Bud

54 minutes ago, ARF said:

Thank you so much Bud and Marcelyn!!!  I just sent you a PM.

PM received. Transaction completed. Please see return PM for particulars.

12 hours ago, MarieElaine said:

Thank you so much,  I too copied the address off the website and know that Keith did the same.  Thank you for making the correction.  I needed to attach a file which is why I preferred email.

 

My experience in "expecting" businesses to routinely monitor their published email accounts has been less than stellar. Those expectations have generally led to disappointment. Hopefully Radio Chiriqui is more attentive than those to whom I have sent emails. You may consider calling their station to alert them to an important incoming email message. Just a thought.

Wishing you all the best.

BTW, we know Roger Guerra, who is part of Radio Chiriqui. His dad is the one who started that business a long time ago. Roger and Radio Chiriqui did a radio broadcast from our home many years ago. It was part of a Saturday series of "Spanglish" broadcasts that they were doing. I have his email and cell number if you need help. I won't publish that information here on CL, but would consider sending you a private message if you requested it.

Given all of the postings in this thread, we were concerned about the payment of our garbage bill, but things worked out fine for us. Paid it this morning. It was a sizeable increase, specifically 47.27%. However, this is only approximately $2.00/month, which is very reasonable to our way of thinking. Note that as a resident of El Santuario, we only get garbage service from the city; our water is provided by Acuaducto de Alto Lino, and is paid in April.

• My 2014 garbage bill was $15.60
• My 2015 garbage bill was $23.40
• My 2016 garbage bill was $16.50
• My 2017 garbage bill was $24.30 (the one paid today)

What I don't understand is why the rate goes all over the place. Not complaining, just curious.

BTW, there was a lot of keyboard activity on the part of the clerk this morning -- probably close to 3 minutes. And for the first time, I was asked for my cédula, which I provided, and that number is now on my garbage bill. (I've had a cédula for four years now, but it was never requested in prior years.)

We were lucky on the timing of our arrival at the Tesoreria this morning, There was only one person in line when we arrived. By the time we left -- total turnaround time was about 5 minutes once she started processing my payment -- there were nine people behind me. Actually there are two lines right now, given large number of people to take care of, but the second computer failed, and so we had to revert to one line.

[As a sidebar comment, a friend from the Volcancito area told me yesterday that his garbage bill went up by more than double, to just a bit under $60.00.]

The clerk was very professional, and greeted me with a smile, and wished me a good day when I left.

Overall, this was a pleasant experience.

Marcelyn and I ate at Restaurante El Viajero this afternoon. It wasn't a planned dining, but just kinda happened that way. Glad that we did it. The food was good, and the service was good. We met the owner, Mattia Bertero. All conversation was in English. Marcelyn had the chicken tacos and I had the special of the day, which was fried chicken with papas fritas. Marcelyn had an Italian red wine, which she said was really spectacular (and was only $3.50 per glass).

If you are looking for a new experience, consider trying El Viajero. We likely will put it on our list of good places to go, especially if you want large quantities of good food.

Here are pictures of the two plates.

According to our semi-official calendar of significant happenings in Panama, the next school year is scheduled to start on Monday, March 6^th, 2017. However, there is a note next to that entry that indicates that the date is not yet confirmed.

Yes, it is new policy, at least for our household. Here are the stats.

• My first driver license was issued in April 2005, and expired on August 31, 2009 (which is the last day of my birth month).
• My second driver license was issued in August 2009 and expired on August 31, 2013 (which is the last day of my birth month).
• My third (current) driver license was issued in August 2013, and expires on August 31, 2017 (which is the last day of my birth month).
• Marcelyn's first driver license was issued in August 2013, and expired on January 31, 2015 (which is the last day of her birth month).
• Marcelyn's second driver license was issued in January 2015, and set to expire on January 31, 2017 (which is the last day of her birth month).
• Marcelyn's third (current) driver license was issued in January 2017, and is set to expire on January 14, 2019. This is the license that was renewed a couple of days ago.

Can you see the pattern here? That pattern has now changed.

It appears that the law or policy changed sometime after April 2015 and before June 2016.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that you can renew your driver license in the month prior to your birth month.

