork chops that we purchased today looked pretty much like the ones in the brochure - thick, perfectly shaped, and enticing. Can't wait until they are on our table served for dinner.

N22. We tried it once and it was good food and good service. Reasonable charges, and they voluntarily offered the jubilado discount. Only trouble was that there was no one else there. Apparently the lack of customers took its toll. We suspect the lack of parking was a major factor, although we never had a problem with parking at Sugar and Spice and then walking over.

Dottie and Twin Wolf, Thanks mucho for this topic and the reply. As a [strong] believer in and proponent for privacy, this topic surfaces an interesting (read devious and pernicious) Internet capability called super cookies. Super cookies is bad stuff for those who believe in privacy. I recommend that those who have desire for privacy do a Google search on 'super cookies' or 'flash cookies' or 'zombie cookies', etc. You will find many articles talking about them. Randomly picking just one of them (https://www.fightidentitytheft.com/blog/new-breed-super-cookie-defies-removal-almost) will show you a couple of things that you can do to better protect yourself. But even then you are not fully protected. Like Dottie, I routinely use a VPN; my VPN automatically starts when I turn on my computer. However, a VPN won't help against super cookies. One disappointing fact is that some businesses block users from attempting to log into their website while using VPN protections. Some banks, for instance, block VPN access under the misplaced logic that only hackers use VPNs and so they "protect" their bank customers accounts from those evil people. Nothing could further from the truth. This next statement is a gross over generalization, but I'll say it anyway. There is zero privacy in today's digital world. And once something is on the Internet it is there forever. Not trying to beat this to death, but most of the general public believe that data security and data privacy are the same thing. They are closely related but are not the same concept. And at times, security actually can work against privacy. Do another Google search but on 'difference between security and privacy'.