Bud

Oops. It is not like this was a short-fused requirement.

Alison and Bill,

Oh how sad I am in reading of your loss. Flossy brought love to the both of you, and she knew she was loved in return.

If you are going to be in PC during this Christmas season, do yourself a favor and visit Federico Boyd street during the evening hours. Also some of the small parks within the city. The Christmas lights are stunningly beautiful.

You might also want to read a bit about who Federico Boyd was. Check out this article on Wikipedia.

Marcelyn and I saw a “Nuro” vehicle today. Nuro is an automated (driverless, autonomous) vehicle that can be used to deliver goods. Interesting seeing all of the electronics on top of the small, white vehicle. “NURO” in blue letters was displaying on the side doors. For more info, see  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuro.

Before you ask, no, this is not in Panama. In Houston.

Sold.

We have three (3) HP model 950XL (black) printer cartridges. Total value about $100.00. It turns out our model HP uses the 950 series, but is NOT compatible with the higher capacity (the XL) version of these cartridges. These cartridges were brought in from the US.

Turns out PriceSmart no longer carries these black cartridges, but does carry the companion 951 series color cartridges. We bought our printer there a few years back. Go figure.

Great deal here: $10.00 for the complete set.

720-2677 or email bud.huber@grommet.net

1 hour ago, Keith Woolford said:

level the area

...for what purpose?

Really sad news. Michael was very much involved in our community, both for health/physical fitness and musical entertainment reasons, and truly was a nice guy. Marcelyn and I had taken stretching exercise classes with Michael at The Haven, and also were working with him on preparing some high end multimedia to help document and market his musical skills.

Following John's lead above, below are some video recordings taken on September 27^th at Boulder 54. It was a rainy evening, there was the ambient noise of recording in a functioning restaurant, and the audio was based only on the camera microphones, so not good quality. These videos were test runs only, and not intended to be made available to the public. However, under the circumstances it seems appropriate to publish these so as to share Michael's talents. We cannot confirm, but believe that these likely are the last videos taken of Michael prior to his passing because a few days after these recordings were made Michael traveled to the USA for about a week; we were on the same plane with him. That was the last time we saw Michael, on the plane from David to Tocumen on October 2^nd. We do not think he would object to these postings. Along that line, we were working with him to produce higher quality multimedia recordings (using studio quality audio kit) in November and December.

Again, really sad news for our friend. RIP. Posting here in your memory.

So sad. Hopefully Rosie will be reunited with you soon.

Our dog, Anouk, really does not like thunder either (nor fireworks or other loud noise bursts). We understand how traumatic these sounds can be to our domestic pets, who really are part of the family.

Three of us had dinner yesterday afternoon at Bar Bamboo. This is the eatery that in the recent past was known as The Baru, and is located diagonally across from the post office in Bajo Boquete. It had been a very long time since last patronizing that eatery, so we wanted to see how things went with the new owner's version of the restaurant/bar.

First off, there were no signs visible from the street as to the name of the facility. I saw only one "sign" that had been painted on an exterior wall that was hidden from easy visibility to the effect that the name is now Bar Bamboo.

Service was quick, and the menu was extensive and reminiscent of the menu of the prior Baru establishment. We all commented upon reading the menu that prices for the food items seemed a bit high. We ordered some onion rings for an appetizer, plus one medium size combination pizza, which was to be shared among the three of us, plus drinks consisting of one each domestic beer, Coca Cola, and black coffee. The drinks and onion rings were delivered in short order. The onion rings looked attractive, but did not meet our expectations for taste. The pizza was delivered a few minutes later, and was very attractive and tasty. It was a LOT of food, even for three people. Glad that we had not ordered the large family sized pizza.

