Recently a friend gave me a motion sensor light...a really great gift! These are rechargeable LED light strips that are activated by motion during low-light conditions (e.g., at night). We ordered additional units from Amazon. Bud placed several of them along the hallway leading from our bedroom. No missteps or falls at night because of poor (or no) lighting.
Installation is easy...no tools needed. Magnetic bar attaches to wall using adhesive strips (provided in the kit).
Considering h
Our electrical service has been interrupted daily (sometimes lasting several hours), Netflix reception poor (maybe because of heavy usage by stay-at-home folks), long waiting lines at grocery outlets, more & more empty shelves in stores, restrictive hours allowed for necessary errands like medical consults, “cowboy” drivers on almost empty roads, etc., with no end in sight to the quarantine. Feel like we are “camping out” in our home. The next scary situation is I may have to start braiding
A new experience at Tocumen last week. My one bag was stopped by a determined Custom inspector who asked me three times what food I had. Tried to assure “no food,” but she directed me to the inspection station where I had to open my luggage. Took her about two minutes to locate my bottle of water and a handful of candy mints I had dropped into the side pocket.
The interesting part of this experience was my 50 minute delay caused by the lady in front of me. She had three suitcases all wrappe
Excitement in El Santuario this afternoon.
We lost electrical service for a second time today (Friday, June 18th), with the first outage being scheduled maintenance. The first outage lasted about seven hours, ending about 2:00 PM. A second outage started about 3:15 PM, and a few minutes later a neighbor called saying a high tension wire was on the ground and “arcing and sparking” in front of his house. We alerted Rodny Direct, who called Naturgy’s emergency number. Rodny called back within
Every resident applying for a renewal Panamanian driver license (good for 4 years) must pass an eye and hearing exam. For people 70-85 years old, a certificate of good physical and mental health from a Panamanian doctor who specializes in internal medicine or geriatrics is required. All this plus an actual test in parallel parking and back-up maneuvers is required for residents over 85 years old. For us seniors the renewed license is valid for only two years.
Since I meet the requirements f
Some people say that Boquete is the land of rainbows.
I started to wonder: Where do rainbows come from? Why different colors in a rainbow?
Mr. Google tells me the sun makes rainbows when white sunlight passes through raindrops. These raindrops are little prisms that bend different colors in the white light and droplets will separate into colors.
And now I know that violet will be the color on the bottom of a rainbow and red color on top. Have to go “rainbow hunting” to check thos
After grocery shopping on Monday (April 13) I was stopped by Police on Ave Central (not far from Mail Boxes). The officer checked that I was wearing mask and gloves then looked into the back seat to make certain no one else was in my vehicle. I was wearing a baggy tee shirt. My face was mostly hidden by the mask plus sun glasses, so the officer looked at my hair before waving me to continue.
A polite inspection to verify that I was legally out of my residence on “Ladies Day”.
If expatriates are not following quarantine rules, this “LAW Decree No. 3, 2008” indicates those foreigners can be deported from Panama.
The message here is follow the law.
Heard about this piece of life philosophy?
A few weeks ago Bud and I were almost ready to travel to Panama City by car the next morning.
First we had dinner with friends at a local restaurant in Boquete. Then we stopped by the Delta Station to fill up with diesel and have air pressure in the tires checked. To our big surprise the attendant found a nail in one of the tires. What to do! Maybe not a good idea to start the several hours drive to PC with a damaged tire. So off to the old Te
The recent CL posting about border hoppers (Click Here) by Mr. Abel Gomez (a well known Boquete attorney), reminded me of when Bud and I were sitting in the Mexican Naturalization Office waiting for finalization of our Mexican residency visa paperwork. We couldn’t help but overhear four Americans had overstayed their Mexican Visa allowance and now faced a major fine. One woman exclaimed “we can’t pay that much money, we’ll come back later”. The Naturalization Officer told the complainer “come ba
Rodny Direct is a service that every expat should seriously consider. It is much more than a 911 style emergency number that answers in English; most of our calls deal with issues with public services and utilities that answer only in Spanish. Our main benefit by contacting Rodny is that he knows the "systems", what number to call, who to talk to, and how things work in Panama.
Our original Rodny Direct placard was faded from being placed on our fence and exposed to the bright sun. Time for
One of my favorite places to buy fruits and vegetables in downtown Boquete is Caballero, located on the left rear corner of the side street where Mascotas is found. We are told that most people call that store “Sarah’s Place” as its owner is Sarah Caballero. Don’t know the name of the street, but you turn off of Calle Principal here in Boquete at the corner where The Perfect Pair is located.
Headed to the usual location to purchase cabbage and red onions to prepare a dinner salad. What happ
Yesterday we wandered into Mercado Boquete (across the street from Romero grocery store). Why? Because I was seeking eggplant (berenjena) to make moussaka. Now I had searched for this purple vegetable in several different stores locally and in David. No luck.