Maybe we are misunderstanding how things work regarding license expiration, but it seems as if there is an issue here. Maybe someone can clarify.

If a driver license now expires on the day that your renewal is processed then what happens in the renewal month a few years down the road (pardon the play on words)? Suppose Marcelyn is traveling during the month and can't get to SERTRACEN until after her license has expired, even if it is prior to her birthday? My interpretation is that she would be driving without a valid license.

Going a little bit to the extreme, suppose someone is born early in the month and they have only a few days to renew before expiration? It is our understanding that you cannot renew in the month prior, so it seems to be a catch-22 situation. Actually, we have a niece who was born on January 1st. Seems like she would be in hot water if she lived in Panama. There is no way she could renew in a timely manner.

Where is the fault in our logic?

Joe,

Your posting was very informative. Thanks for taking the time to respond to the question. 

Let's hope that the upcoming Poker Run is a rip roaring success because the proceeds will be used for a worthwhile cause.

For those who were not able to participate in the pre-Christmas party that you mentioned, you can see our posting about that event at:

Sounds more hyped than International Living. Each of us gets to decide our priorities.

4 hours ago, Bonnie said:

I believe the Panamerican Highway runs east/west, doesn't it, and the Boquete/David road north and south?

The compass direction (in this instance more correctly stated as directionS, plural)  that the Pan-American Hwy takes depends on one's location. Parts of the highway are east-west, some north-south, etc. In the particular area where this accident happened it is more east-northeast to west-southwest (or the inverse, depending on your direction of travel).

While in David running errands, we filled up with diesel, only to discover (after the fact) that the advertised price for diesel on the large street-side sign was not the same price as that on the pump itself. I'll give you 20 guesses as to which price was the higher, and the first 19 answers don't count.

The street-side sign said 64.2/liter. The pump was set at 64.7/liter.

Is this a fairly common occurrence? In my years here this is the first time it has happened to me (at least that I am aware of). No, I did not discuss this matter with the station attendant. We were in a hurry.

I suspect ACODECO is the appropriate agency with which to discuss this matter, assuming I want to spend some time doing it. Doubt that I will do that given prior experiences there.

Marcelyn and I were in David today for errands. On our exit we saw and got tangled up with a very strange accident. This was about 1:30PM and was at the intersection on the Pan-American Hwy where Hospital Mae Lewis and the restaurant Smokin Mama's are located. The southbound traffic was totally stopped, The northbound traffic was squeaking by under the guidance of several policemen.

I say it was a strange accident because it appears that a power pole fell from a truck onto the roadway. The intersection was totally blocked. There did not appear to be any injured person, just a lot of traffic blockage on the roadway. After we were able to go around the blockage, the southbound lane was totally stopped all the way to the new McDonald's next to La Casa de Batterias. I am sure those people were very distressed.

Marcelyn and I returned to Panama from international travel within this past week. On this entry we were NOT fingerprinted, but both of us were photographed. As in the recent past, the lines at immigration have been changed so that there now are three (actually, four) lines:

1. returning Panamanian citizens
2. returning Panamanian legal residents
3. tourists
4. diplomats and flight crew

The immigration line reconfiguration actually works to our benefit because groups 1 and 3 were the longest. There were exactly zero in line for group 2, and so we were through immigration in less than five minutes.

Fingerprinting or not is perhaps a changing policy based on their experience and results.

BTW, the immigration officer (a lady) was very pleasant, had a warm and engaging smile on her face, and ended our interaction with "welcome home" (in English). We said "gracias, muchas gracias."

I am not aware of any change in the fees for foundations for 2017. FYI, the fee is officially called "Tasa Unica".

I pay our Tasa Unica myself with no assistance by a CPA or attorney, etc. Just fill out the form and pay it at any Banco Nacional branch office.

You may also wish to check out another related topic here on CL at:

That is one heck of a beautiful skyline shot of PC at dusk. Strongly suspect that Photoshop had something to do with it, but it still is very enticing.

Thanks, Keith. I am delaying the payment of our 2017 municipal garbage bill until after reading what the "official" rates are. Please post here as soon as there is something to report.

