Penny

It's probably just me and my right of center leanings but I find it quite amusing when the big push was on to help Miguel one of his woes cited was the theft of his I-phone. Maybe it's because these smart phones are too smart for me and I keep my 12 year old $20 Nokio that doesn't do anything smart.

I think his real name is Bob Hunter and he was probably in a low place when writing and therefore made some typos. I believe this because I've had some communication with him that was reasonable and he always called himself Bob Hunter. I guess he's thinking about moving to Boquete. He certainly needed someone who lived here to run the site. Even Olga was only here about a year while she was working at Hotel Valle del Rio. Keith was a good choice but a little incompatible with a rigid ideology.

If you mean your pensionado carnet, you have to go to the immigration office in David. It's now located in Chiriqui Mall (next to Price Smart) and very close to the Seractin (spelling?) office where you get your drivers license. Last I heard, it will cost you $100 to replace. Oh, another thing. You have to file a police report and take the report with you to the immigration office.

Anybody who knows the Newslady would definitely know she don't promote no fancy and spendy gigs. She squeezes the nickel until the buffalo *****. The Panamanians even have a gesture for her which involves smacking the bottom of the elbow while the fist is clenched.

Most topics (especially those started by Olga) definitely aren't related to moving to or living in Boquete.

Maybe he used the money you guys gave him to buy a new I-phone.

Levy is the guy to go to for body work. We used to all go to his brother Balo until Balo suddenly died. Turn East one or two streets South of CEFATI. Turn right at the end of the road and that is where he is. There might even be a sign on the parada (bus stop) that tells you where to turn. Cowboy Dave is where to get a temporary car. $30/day

They tell you to make an appointment in a week and return for replacing a lost license. They figure you should give it a week to find it and I'm sure that theory often works.

My word !!! How have the planets aligned for Wryawry to write a long and serious post?? !! A little more information about the Landau family. First of all, unfortunately their son passed away about a year ago. The Landau family were one of the pioneer families in this area. They are French which again testifies to the great cultural diversity we enjoy in Boquete. The Boquete branch of the family owns the Fundadores Hotel. The word "Fundadores" means "Founders". I don't remember his first name but the man who owns the Fundadores was with a group of men who literally carried a Model A car across the great divide to Bocas del Toro along the path today known as the Pianista Trail. I think this was a barroom bet but they were all young, foolish, and strong and they did it. There are photos of this event blown up to large scale in the Fundadores Hotel. Maybe it wasn't a Model A -- more likely a 50's model car.

Dottie Are you against the idea of hiring a Panamanian waiter for a restaurant or hotel? I bet you've been waited on by some Panamanians . . . jest guessin'

So, what is the question in this post? Is it directions to the beef and pork stores? Has anybody answered those questions. If not, here goes: Both stores are on the south side of the Inter-American. To get to La Casa del Cerdo you turn at the road by the Swiss Plaza and go through about 6 stop signs. You will see the satellite dish storage facility on the left and the pork store on the right. The best beef store is called Palacio. You turn on the street between the Via Rapida (Cochez) and DK auto. Go a couple of blocks and you will see the lime green Hotel Palacio on the left. Go through that intersection and the beef store is on the immediate left.

Apparently something similar to this has been effect in Canada for a long time. I have a Canadian friend who has lived in Panama for about 16 years. He needs a valid passport in order to get a Panamanian work permit -- for which he is qualified. When he went to renew his passport he found out that Canada wouldn't do it because he owed back child support from many years ago. Now it's a catch 22 -- he can't get a job without a work permit and he certainly can't make payments on the child support without a job. He doesn't even care about traveling outside of Panama, he just needs the work permit. Bad situation.

I know for a fact that Ross doesn't speak any spanish and often mis-interprets things. The rules haven't changed. Sometimes they are not uniformly enforced. If he has his cedula as claimed, he doesn't have to cross the border to reset his visa and he certainly doesn't need an onward ticket out of the country. I was at Paso Canoas on Friday and it is true that trucks were lined up for a very long ways waiting to cross into C.R. so there may have been some kind of delay going on. Often, their computers crash and they can't get them re-started and that causes chaos.

