Jim and Judi

2 minutes ago, Bartleby said:

I invite each and every one of you to go eat there. I am not a medical expert but 9 hours later I had a stomach full of their chicken that was causing great pain and could only come out the way it went it over the course of 4 to 5 hours. Just relating my experience, and as they say in Chicago, "I'm happy ya's all."

9 hours doesn't mean it came from chopsticks. Whether or not you had chicken in your stomach has nothing to do with it. A virus, like norovirus, could have been in your gut for two days just waiting to explode. It's THE MOST common gastrointestinal disease and most likely what you had and you'll never know where you got it at this point.

I really think this post should be deleted. It's irresponsible and potentially harming to the restaurant.

How did you decide on the salmonella diagnosis, rather than norovirus, E coli or  listeria? Did you have a stool sample tested? Salmonella typically is asymptomatic. So if your claim is that a number of people became ill, it was most likely not salmonella. And if you had contracted norovirus, for example, the incubation period would be 12-48 hours, meaning your becoming ill after your meal is just coincidence.

If you we're not diagnosed by a physician with salmonella, this is a pretty iresponsible post. In fact, the responsibility was on you to get yourself to a doctor in order to confirm your diagnosis and protect the public from a potential health hazard. By not doing so, you may have put others in danger and/or have slandered someone in error.

Mandarin has the best supply.

Seriously, I can't imagine any malicious intent. Every garage sale in the history of time runs on Saturday from 8-2. Even if it was planned to coincide, well maybe dueling yard sales will bring out more shoppers. And if it's only a couple of dollars of cast offs, as Keith implies, it's not going to be a big loss to anyone anyway.

Good grief, your going to judge people wanting to have a yard sale? I don't suppose you're donating any of your used cars to the sale?

26 minutes ago, Penny said:

This is the second time this year that it has happened. Could it be coincidence??

I have never thought to plan my yard sale around someone else's and I KNOW  I'd never check a calendar to see if it's a date no one has taken. It's a  yard sale. They're so common here now that, if you add them to the Chiriqui flea market, there may never be a Saturday without one. In fact, isn't that a thing? Get up and hit all the yard sales on Saturday morning?  Jeepers, now we have the yard sale mafia...smh

What's happening with Los Senderos Plaza?

What's going on with the new plaza across from the dollar store? I haven't seen any work going on there for weeks. I hope it's not another half built building left to fall apart. Some legal roadblock? Waiting for materials? Ran out of money?

Gordon, not at the point of purchase, but you do have to register it. We also had to bring our gardener with his cedula to record that too. You go to the Minister de ambiente and pay $13 they record the serial number of the chainsaw and will also record where you are using it's good for one year. Consider this verified and take your chances on a fine that's more than $13.

Just now, Gordon Bakke said:

Licensed? I don't think so. I would suggest that if you want just cut down some limbs, that an electric chainsaw can be purchased quite reasonably - maybe $50 - $ 70 dollars.

The chainsaw must be recorded along with the information of the person who will operate it. I can't remember the name of the place where you get it done but it's in Alto Boquete. I can find the info if someone needs it.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!! I've never eaten a meal there but got I've shopped and had some horchatas.

18 hours ago, Pat said:

What is the advantage or reason why someone would be a vegetarian. Maybe allergies, personal preference to just not eat meat? Only asking.

About 10 years ago, Jim was prescribed a medication to control high cholesterol. He's extremely fit, 165 lbs and an avid cyclist. So we did some research and started playing around with diet. We found that after removing meat his cholesterol lowered 23 points in two months. After removing dairy, his cholesterol lowered another 30 in three months. We don't pay for meds and our grocery bill has been cut in half. It's a no brainier for us.

Big daddy's has veggie tacos and a couple of other things. Mike's has felafel. Milan Italia, Retrogusto, Antojitos, Tre scalini, Otto, Apizza, Colibri and Panamonte, all have vegetarian. La Posada has a yummy veggie kabob. I've heard the Peruvian restaurants will also do vegetarian on request. There's no shortage of choices. Some are very good, some are marginal.

I have 40 stamps I'll bring. Just replace them for me later.

52 minutes ago, Bonnie said:

Why would a doughnut shop not open until noon?

I don't think donuts are a breakfast thing here. Seems to be more of a sweet treat.

As I recall, the last time I took the bus from Albrook, a card or token was necessary to go through the turnstile. Is that still a thing? If so, how do you get one? I was caught off guard but a nice couple helped me out.

Some may not know that ARF and Martha have partnered to sterilize 5 stray cats per month from Finca Lerida. 

Kat, there are so many stray cats of every flavor that it's virtually impossible to tell where they came from ?

Jefe is probably 6-8 months. Who knows where he came from but he'd been showing up at some people's house for food and they couldn't keep him. He'll be neutered Sunday and then up for adoption. He's super sweet and very playful.

Ha, I think I have it's twin brother, Jefe. Rescued last week from volcancito. 

Can you tell if kitty has been sterilized? There would be a small tattoo of little dots in it's ear. If not, my guess is no one will claim it. 

This project was a huge undertaking. This hiccup had some consequences like many first time projects do. You regroup and move on knowing you'll never make THAT mistake again.

I applaud the effort and look forward to seeing how it grows!

We'll miss spending time with Inga at movie night at the Panamonte. What a lovely lady.

Hello knitters,

I have a small bag of assorted yarns. Where can I take it?

17 hours ago, Palo Alto Jo said:

The FDA approves drugs that eventually make it onto the world market.  They can also keep promising drugs out of the market, if the producer is an American producer.  The FDAs decisions often have world-wide consequences.  

The FDA doesn't have control over what hits the world market. FDA approval does not mean approval worldwide at all. Quite the opposite, companies apply to individual countries for approval of their product.

8 minutes ago, Keith Woolford said:

Bonnie, I’m not suggesting that there’s collusion, but I do think that ‘big money’ goes where it will earn immediate, predictable profits. On the other hand, the return on investment in research is long term and risky. 

That’s just a layman’s perception.

This doesn't make sense because big money in pharma is never immediate. It's many years, perhaps decades, of research away. And it's never predicable. I've seen products reach phase 3 trials and never be approved. Not one penny of profit for millions spent. It's not unusual.

1 hour ago, Keith Woolford said:

 not all participants have altruistic motives

I have to mostly disagree, Keith. The research scientists I worked with made an average of $60k per year at PhD level! They worked weekends and nights if their experiments required it. Often, they were stuck in labs pipetting for hours under a hood. They were the most passionate people I have ever worked with. I witnessed their excitement and joy when products went into clinical trials and finally to market after years of painstaking work. These people were of the highest standard and would never compromise their work. I've seen experiments scrapped because of one small misstep. These are the research people and their motives were always altruistic.

Of course it's an industry, what non profit has the kind of money it takes to bring a product to market? The cost of clinical trials is astronomical. Abiding by FDA and other regulatory agencies is costly. What's the alternative? Abandon clinical trials? Ditch the FDA? These are all the things that help to be sure the drugs we use are as safe as possible. 

Bonnie is right, we could help lowers cost by streamlining our healthcare and insurance systems. The pharmaceutical industry gets a bad wrap. Are there issues, yes. But they are few in comparison to the lifesaving products they bring us.