Bud

MarieElaine, you are correct that this email received about 48 hours ago from Yahoo actually refers to a breach that occurred in 2013. Three years to report it. Ouch! The damage has long since been done. I do know from other reports that Yahoo did report this breach earlier this year, but again long after the fact. FYI, the email from Yahoo that is shown above was an email sent to me earlier this week for my backup Yahoo email account. I remain unimpressed with their "proactive" stance.

Only the flight segments that either originate and/or terminate on Panamanian soil qualify for the jubilado discount. For example, if you fly to Amsterdam on the non-stop KLM flight and return via the same route, then both segments get the discount. On the other hand, if you then fly from Amsterdam to Tallinn, Estonia, as just one example, then the follow-on flights do not qualify for the discount; only the two KLM flights get the discount and the other flight segments do not qualify -- even if they are all booked on the same reservation and e-tickets. From this, one can deduce that if you wish to go to Europe that it is better from the qualifying jubilado discount perspective to fly directly to Europe, rather than flying to the US (e.g., Houston, Atlanta, or Miami) and then connecting with onward flight segments, referring to those flights that take off or land outside of Panama.

I agree with Pederhaney's posting, and add that the jubilado discount applies only to flights that originate or terminate in Panama. Thus, if you fly from PTY to ATL to JFK, then the flight from Atlanta to New York is not discounted.

Wow, Bonnie. This is falling somewhat short of a glowing endorsement. I believe we will do a personal review of the facility prior to making any decisions.

The same photos are also available here on CL at http://www.chiriqui.life/calendar/event/502-bcp-holiday-open-house/?do=findReview&review=24.

Marcelyn and I have a LOT of experience on this subject. Our time frame was the summer of 2015. There is an office in David that is charged with doing exactly what you are looking for. If you are on the street where the original McDonald's is located, starting in front of that McDonald's, then go to the intersection that is heading toward the InterAmerican Hwy. Turn left, drive slowly, and about 75 feet on the left will be a group of marked parking spaces. Park there. Then look for a double glass door with metal frames toward the rear of that building. There is a sign over the door, but I cannot remember what it says. It is words vaguely to the effect of "criminal investigation ministry", or words to that effect. At the reception area, tell them you need fingerprints, and then wait. You will eventually be escorted (literally, this is a security building) through some very narrow hallways to a door where they do the fingerprints. All of the above is the good news. The bad news is that they are inefficient (read as ineffective) at getting the fingerprints delivered. Taking of the fingerprints went rather quickly, but then they have to be "processed", which means in PC. We never were able to get our fingerprints delivered to us. We made at least half a dozen trips to that office in David for that sole purpose over the course of several weeks, but only ended getting nowhere at that office as they kept deflecting responsibilities to "someone" other than themselves. Not a pleasant experience, and certainly unproductive. We never got anything from the office in David. We had a time constraint and so looked elsewhere. Our fingerprints were eventually delivered to us by making a dedicated trip to PC, and going to a DIJ office close to Ancon. Friendly people, etc. it took them about 10 days to finish their work, and we had the fingerprints in hand (play on words intended). There were some fees to be paid, but minimal. Don't remember exactly, but think in terms of less than $10.00. P.S., we also needed a "police report", for each of us, and somehow ended up with an email address to send a request to at some office in PC. That office has something to do with government affairs with other countries. The police reports were ready within a week, and cost about $10.00 each as well, including all of the stamps, etc. Marcelyn says that it was worth the trip to PC, hint, hint.

Check out the posting at http://www.chiriqui.life/topic/4051-la-casa-del-jam%C3%B3n-in-alto-boquete that talks about Casa del Jamon.

http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Presidente-Varela-promulga-Buen-Samaritano_21_4634746482.html

Good luck Bonnie. Our experience is that it really is worth all of this time, trouble, and expense. Having a cédula has made administrative and legal things a lot easier for us. One can still get things done with a jubilado card, but there are differences. One for instance, nothing has to change in Panamanian documentation when your US passport number changes (that affects things like car registrations, as one example).

I would have preferred a bit more specificity as to the "risk" that was mentioned in this announcement. Are they referring to risk to the power lines, risks to pedestrians, risks to vehicles on the roadways, etc.? I often wonder why trees and limbs are not routinely being trimmed or removed because of the risk to high tension lines that I see around our area. I guess I should be happy that they are at least working on some of these issues.

We occasionally do what Pederhaney says, and then we aperiodically also buy a small supply (quantity five to ten) of Mas Movil's scratch-off cards, the $5.00 version, so that we don't have to go to the C&W office all that often. As an aside I have the same cell number (but not the same phone) that I have had from the early 2000 era (which I got from Geovana Caballero when she worked at the C&W office in David). She no longer works for C&W, which is good for her but not good for us gringos needing good customer service. Our cell service is prepaid service just like Bonnie uses, which is something that works well for us since we are not big users of cell service here.

Someone ran that photo through an editing job with the vibrance parameter cracked up to maximum level!

Marcelyn and I tried a [new for us] tipico restaurant for breakfast this morning. La Karreta is on the main street in Boquete directly across the street from the Bioblioteca de Boquete. Service was great, food selection extensive, although more meat selections than one would normally expect, and prices were really low. When a restaurant is serving a meal for less than $10.00, we make it a practice not to ask for a jubilado discount. Our total bill this morning for both orders (Marcelyn had pancakes and I had an omelet, along with coffees and orange juice, toast, etc) was $7.65, not each, but total. Now that the German restaurant at Plaza San Francisco is shut down, La Karreta is looking like a good alternative. We understand that they are open only for breakfast and lunch -- no dinner service. Good food, large servings (we couldn't eat everything) great service with a big smile, and lots of free parking right in front of the restaurant.