The ambiance was quiet, which pleased us because the three of us like to chatter and catch up on the latest bochinche. On the other hand, we were the only patrons inside the restaurant (pardon me for calling it a restaurant, since the name is Bar Bamboo). The place was clean and well appointed. After finishing our meal, which included a request for take away container, we asked for the bill, but did not ask for a jubilado discount. I paid with a credit card; we were informed that tips had to be in cash. No problem with that. We paid, left a cash tip, and then departed. The outside patio area had only one table occupied. In other words, there were not many patrons there at what we think of as a normal dinner time.

We likely will go back, but it is not at the top of our favorites list. No real complaints on our part, but it didn't seem a good value, and the onion rings left a bad taste in our mouths.

It was not until getting home and logging the credit card purchase that I noticed that we were not charged for the beer. Obviously an oversight that would have been pointed out had I checked the bill prior to departure. Also we were given a jubilado discount without asking for it. The medium size pizza would have been $14.00 but with the discount it came down to $10.50. Had the bill been correct and no discount applied, the total would have been about $21.00. The bottom line of a dinner for $7.00 per person (not including tip) is reasonable to us, so maybe I should soften the earlier comment about the prices seeming high on the menu. And it was a LOT of food, and tasty pizza.

On our way into town today we could see no evidence of fire damage from the street. I had planned to take a picture to post here, but there is nothing to show.

Our housekeeper told us today that the owner of Milquiburger (near the Los Naranjos "Y") passed away earlier this week. He was suffering from a long term illness, but no details are known.

For us "old timers", Milquiburger was known for good hamburgers, and especially for its fried chicken.

RIP Sr Milquiburger

We, the larger Boquete area, had another electrical outage today. It began about 5:15AM and service was restored about 11:15AM, or about six hours.

I got my haircut this afternoon, and learned while at the barber shop that the cause was a transformer that exploded. The faulty transformer was located somewhere between Boquete and Dolega, but exact location was not known. Interesting how quickly bochinche spreads in our community, probably faster than the speed of light.

A captivating image, obviously taken by a drone. Wow!

Given that I am height-phobic (with the exception of airplanes, go figure), it is highly unlikely that I will ever venture to the top. I suspect the views are awe inspiring. Maybe someone could post some pictures.

This product should be outlawed — Kirkland's Kettle Brand potato chips with Himalayan pink salt.

Recently got our first package at PriceSmart, and they are sinfully captivating. Can't be the healthiest food in the world, but if you like chips and dips, these are the chips to use. Thick, crinkle cut, crispy, with just the right amount of salt.

5 hours ago, Keith Woolford said:

Are exports of beef and chicken not driving up prices for nationals ? 

Is there sufficient production to serve both markets ?

I suspect that the prices we see here for beef have been impacted by the large exportation levels to China. On the other hand, we tend to shy away from Panamanian beef for several reasons.

We are happy for the beef industry here in Panama, but at the same time not too worried about our meat budget being exceeded.

Bernardo Montenegro. We have used his service for years and years. Not much English, but Spanlish works fine. Honest and polite as anyone can be. 6599-6751. Doesn't do email. Don't know about texting (because we don't do it).

There are three large pools to swim laps in the Boquete area, at least three that I know of. Two discussed above: close to Plaza San Francisco and at VE. There also is a pool at the seminary on the road in Alto Boquete. It is NOT heated, but there are dressing rooms. They used to charge $1.50 per swim.

I also mention the pool at the Haven Spa. It is small but workable. The pool has a "water jet assisted" resistance swimming equipment. You buy "membership" by the month. I used to swim there 3 to 4 times a week. Very nice facility (but not saying anything bad about the others mentioned here).

52 minutes ago, Jim Bondoux said:

Here is a new article of interest on expatriating to Boquete:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/it-is-an-act-of-insanity-to-stay-in-the-us-why-this-63-year-old-teacher-ditched-massachusetts-to-retire-in-the-highlands-of-panama-2019-08-23?mod=mw_theo_homepage

Interesting article. Thanks for posting.

This is going to sound redundant, but...

On 3/3/2019 at 8:26 AM, Bud said:

I've recently been noticing faster Internet speeds, and so started measuring performance

This time the increased speed is for the upload direction. I pay for 10Mbs uploads but recently have been consistently seeing uploads at 15Mbs. Are others having a similar experience?