Our water bill is not through the city, but rather Acuaducto de Alto Lino, and so I am now curious what will happen there. I'm considering asking for a copy in writing of their billing rate table.

10 hours ago, Bonnie said:

They could fine them $250.000 more as far as I'm concerned. After undergoing an eight-hour outage yesterday, my power was off today from 2:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. while numerous friends reported that they had electricity.  I was in a panic about the food in my refrigerator and freezer. I called Rodny around 6:00 p.m. (delayed because Mas Movil was out of service for several hours), and he said he understood that everything was back up. I told him that at least Palo Alto and Jaramillo were without and had been without for at least 16 hours. Within 15 minutes, I had electricity.

Kudos to Rodny! (Maybe somebody forgot to flip a switch?)

Bonnie,

You are a good friend, and I am very happy for you as I read that you now have your electrical service back again, even if somewhat inconsistently. However, there is little sympathy on my part, given that we are going into DAY FOUR without service and still counting. In the interest of fairness, I do understand that there are a lot of people without service and that they have to set priorities.

Recall that I first came here in 2001. Our home is in El Santuario. My prior outage record was 3.5 days. Before that there several two and three day outages. That is why we have a generator so that we don't keep loosing our frozen foods and being without communications. A new record is being set; I wonder what the number will end up being!

Our current service interruption started last Sunday afternoon. I have been calling Union Fenosa multiple times daily, and have yet to talk with a customer service rep (CSR) who I felt was well trained, or even somewhat compassionate. I get the feeling the CSRs want me to apologize for disturbing them. It was only yesterday afternoon that I was finally able to get them to issue a ticket number for my trouble call.

My Spanish is not that good, but I suspect some of the CSR responses were worse than rude (giving them the benefit of the uncertainty). When I ask them to speak more slowly (despacio o lentamente, por favor), they only speak more rapidly or repeatedly respond with 'no inglés', even though I was speaking [admittedly not good] Spanish.

What has anyone learned from this recent/ongoing experience? Why is undergrowth in close proximity to the power lines not routinely cleared away? This scenario will surely be repeated at the next bad weather cycle.

And so I echo your sentiments -- let the fines begin.

On Martyr's Day 2017 (January 9^th), Marcelyn and I stopped by the new Big Daddy's Restaurant for lunch. It is located on the main street in Boquete just north of Plaza Los Establos and across from the Black and White Restaurant. It was our first time there in a very long time, and also the first time for us after the transition to its new owner: Chef Chris. It turned out that we got to meet and chat at length with Chris.

I confess up front that Marcelyn and I are onion-ring-a-holics, and so we of course ordered the onion rings. Marcelyn's main course was the chicken fingers, and I -- as a Texas born and raised kid -- did a bowl of chili and rice (not including the optional beans). We both wanted to order batidos, but given that there was the regional power outage affecting most of Chiriqui, Big Daddy's was not able to prepare those drinks and so we had a coke. Service was excellent, the food was excellent, and the conversation with Chris was excellent. If I had to give a complaint it would be that the servings were quite large, and so we had a "take out" package to take home with us.

We recommend that you give the new Big Daddy's a try. We did not look into the patio area, given that it was very rainy and windy. Will try that area in the near future. We also recommend that if you go for lunch that you get there before too much after 12 noon because the place filled up and people were waiting. As soon as we vacated our table, it was serviced and another couple sat down. There were many younger people, obviously tourists to our way of thinking given the various languages we were hearing, and so the word is apparently out on the various websites as to where to go for good food and service in Bajo Boquete.

Here is a picture of the onion rings (with a few of them already eaten as we couldn't wait to sink our teeth into them) -- yummy, yummy, may be the best in town:

Thanks for this info. Explains why the El Santuario area is being pounded with high winds, driving rain, and electric service interruptions. Friends in other areas say "what rain?".

I have a weather app on my iPad but haven't checked it recently. Live and learn, as they say.

We purchased unadulterated ammonia at PriceSmart some time back. Doesn't mean they will have it now, but good luck.

This is a fantastic video. As I watching, the thought going through my mind was this is the kind of stuff that the Boquete Video Festival is looking for. And then, there was the punchline at the end.

Great photography, and Rio and Remo appear to be very well trained (and happy) dogs.

