Uncle Doug

I am getting increasingly more allergic to new bee or wasp stings. A sting used to just make me a bit angry,  but now it is becoming a bit more scary with symptoms of anaphylactic shock.  I am far more worried about encountering killer bees than any snake.

I'm searching ebay for a used flame thrower.. 

13 hours ago, Keith Woolford said:

Charges Laid in Boquete Robbery & Sexual Assault

 

I'm going to read between the lines here and surmise that these offenses occurred somewhere over by the old Gallera.

Are you referring to that uncompleted multistory structure between the town square and Revilla? 

It's a very good location across from the visitor center at the top of the hill.  I had been wondering why the old structures there were being slowly demolished.

It's currently very difficult to find construction laborers in Boquete these days.  There are a lot of projects underway, not the least of which is Federal Mall.  The only worker at the new Panamonte bridge site for months now is one guy who sits in a tent guarding the orange construction cones.

The road could certainly have been designed better, but drivers need to use their heads when driving in the rain.  Hydroplaning is the combination of too much speed and too much water on the road.  Worn tires can significantly increase hydroplaning.  

The speed limit there is 80 kph, but that doesn't mean that  80 kph is safe under all weather conditions.  Hydroplaning on a curve in a road is a recipe for disaster. 

I'll put my speed demon credentials up against any other local NASCAR drivers here, but these wrecks didn't have to happen.

Quote

At roughly 850 square miles, Bugaba has about 240,000 people and borders Costa Rica. Saldana said he has eight stations — three without an engine — that are manned by 40 paid firefighters and 250 volunteers. They use two, 2,000-gallon water tenders to fight fires, but mostly they deal with traffic accidents on the windy and dangerous Pan-American International Highway that runs along the border. Saldana said his stations also respond each month to 10 to 15 killer bee attacks, which result in 8 to 10 deaths annually. Four people have died from attacks already this year, Saldana said.

Just in Bugaba. (2008)

Killer bees are a threat in Panama?

Last year a swarm attacked a worker in Palo Alto. He fled on foot for quite a ways while being stung numerous times. Although the worker declined formal medical treatment,  the Bomberos did come to the site with protective gear and burned the hive and swarm to a crisp. 

And there was much rejoicing.

From what I can tell, being a warden is demanding position, especially when dealing with a subset of the population who thinks the warden should solve any and all problems.

While it's an honor to be named as a warden,  it's certainly not an honorary position.

I suppose Chiriqui Chatter is coming to an end, as well.  Unfortunate.

10 hours ago, Bonnie said:

This is the International Living of language schools, it appears. Anyone who has studied a foreign language knows that it is impossible to acquire a new language in three days. My advice is not to waste whatever money it may cost.

I guess someone might be confident in three days in asking, " Donde esta el baño, por favor" anywhere in Panama, and then hope the person points somewhere in a general direction.  

That's about it.  Forget about understanding anything said in response.  Ask me how my French is.  I took a full year of it in college!

President Varela has stated that “we cannot afford for the six-month tourist permit to be used to cross the border and then return, and stay here as if you  were a permanent resident”. He said that on March 18.

It seems to me that everything since early March has been Immigration trying to figure out how to implement a visa policy which accomplishes that.  Yes, the 30 days out of the country rule was stated by Javier Carrillo, the director of Immigration, but that was also several weeks ago.

As unsatisfying as it is, I think the focus ought to be on what Panama is trying to accomplish.  I rather doubt that Panama is particularly motivated to provide a lot of clarity as to how to circumvent their stated goal. 

We can speculate that the reason for the new enforcement policy is the flood of non-Panamanians from South America fleeing poor conditions.  There certainly is resentment against foreigners coming to Panama, competing with Panamanians for employment, and staying here indefinitely on a tourist visa.  There is currently a lot of political pressure on the Panamanian government to do something about that.

Panama encourages tourism.  It wants to encourage business travel to Panama, as well.  Being in Panama for extended periods is not the concern.  It is the drain on social services, not the least of which is health care, by the people who live in Panama as if they are permanent residents but are not. And, undoubtedly, there is some resentment of foreigners in general moving into cities and neighborhoods throughout the country which also contributes to that political pressure.

I have enormous sympathy for those who live in Panama on a tourist visa, especially those in this area who have made housing decisions, opened businesses, and made an enormous effort to relocate from far abroad.  They are almost universally not the burden that Varela says "we (Panama) cannot afford."