Pardon me while I wax philosophical. I was born and raised in Texas, and not so fondly remember experiencing many hurricanes on the Gulf Coast as a young lad. I don't want to repeat that scenario ever again. And so when I first came to Boquete (2001) and seriously considered moving here, one of the questions I asked was about natural disasters. I was informed that floods and earthquakes are just about all there might be. If you choose to, you could include brush fires as a natural disaster as well; they could result from lightning (or mankind). In these intervening years I had witnessed earthquakes and floods. I can never forget the magnitude 6.5 Puerto Armuelles earthquake that occurred early on Christmas morning of 2003. My house was still under construction and I was staying at Hotel Panamonte. One young girl living near Boquete was killed as I recall from a tree falling on her house. And then one of the big floods was in November 2008. Etc., etc. Well, it turned out that Hurricane Otto, at times a tropical storm, and then a category 1 and for a short period a category 2 hurricane made history. The people of Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua were the victims. According to press articles, three people died in Panama from the flooding, and there were literally many thousands of people who had to evacuate their homes in all three countries. In the past, we had to depend on the writing skills of witnesses to get a feeling for events in remote places, but with today's technology (a smartphone in everyone's hand) we were able to watch a video clip of three homes in Panama that literally washed away before our eyes from the gushing waters (http://giphy.com/gifs/NUVNMU6CdCHF6/html5). It is my understanding that Hurricane Otto made history in being the strongest and latest in the hurricane season ever to make landfall on Central America. Let's all pray that we never see such an exhibition of the power of Mother Nature again. Otto is now history for most of us reading this, but for many who were not so lucky, they face a major recovery period.

It appears to be a flag of a community service organization in the background of this picture, so it is reasonable to presume that Dr. Zapata made service to others part of his life. So sad to hear this outcome. Giving one's life in an effort to save someone else, I agree -- a HERO!

Where should one go to report a potentially dangerous public utility to request that it be repaired? Walking nearby or underneath this power box seems to be a risk that we are not willing to take. See these photos that were taken across the street from Romeros here in Boquete. It is not just the open wiring and switch box, but also the loose metal sheeting that could be ready to fall on someone.

Interesting, but does this app work only with Chrome? I'm a bit confused on the operating environment that it requires or uses. I don't often see the word inflection used. This suggests that maybe you are trained in linguistic matters. I do like that it works with inflected words. According to Wikipedia: The reason for elaborating here a bit is that about 40 years ago I worked with a lady who had a Ph.D. in neuro-linguistics. At that time I did not understand what that term meant, but with time I have begun to appreciate the importance of understanding the underlying word structures, and etymology in general. My interest in this app comes from the possibility of having been introduced to a new educational tool. An everyday example here in Panama about how understanding words can help integrate cultures is found in how words crossover between languages. For instance, while driving around road construction or poorly designed roads, it is often that one will see the word "profundo". When I first moved here I had to look up what it translated into -- deep is one such translation, and so the sign was warning about deep trenches, etc. And then the word got linked in my mind with the English word "profound". This is such a simple thing -- some called it a "duh moment", but for me it was a "profound" (pardon the play on words here) enlightenment. There are numerous examples of words crossing over. Thanks for your posting. I will look into your suggested app a bit more.

Just curious if anyone knows who the dignitaries are that came into Boquete yesterday, Tuesday, November 22nd. As we were going into town about 5 minutes before 8:00am, we saw the typical motorcycle cops before and after a black SUV with the red and blue flashing lights in the windshield. They were in the area that we call "restaurant row", which is just north of the main church, and they were heading in the general direction toward the Panamonte.

We voted muchas veces, probably well over 100 times. Sorry to read that your favorite did not prevail, but it was worth the effort. I scanned the comments about all of the candidates, and there were no losers among them.

TwoSailors, That is a fantastic website. Had not seen it previously. Will bookmark it on my browser. Thanks for providing the URL.

We don't have experience with the early days of Global Entry -- just for the past two and a half months. Maybe your experience was a case of the start up problems of a new system. Also, we agree with the cost and the excessive amount of paperwork. The thing that caused us to commit to starting the process was that our AMEX card funded the $100.00 fees (plural, one fee for Marcelyn and one for me), for a total of $200.00. Had we had to pay that then we would not have committed. But with the fee being rebated, it was simply the documentation, which was onerous. It took each of us a bit more than one hour each with the online system to get everything that was required. The good news for us was not having to pay the fees, and that the Global Entry thing is good now for five years. This is probably our first and last time to go through their procedure, given our ages. Our recent entry at IAH in Houston (a week ago yesterday) was rather easy, other than several of their machines being out-of-service. Didn't even have to submit the customs form that we had in hand. They just take your word that is confirmed on the computer panel when entering through their system. We really are not trying to "sell" anyone on going through this process. Just sharing information.

Information about the memorial service for Louis:

Judy, I don't know the answer to your question. We have no experience with Panama Global Pass. I was asked how this post is related to life in Chiriqui. Well, to my way of thinking, we live in Chiriqui, but travel frequently. Not trying to be flip here; just explaining my logic. Note that the pictures in the Panama brochure about their program make it look like Panama and the US use the same machines. One would think that somehow the databases used are interconnected. Going a bit further, in case there are others interested in the US Global Entry program, below is a PDF scan of the Global Entry Trusted Traveler Network Information Guide. I note with interest the terminology "network" in the name. My current impression is that it is not in a network because the US TSA Precheck program is totally separate from Global Entry. Global Entry applies to entering the US. TSA Precheck is about when you exit the US. And they do not appear to talk to each other. Global Entry Information Guide.pdf