Not complaining here, just curious.

Keith, thanks for that news.

Yesterday's outage was 7.5 hours.

I agree with Erin and others about “running the gauntlet” not being prudent. Sure there is an alternate route, but why isn’t public safety a high priority?

The last week has been horrible electrical service yet again. Today we are without electrical service from the utility since early this morning. Granted, we do have a generator but it was not designed for continuous use. Plus the cost of fuel to run it is expensive.

The situation never improves.

Why so often without electrical service here?

Three of us tried out a new restaurant in Bajo Boquete yesterday afternoon late. It is called Brasa y Leña, which is located on the entrance road into Bajo Boquete on the left after passing by the CEFATI building and curving down while going into the valley. It is located right next door to a chocolate shop and just before getting to the left turn to go to The Haven Spa. Off road parking for three or four vehicles immediately in front of the restaurant itself.

Bruno is the proprietor, and he indicated that he had just opened the restaurant the day prior. We believe that this facility previously housed an eatery of some kind, but that Bruno and his partners have just taken over. When asked about the strong Italian accent, Bruno indicated that he was from Italy, but now in Boquete and the proprietor of Brasa y Leña. He is assessing whether to change the name of the restaurant, but for now it is Brasa y Leña.

The primary entrees were roasted chicken, pork filet, hamburgers, and a few appetizer items, such as nachos, etc. Since Marcelyn and I were very hungry, and ahead of schedule for our dinner partner (Penny), we ordered drinks and nachos. The drink selection is somewhat limited as Bruno has only sodas, canned drinks such as orange juice, bottled water, and three brands of beer. Tap water was offered, but declined. No wine or hard liquor. We ordered our drinks and one order of nachos. Drinks were served very quickly. Penny arrived about the time our drinks were being served, and then about two minutes later the nachos arrived. Nachos were tasty with the basic ingredients including carne molida, but no guacamole. Quite tasty though, and the chips used were very crispy.

There were no menus, but Bruno told us about the entrees. Marcelyn and I decided to split a roasted chicken dinner with French fries (patacones also available). Penny order the pork filet with French fries along with her drink.

We sat outside and were the only customers. Very pleasant except for the occasional highway bus (noisy) and a few vehicles that had boom boxes going full bore.

All in all it was a very pleasant dining experience. The really pleasant finale was when the bills were delivered. Penny's total was $6.00, and ours was $11.00 (don't forget that we had the nachos as well as the entree and two drinks). Great food, and very good value.

Bruno indicated that they are open Wednesday through Monday (closed on Tuesdays) from about 10:30AM to about 7:00PM.

Contact information: Bruno is the proprietor. His cell is 6565-2852, email carebruno@hotmail.it. Bruno spoke good English.

We intend to patronize Brasa y Leña again. Our only complaint was that there was simply too much food; we both had doggy bags for take away.

Here are some pictures taken of the facility itself, and our main entrees.

First is the front of the building and its sign.

Next is Bruno. He was always smiling and offering assistance, but not intrusive about it.

Here is Penny's pork filet dish.

Here is our roasted chicken dish. (We took no picture of the nachos.)

And then a panoramic shot inside the restaurant. Kinda reminds one of a log cabin up in the mountains (duh!).

I had to renew my driver license this week. Interesting that I got an email reminder from Sertracen about a week prior. That was a first for me.

Anyway, the process was fairly quick even though there were about 35 to 40 people going through the process at Sertracen at the same time. We were the only gringos in the office, and I obviously was the only jubilado going through the process. I found all of the staff to be very professional, helpful, and generally not English capable but able to understand my Spanglish. Given my age I had to have the doctor's paperwork as to my competency, etc.

Total time in the office was about 25 minutes. Overall, rather pleasant experience. Total fees (as a jubilado) $16.00. I'm good to drive for two more years now.