We have had a post office box since first arriving here more than a decade ago. I was fortunate to be able to get a box because they are in short supply. I just feel better about my mail (which is not very much, basically bank statements and the electric bill) rather than depending on the general delivery approach because we can get our mail out of the box even when the post office is closed.

I have known that service is slow, but not a problem. We also find that the staff at the Boquete office is very friendly and helpful. Kudos to them. We periodically take them some cookies or dulces as a thank you gesture.

Now to my gripe. Our electric utility bill comes to us via both email and the postal service. It is very convenient to get the bill via email for those times when we are traveling because that means I can pay the bill remotely via direct bank transfer to Union Fenosa. (I still call it Union Fenosa even though the name now is officially Gas Natural Fenosa). And sometimes my paper bill doesn't come for several weeks, but it is much more readable than the PDF email version that is sent out.

The November paper bill never arrived and so I just wrote it off as lost in the mail. But then as we were going through the mail that we just picked up (having been in travel mode), I looked at the back of the bill. Interesting date stamp information. The paper bill was posted in Panama City on 21 November 2016. That paper bill was delivered to the Boquete post office on 23 December 2016. That is more than a month to get the bill some 500 KM from PC to Boquete. Not impressive delivery service.

Anyone else having similar experiences? Are there any ways to improve the situation?

Here is the back of my November bill:

Adding a postscript to my above posting: there is an underlying public safety issue that needs to be pondered: Had there been a fire in the PriceSmart warehouse, it would have been a major disaster.

My opinion here, not scientific data, but it would have been extremely difficult to evacuate the building given only two doors and the hordes of people inside. There likely could (would?) be injuries from the exiting hordes. And more importantly, the Bomberos would have found it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to get their firetrucks to the site given the massive number of people and cars at that facility; there were simply too many cars that were parked in areas and in ways that significantly reduced vehicular access and maneuverability.

I am thankful that none of that happened.

Marcelyn and I have been traveling, and returned home to Boquete late yesterday evening. Without thinking through things, we went to PriceSmart today to stock up on perishables, etc. Our plan was to go early just after opening, and then get back home. We arrived in the PriceSmart area about 10:45'ish.

Going to PriceSmart today was a major mistake. We have NEVER seen PriceSmart so congested. The cars were queued up on the InterAmerican Highway for more than 1/2 KM just to get into the parking area. We opted to bypass the main entrance, and bogey on down to the Chiriqui Mall entrance and come in via the back route. Had to park on that back route and walk in.

Cars were parked even on the entrance side road. Here is a picture of part of the congestion, but this picture does not come close to conveying the real situation.

There were no empty parking places, tons of people in the parking lot, no shopping baskets were available outside the store, and so I thought I would be real smart and ask someone who was loading their goods into their car if I could have their basket when they were finished. However, it turned into a queue of five people wanting that one basket.

Okay, being the clever dude that I am I got one of the few remaining large flatbed carts, and then faced another gauntlet -- that of getting into the store. We almost turned around at that point, but decided that we had driven all the way from Boquete so we were going to stick it out. We were queued up into a single line waiting to get into the warehouse itself. Once in, we could hardly walk it was soooooooo crowded. People everywhere.

The queues for checking out, every one of them, were full, and backed up all the way to the opposite end of the store. I am not kidding here. Every line was at least 75 people with their carts.

Movement within the store was very difficult. We decided after getting about fifty feet into the building and spending 30 minutes to get there that it simply was not worth it. We abandoned the flatbed cart, and exited, which was itself a gauntlet.

Again, we have never seen PriceSmart so congested. I am sure that the employees are going to drop in exhaustion at the end of the day, assuming they make it that long.

I bet PriceSmart is going to have a banner sales day today. We ended up getting some eggs at the Canasta Basica store at Plaza San Francisco, and then calling it an end to our shopping spree. We had a big laugh on the way home.

BTW, forgot to mention that getting fuel in David was also an adventure. Our normal station in David (a Terpel station) had no fuel. None, Nada. Zip.

Obviously the economy here in Panama is booming.

You might wIsh to contact John Hampton. He can be contacted via private message here on CL using @John R Hampton.