But devising a policy accomplishes Panama's goal without casting too wide of a net is nearly impossible. It has caught those who are contributing greatly to the country.  It has snared those who employ Panamanians.  It is devastating to those who can't (for very good reasons) obtain the documents necessary to apply successfully for permanent residency.  For US citizens, it has caught those who no longer have suitable fingerprints that the FBI can accept in order to run the required background check to apply for a permanent visa.

If the "30 days out of the country" rule if you're approaching the end of a 180 day tourist visa is the current policy at the border is truly a permanent and consistent rule (which I doubt), then it probably will eliminate those who can't afford to be gone from Panama for 30 days every six months. The intention may be that those people who can't afford it will be the ones who are competing for jobs and social services with Panamanian citizens and legal permanent residents.  Obviously, the effect is far more broad and draconian than that.

The bottom line is still the same.  Panama does not want foreigners living here indefinitely on a tourist visa.   It would be very surprising to me if the Panamanian government wants to really clarify how anyone can still continue to do so at this time.  That's the new reality in Panama.

Until it changes, of course...

I will put them on speed dial!

Thanks for the responses.  I have not asked Mailboxes Etc here in town about it.  Nor have I asked Eshop, which is where I normally receive my packages.  My understanding of both places is that they have a Florida address where deliveries are received.  Those are then sorted and flown by air to Panama City, and then eventually delivered here to the offices in Boquete.  That process takes several days from the time the package is received in Florida.  Or at least it does at Eshop...

Sending something from here quickly isn't very hard.

I was hoping to bypass the mail forwarding process altogether and get essentially next day delivery at a Fed Ex office in David.

But I will ask at both places to see if I can use either of them for this.  

I need to receive a delivery of documents from the US sent by Fed Ex.  I realize, of course, that there is no delivery in Boquete and that a Fed Ex office is somewhere in David.

I can find the Fed Ex office in David using a taxi, if nothing else. It's fairly urgent, of course...

But what would my sender use as an address?  

Uncle Doug,

David, Chiriqui, Republic of Panama?? 

That doesn't seem like a very good plan....

Step one: Question everybody named Abraham Vergera?

I used http://www.nationalbackgroundcheck.com/ , one of those on that list, in 2013.  

Using the US Postal Service from me to them, and the FBI using the same to send me the report, the process took about a month. 

7 hours ago, Keith Woolford said:

Personally, I'm hard pressed to think of any more than a dozen folks at most, here in Boquete who are affected by this change in P.T. policy.

Not saying there aren't far more, of course, but I have met a lot of current residents.

I'm not sure what to make of that. I don't think anyone will dispute that you know a huge number of ex-pats in the area, and probably know a lot about others you haven't actually met. We do know there is an immigration policy change regarding the "border hopping" practice.  Panama has said so.

Many people have been asking specific questions about the mechanics of it for years on local forums in recent years.  Many other people have been offering specific answers.  I don't know any of those people (assuming they used real names), but I can't think of any reason for them to have been fabricating the experience.

We have seen a couple of reports of several vehicles being impounded in recent day at the Caldera police checkpoint. If true, it's hard to imagine it was the result of expired license plates.  I see far too many 2014 plates on cars around here.

People can get caught up in a hysteria about perceived events. Perhaps many people are worried and writing about something less than it might actually be.   After 9/11 in the USA, there was scary "poison powder" everywhere, and last year scary circus clowns were terrorizing towns across that nation, although no clown was ever found, much less arrested.

Your observation is very relevant.  My completely uninformed guess is/was that this possibly affected several hundred people in the Boquete area. 

1 hour ago, Moderator_02 said:

The SMM explains deportations or expulsions, as the case may be, may occur among other things due to behavior that violates morality, entering the country illegally, working without a work permit, to be undocumented or irregular (overstaying a tourist visa, for example) and to be a threat to collective security, according to official information.

That's interesting.  The SMM is keeping separate statistics for "deportations" and "expulsions."  I will speculate that deportations are the physical removal of persons who never had any type of legal permission to enter the country, and expulsions is the removal of people who entered legally, but are no longer in compliance with the terms of their visa.

I think there may be yet another category -- people are denied re-entry at the border or at Tocumen.  I doubt those numbers are captured in this SMM report.

I don't want to sound like a pessimist here, but it may not be possible to get coherent or definitive answers to our questions.  I thought the rules for a Friendly Nations visa were pretty clear when I applied, but it turned out that the interpretation was not consistent at Immigracion, and it varied between the clerks. I spent weeks complying with new requirements that were imposed, only to have a different clerk impose something entirely different. The 4th time was the charm.

It's not just a Panamanian thing.  Lawmakers in the USA routinely pass legislation without even reading it.  Afterwards, other people must attempt to figure out what Congress intended. It can take years for a court to decide. Here, as everywhere, the people who enforce the law or policy had nothing to do with the creation of the new directive. They make their best guesses or do whatever their immediate boss tells them to do. 

