Uncle Doug

Well, that hardly helps! The only Tumba Meurto I can find is a neighborhood in Panama City (which is where I'd expect all Ministries to be, anyhow...) It would be easier to skip a step and make the trek to the American Consulate. At least it's only one appointment. Ugh. That is really bizarre. The hardest part of the process is somehow proving that the Panamanian notary is a notary, not that it was me who signed the document... Okay, the next step is to try to sweet talk the County Clerk into saying she doesn't need an apostille.

I'm finally selling my house in the USA and I'm not going back there for closing. The title company would prefer that my wife and I sign the deed at the US Consulate for the notarization. I'd prefer not to do so for all the obvious reasons. The title company tells me that they would accept a Panamanian notary if it is also apostilled. Does that even make sense? Who would apostille a notarization? (The title company doesn't have a clue.) I think I have researched the archives at Ning about the subject to death. Most of the advice falls into a few categories: 1) Get your document notarized at the Municipio across from Romero's -- that works fine. 2) Locate the notary in David for real estate transfers in the US. That is required. 3) Make the trip to Panama City, you lazy cheap numskull. 4) Find a notary, but get the document apostilled, too I guess #5 would be to have the visiting consulate do this in David, but who knows when that will be.... I need to do this in the next couple of weeks. I fully understand that the issue is REALLY, "what will the County Clerk in the US require before accepting the deed for recording?", but it's more than that. I have to satisfy the title company first, and they want an apostille. Has anyone here gotten a notarization apostilled? And, by the way, is the fact that the acknowledgement is written in English a problem for Panamanian notaries?

So weird. It's hard to imagine a successful forum which forbids the most knowledgeable and connected residents from participating. Apparently, since I'm neither of those things, my privileges have not been revoked.

I received this email a few minutes ago.

The 6:38 shock was the first quake I've felt since moving to Boquete. It reminded me that I had promised my wife that I would strap our curio cabinet to the wall, but haven't done so yet. Another Sunday project....

Does Palo Alto have its own Corregidura? As a newbie here, I dread trying to find the one in Jaramillo, especially since it's an unmarked house. The whole thing seems a bit silly since there is no way to prove that you're actually resident here or not. What would prevent someone from David from getting one? It seems like a possible false sense of security if the sticker is being used at security checkpoints to wave vehicles through.

I have had mixed results when wiring money into Panama. I've had it show up here the next day, and I've had it take as long as 5 days to appear. There really is no excuse for any delay at all. Given the millions of dollars being wired on a daily basis, it looks to me like the receiving bank is simply helping themselves to interest free loans at our expense.

Can anyone here explain the value of getting a cedula? I have a permanent residency visa. It shows my passport number and date of birth. So far, I've used it for identification for credit card purchases and at police checkpoints without a problem. I assume I could use it to show that I am a Jubilado. I've read the horror stories of what happens to your drivers license and vehicle registration when your passport expires and you get a new passport number on the new passport and the cedula no longer has the correct passport number. Fortunately, I have a few more years before my passport expires, but it begs the question. Why go through the hassle of getting a cedula?

The Alto Lino nursery that was near el Santuario is in the process of moving to a lot between the Catholic Church and Art Cafe on the main drag. I purchased about 10 plants there yesterday. Most plants in gallon size were $10. I'm not sure if that was the gringo price or not, but the plants seemed pretty healthy.

I'm definitely going to head there for that. I've always wanted to own a couple of each. I had no idea I could afford a small orchard!

I'm looking for nurseries with plants that will do well in the Boquete area. I've found directions to a nursery in Dolega (although I wonder if the plants would be suited for my elevation of 4,300 feet. I have nothing at all right now. I'm sure there are other nurseries, and it might be nice for this site to have a fairly comprehensive list of places to shop for plants. Any suggestions with helpful location information would be greatly appreciated.

Typically, a bank in the US charges at least $35 per wire to the Panamanian bank. The receiving bank also deducts its fees from what was wired. I did this a bunch of times with Global Bank here, but I never did quite figure out what their fee was. What I mean is that it differed slightly based on the amount of the transfer, but it was about $35, too.

Thanks, everyone for that great information. I've got an outside gated storage for the tanks, so the padlock and getting the first delivery don't seem all that daunting with your tips. Good to know about cash payments -- I'll be prepared.

I am moving into a newly constructed home and need propane for the stove and water heater. Do I buy the cylinders somewhere? (where?) I think I need two 100 lb tanks. After that, how do I establish service? And, how is the propane refilled? Are tanks exchanged, or does Tropigas (or whoever the local service is) refill my tanks? My Spanish is very limited at the moment. Do I need translator help to accomplish this?