It appears from Carole's email that the owner is negligent and violating the anti-cruelty laws of Panama. Apparently the corrigadora has given permission to remove the sheep from the property.

Bethany Your product is superior. Right now I rely on my 3 dogs, my locked gate, and my motion lights. If I was to install more security devices, it would definitely be your screens. Wish I hadn't spent money on a useless alarm system. My neighbors were in France for about 6 months and their alarm went off almost every night for all of that time. Not once, did anybody in our neighborhood do anything except complain via email to the owners. In my book, a home alarm (like a car alarm) are worthless.

The Handicap Foundaion is looking for a strong volunteer to set up and sell the books at Irene's book tables on Tuesday at the BCP Market. It's hard work schlepping them around but the reward is that you can usually make $80 - $100 every week to help carry on the work of the Handicap Foundation. Contact Penny at pjbarrett@aol.com if this is something you might like to do for our wonderful community.

Happy birthday to Betty Gray's Mom Lily who turned 100 on Dec. 11. Betty and Lily live in Palmira Abajo

Here's the quote I got from them. I agree this is a quality product. The price is probably a little too rich for me:

Keith asked what signs I see. I see the business I am part owner of (Chiriqui Storage) almost totally full and we're buying new containers as fast as we can afford them. I see new subscriptions at News.Boquete coming in a a rapid rate. I see traffic jams everywhere in town (and I've been her for 12 high seasons) I hear people talk abut the tight rental market. I see attendance at the BCP market and meetings higher than ever; and also at the Sunday flea market in Dolega. These are the signs I see.

I heard an off-the-cuff comment by a Volcan resident that the E-Shop in Boquete was very busy handling 250 new families which have arrived in Boquete. I think I see signs everywhere of a population boom here and in Potrerillos. Does anybody know the latest on the Rick Wile's ministry and his declaration of Boquete being a sanctuary city for when the end times come in the U.S.?? And on a related question, does anybody know the exact new date for the end time?

I spoke to Bethany Strong (bethany@fuertec.com) at the Tuesday market yesterday. I have measures my guest bedroom windows and have asked her for an estimate. I will keep you guys posted on what I learn back.

In my other persona as "Newslady" it is considerable extra work for me to post each news.boquete email in the special reserved section of C.L. Having said that, there is a couple of advantages to the community that most people wouldn't be aware of: 1. Quite often I get asked to dig out an old news.boquete email and send it to someone who vaguely remembers it, didn't save it, can't find it, and now wants the information. This is an extra effort on my part to dig through the archives and send a personal email to someone . . . however I do it. Under the new system I can just tell them to do a search on C.L. 2. I notice the number of views on the News.Boquete topics. I think the folks who get them in their email in-box probably wouldn't be viewing them. This means they are hitting a wider audience than our current 1810 subscribers. 3. I also notice that sometimes people reply or start a discussion concerning a particular News.Boquete email. This is something they can't do under the email system and is, I think, a valuable contribution to the dialogue in our community. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I don't believe the much quoted statement that the U.S. government would save money by paying our medicare expenses here. Right now they pay 0% of 90% our our expenses. It's only occasionally someone returns to the U.S. to take advantage of medicare payments. The U.S. government is saving a ton. Probably the only thing in the history of the world the government has managed to save money on.

I believe the new garbage cans are a result of the "Beautify Boquete" committee headed by Teracita Pretelt and Michelle Brewer, both Panamanians. Of course the new alcalde has been very supportive of their work. An interesting thing -- right now one of the biggest eyesores in Boquete is the bridge. The lights are broken or missing. The plants are missing and the planters full of weeds. The committee would like to make the bridge beautiful but everything put there (including the light fixtures) gets stolen. They're hoping the new garbage cans don't get stolen.

What would possess a person to host a yard sale on a day where it's impossible to drive through town? Maybe a newbie who knows nothing about Panamanian holidays. In any case, I would suggest the yard sale person extend their sale until next week (or at least until Monday).