I think we may have to wait months or even longer to see how or if Panama consistently addresses individual cases. The track record will be far more useful than logic or predictions.  At least it will for me...

5 minutes ago, Rooikop said:

just for everyone's information .I was at day 85 of a 180 day visa.I was denied entry .michelle was in her 5 month of the 6 month visa .denied entry.she was denied because she was with me.they did not look at her visa or passport .only because she was my wife ,was she denied.so is that a new visa rule as well.

It looks as if the officials made an initial determination that you were a "perpetual tourist", and then applied that to everyone traveling with you, including your daughter who is undeniably a tourist visiting you for just a short time in Panama. Eventually the authorities relented as to her and her friend, but they are certainly casting a very wide net at the border.

Do you know any Russians who can help you hack into the site? 

2 hours ago, Keith Woolford said:

In the absence of any data, the 'best estimate of approximately 4,500 American expatriates living in Chiriqui' is over exaggerated, imo.

I've seen some websites that put the estimate over 10,000,  although as I recall they were including Canadians as well. That's patently absurd to even a casual observer, although I have no idea how many gringos reside in or near David.  I'm also amazed that only 297 Americans have signed up for the STEP notices (and certainly some of them are no longer here in Panama but have not unsubscribed to the emails).

What would be your best guess as the expat population of Chiriqui, Keith?

The drivers license matter must be viewed separately from  the visa issue, because that's the way Panama views it.  You may legally drive in Panama for 90 days after your last entry stamp on your passport.  They don't care that it doesn't align with the 180 day tourist visa.

So, as it stands, you can still renew your driving privileges by "border hopping" every 90 days.  The problem, of course, is this action previously reset the tourist visa which is under great scrutiny at this moment.  The current guidance is that exiting with less than 30 days remaining on the 180 day tourist visa will require an absence of at least 30 days before entering Panama again.  There is no guidance (that I know of) that indicates what will happen if you do a "border hop" with far more than 30 days remaining on the tourist visa.

I don't think it's safe to assume that everything will be fine. You might be able to reset driving privileges one time for an additional 90 days, but Immigration is looking to see if there is evidence that you may not really be a tourist.  So, while they are separate issues, they certainly do intersect at the port of entry into Panama. 

3 hours ago, Twin Wolf Technology Group said:

 One of the many lawyers we visited stated we should just get married again in Panama before we leave in April.  I quickly pointed out that this would mean forging documents to say we are both single when in fact we are not... the lawyer saw no problem with it.  

Isn't the problem, though, that Panama does not recognize the legality of the marriage?  It's similar to the time when most states in the USA did not recognize the legality of a gay marriage that was lawfully performed in one that did.  It seems to me that under Panamanian law, you ARE single, and it's not dishonest of you to say that you are.  All you are conceding is AS TO PANAMA ONLY, you are single!

I don't think Panama recognizes my marriage, either.  My wife and I applied jointly to acquire our visas, but I'm pretty sure obtaining them didn't register our marriage.  That could be a problem if any of my estate is subject to Panamanian probate. 

Don't tell my wife that I think I am single here in Panama, please.

4 hours ago, Hil said:

Good idea Penny--yes he can walk across. Then "maybe" he can make his flight out of Tocumen. I don't think they will look at his passport too close when leaving Tocumen. They don't look too close at the exit stamp out of costa rica when leaving from Tocumen. If they say something at Tocumen he can tell them deport me on "My Flight I have booked." Anyway you slice it if he walks across and makes it to Tocumen in May they can let him pass or deport him on his "own" scheduled plane ticket. It's worth the gamble to get his property on the market.

I flew out of Tocumen last Wednesday, and security absolutely scrutinized my passport.  The lady had a problem with it and started grilling me in Spanish.  I'm not even close to fluent, so fished my e-cedula out of my wallet.  That fixed everything instantly.  In hindsight, she clearly was troubled that my last entry into Panama was far more than 180 days ago.

I believe it was well known to Panamanian authorities that the tourist loophole was being used.  Suddenly eliminating it has caught some people unaware, and for the Walkers it is catastrophic. Yes, yes, coulda woulda shoulda, but with some advance they wouldn't have been stranded with no way to get back to their property and the monkeys under their care.  I feel so badly for them.

I'm on a trip to the US at present, so I didn't find out about this until last night.  Panama has every right to enforce its immigration laws, but the sudden new enforcement rules (which are still unclear) have put some very good people in one hell of a bind.