In The Mercado I encountered mostly Panamanians, some folks were shopping and several were just talking with friends. And then at the fourth stall there was this wonderful lady selling my sought after eggplant or berenjena. I think my
Gurrr........another day with electricity outage. Again, home laundry is not happening. So I discovered a nice full service laundry guy located behind Boquete police station. This place does a fast turn around of wash/dry and fold at a reasonable price. He only does wash and dry — no ironing, dry cleaning, etc.
Happy clean day at our house.?
Silly me !! I donned my mask and gloves to go shopping today (Monday, April 20) because I thought this was the assigned day for females to be away from their residence. Reckon not!
I observed more males (in stores shopping, driving taxi, selling produce from back of their pick-up, walking along the street with shopping bag, numerous male vehicle drivers, etc.) than females during my quick trip downtown to buy groceries.
Seems fines, taking away drivers license and car for 90 days, etc
This past December we took our first international trip since the pandemic started. We have a condo in Mazatlan (Mexico) and typically go there every Christmas season. Arranging the flights was not easy; we engaged Andrea Cook and she worked some miracles for us. We finally got our reservations completed, but they were changed many times (I recall at least five changes, and they were major changes, not just minor time shifts, etc.). Previously we were able to go from David to Mazatlan in the sam
Last week we were invited to a friend’s house to enjoy the view from their balcony and watch the hummingbirds. What a treat to see clouds racing across the sky and thinking this is the top of the world.
Started wondering about these tiny birds with a lifespan of 3 to 5 years, measure about 3 inches in length, and have a heartbeat of 200 times a minute. I see them around our house getting nectar from colorful flowers using their long narrow bills and tongue. Their tongues are groved like the
Did you attend the recent Rodeo at the Fairgrounds?
The interest in Rodeo happenings in many parts of the world peaked my interest about horses.
Ever hear of “The Pony Express”? This organization operated for less than two (2) years, made 400 runs, but became a legend in American history. During the 1800’s The Pony Express was a communication system that moved information (today’s internet, television, etc.) but was powered by horses.
Now we witness these animals in a rodeo settin
Coronavirus is teaching me a lesson of how humans respond to grief, fear, and stress. Some humans play the “blame game” and accuse others of causing the problem. Some try humor to reduce their anxiety. The bottom line is that stress makes some people say and do stupid things. I’m allowing my friends lots of freedom to express their grief, fear, or stress in the method that works for them and makes them feel OK. This coronavirus situation will pass. We will be better and stronger.
Now I kn
Not long ago an acquaintance (maybe I should call him a “real character”) came to visit us. He needed a haircut...did he ever! But he claimed he didn’t have time or the opportunity for this. Too many other activities like Jazz Festival, Tree Trek, food to try, practice his Spanish, etc.
Then one day after his spending the day touring around the Boquete area, I noticed his hair was neatly trimmed. Where? was my question. Bert explained he had asked friendly Panamanians standing near Romero’s
Yesterday for the first time in more than a week I left the house to go grocery shopping. Put on my mask and gloves, grabbed my shopping list and headed to GAGO to buy fresh vegetables. Joined the line of waiting customers outside the door. When it was my turn to enter the store, the door monitor insisted I use the hand sanitizer that was available. Even tho I was wearing gloves, she refused to allow me entrance if I didn’t use the hand sanitizer. So guess what...I used the sanitizer‼️
Loca
At 11:00am this morning (May 6th) I put on my face mask and gloves, and headed to the public health clinic across from Bomberos to get my flu shot. Of course, lack of parking was my first problem. Located a space about 300 feet down the street from the clinic and trotted back to join the waiting line.
After a couple of minutes a young man wearing a face mask motioned me to step to front of the line and asked my medical need. Told him I wanted a flu shot. He instructed me to walk around the
Interesting experience at PriceSmart last Tuesday. After reading the latest Minsa report, Bud and I tried to enter the store. Management type employee (female) indicated men only allowed inside. We attempted to explain current Minsa requirements. Her reply was “You are wrong, goodbye”. I waited in the car (for 40+ minutes) while Bud did the shopping. I observed lots of dog food, laundry detergent, dry cereal, and bottles of water were purchased as I waited in our car near the store exit door.
This morning (Thursday) our Panamanian gardener appeared at our gate on time for work Bud told him no work now. Poor soul thought he had been fired! Bud spent several minutes explaining coronavirus and how Panama is in total quarantine. Bud paid him his full salary then asked him to return to work when quarantine is over.
Our great gardener left with a better understanding of the current environment.
For several years early on Tuesday mornings our garbage has always been collected from the elevated wire bin with lid container in front of our electric utility meter. We pay for that contract service through the Municipio de Boquete.
Today going outside our gated yard to install the new 2021 garbage contract placard we noticed our garbage in black plastic bags had been removed from the bin, but stacked in a pile near the paved street. That has never happened before, and certainly made no s
