Bud

Marcelyn and I visited the newly relocated and reopened Tuesday BCP Market. We arrived about 11:30AM, and after doing the entrance bio-safety protocol, found about 25 vendors well spaced. The room was squeaky clean, people were friendly, good selection of goods. We had no intention of buying anything, but Marcelyn found a purse that she adored and so made that saleslady very happy with a purchase of the purse. After walking around a bit, I then chatted with Emily Haworth of Miel Boqueteña place (the "butterfly place") and ended up buying a bottle of Boquete honey. We understand that more vendors will be present in the near future. So glad that the BCP Tuesday Market is back in operation, and think the BCP management has done a wonderful job. Boquete is slowly returning to some degree of normalcy. Actually I am happy that the BCP Market is in a new facility because it is much nicer, less crowded, and with better facilities. We understand that a Minsa agent was there in the Arco Iris Room during our presence monitoring of the opening event. We were not bothered or even approached by Minsa.

We have called Big Daddy's Grill on some weekends during our lockdown for home delivery service. One such order was a birthday celebration, and Chris did a special steak order for us. It was an imported rib-eye cut, and incredible food. This past weekend we did another Saturday order, again for a special steak order, which Chris did a superb job. Bryan of the GoGoose Delivery service delivered our order, right on time (even though it was in the middle of some heavy rain). We highly recommend take out or delivery orders from Big Daddy's Grill. Great food, great customer service, and really good value. If we had to have a complaint it would be that the servings are too big, which means we easily get four servings out of each order. Bottom line is a "thank you" to Chris and support staff for helping us get through these difficult pandemic times.

We have a very good general contractor that takes care of all of our home maintenance needs. I am reluctant to publish his contact information here because he is very busy. If you send me a PM (private message) or an email (see my signature block, below) or call me then we can talk in more detail. He is bilingual.

Where is the Cable & Wireless office in Boquete? It used to be in Plaza Los Establos.

Thanks for the additional clarification. Hopefully there will be a denial. There are too many variations on lifestyle and residency arrangements. Some people rent with utilities included and have no car, so they have no proof of their physical residence within Boquete, or automobile insurance, etc. Or how about a spouse whose utilities are in the other's name? Etc., etc., etc. It is nice (comforting, perhaps?) that the mayor wishes us all to be healthy and happy, but the means to achieve such should not be Draconian.

Another home run for great food, fantastic service (home delivery), and for a good cause (ACCBoquete and DogCamp Boquete). If I was forced to fault something it would be too much food, but that is good for leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Congratulations to all who worked on this.

I picked up the proper form from Penny Tuesday morning (05/26) as soon as my mobility window opened up, and trundled immediately to Banco Nacional. They were closed. Duh. I was not aware of their new schedule. Banco Nacional is open in the afternoons of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; it is open in the mornings on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So I returned to Banco Nacional yesterday (Thursday, May 28th) as my first stop when my mobility window opened up. I was in and out in about seven minutes. There were very few bank customers. Processing of the tasa unica form was slow and meticulous. It seemed that the bank teller was triple checking everything that had been entered into the computer before hitting the enter button so as to avoid any mistakes (of that I was appreciative). When finished, he smiled and said in English "have a nice day". My tasa unica fee payment matter is now completed for FY-2020. I've learned a lesson from this. I like Penny's approach. Next time I find the correct form at the bank I will take three or four spares with me. Another huge hug to Penny for helping out on this issue.

Penny, You are an angel. Thank you.

Going off-topic in one way, but still on-topic about the text I quoted above. Been trying to pay the tasa unica (the annual "fee"/"tax" for our foundation), but without success. This government fee has to be paid in cash at either Banco Nacional or Caja de Ahorros (two governmental banking institutions here in Panama). My trips to Banco Nacional in Boquete have been unsuccessful. Sure, I get to the bank with cash in pocket, but they don't have the correct form on which to document the payment. Thus no transaction is allowed. I finally got out of the bank manager (on my last trip last Thursday, which is a guy's day to be out and about) that the office in PC that takes care of printing and distributing those forms is closed and has been closed since the beginning of the quarantine. I asked repeatedly when will they get the forms, and the result is something I call the "reserve salute" (meaning, I don't know and I don't care). At least I now know hot to try again until things really open up. But aha - an alternative solution. Caja de Ahorros can also receive the payments. However, the Boquete office is closed. The way I drive, there is no way to get to David (and that is assuming they have the correct form) and back in two hours. I have until the end of June to pay the tasa unica, otherwise a penalty results. If a penalty is imposed for non-timely payment then I am going to start protesting (hopefully peacefully, but at times I wonder if I can restrain myself). The most difficult part of this scenario is the "I really don't care about your problem" attitude. (Okay, now I feel better. I got this off my chest.)

I got my flu shot today, given that today (May 7th) is a guy's day to be out and about. I arrived about 11:06AM. Total time for me was about ten minutes. I was a bit more lucky than Marcelyn in finding a parking place at the corner across from the mayor's office (where the small ponies typically are located on holiday weekends). Marcelyn described the procedure quite well. Here is a picture of the flu shot station. When I arrived, there was one man waiting in front of me (that is him in the photo). Upon my exit a few minutes later there were 13 men lined up waiting for their turn for a flu shot. The two nurses were competent and friendly. All communication was in Spanish. Show your cedula, tell them where you live, and then roll up shirt sleeve. I also had them document the immunization in my yellow W.H.O. booklet. No bandaid provided. Alcohol was used in the preparation phase to cleanse the area of the pending injection.

We also bank at Multibank (and only Multibank). We have been pleased with customer support over the past many years, but NOT found a good solution to this current issue. The way I drive (it takes an hour for me to get to David) means that going to the Multibank branch in David is not an option. And other people who can make it to David and back in the allotted time window can't do our personal banking for us; it has to be us at the window. There are a lot of things we used to take for granted that now are under our looking glass for reassessment.

Well aware of that. My reply was just an editorial comment about one thing that is happening right now.

Cortizo's legacy is being written right now. It is being written by others, not by Cortizo, and I suspect he is not pleased.

If you don't like the long lines for the grocery stores right now, think about the lines for the beauty salons, barber shops, and manicure/pedicure spas after they reopen. 🤪

Tuesday, April 14th was a guys day for running errands. Marcelyn and I normally do not go into town on consecutive days, but there were rumors (bochinche) about possible stricter mobility constraints. We wanted to be sure that we were well stocked with essential food and supplies. I went to five different businesses. Other than waiting lines there was nothing unusual, with one exception. Upon parking at Mini Super El Dorado in Alto Boquete I saw the queue was about nine people - all guys, of course. I'm wearing a face mask and gloves, but manage to say hi to all in line as I moved to the end of the queue. About three minutes after getting in line I noticed two women walking into the parking lot from the street. I thought to myself, gee that is strange; are they employees of the store because today was a guy day. As they got closer to me, I noticed that both had clipboards, and each female had a lanyard around their neck with some kind of badge attached. They then looked at each of the guys in the line starting at the rear but said nothing until they approached the man two positions in front of me. There was a short discussion, none of which I could hear. The man pulled out his wallet and showed them something. The two women smiled and continued going forward. I then lost track of them. Upon exiting the store I placed my goods in the back seat, got in the car, and started backing out. I then saw both of the women talking with a man. They had their clipboards up and were writing something. The guy was obviously not a senior citizen. I figured out that these two women are quarantine compliance monitors. They apparently caught a guy who was out and about, but outside of his allocated time slot. The look on his face said everything as I slowly maneuvered past them. If I had to put a caption on his expression it would be "I'm screwed now". I have no idea who he was, nor the eventual outcome. The message here is: Follow the law. Don't try to game the system.

Writing here as an ex-Navy guy: the captain's career has now ended.

I was not aware that any ISP was providing FTTH in our area. Was hoping someone would respond, but not yet. Have you learned anything more since posting? I suspect your use of “PON” terminology went over the heads of just about everyone. Guess you might be a geek. Not trying to disparage, just commenting.

Just received from a friend who lives half time in Boquete and half time in the US, enjoys golf. They got stuck in the US, and can't get back home right now. Somewhat lengthy, but it put a smile on my face.

Not giving up on the "to go" restaurant service, we had a wonderful experience yesterday (Wednesday, April 1st) with Big Daddy's Grill. I called Big Daddy's (using their WhatsApp cell number of 6250-1948), and it was Chef Chris himself who answered. Chris told me that they are still providing the service, but that there is a minimal delivery fee. There are four main menu items for the delivery service: spare ribs, burrito (two varieties of chicken or beef), chicken wings with a choice of different sauces, and something else which I did not write down. We opted for the spare ribs and chicken wings (Buffalo wings, not the hot stuff). Chris told me after checking for a moment that they were out of ribs, but that he would substitute a whole roasted chicken. I said yes to the roasted chicken and chicken wings dinners. A short time later I got a WhatsApp text from Chris as to the total charge, including delivery fee (which turned out to be $2.00). Delivery would be approximately 5:00PM. A few minutes before 5:00PM a white Chevrolet appeared at our entrance gate. Bryan was the delivery guy (he's a veteran who is helping Chris make these deliveries), and out of the passenger side popped Chris himself. They both were wearing masks and gloves. Our food orders were delivered in two large, heavy duty paper sacks. Things were still quite warm, and the aromas from the sacks were enticing. Warning: if you take advantage of these delivery options from Big Daddy's, be advised that the servings are large, and the side orders (in our case they were mashed potatoes and gravy, plus red beans and rice for our roasted chicken order) are large also. In fact, the side orders for the roasted chicken are JI-NORM-US (for those who don't speak Texan, that means enormous). We have enough food from this one delivery to feed the both of us for several meals. Recommendation: if you wish to take advantage of this restaurant delivery service I recommend that you call late morning to midday. Suggest that you not call at 4:00PM and ask for delivery by 4:30PM. Give them a chance to plan and schedule things. Below are the front and back of the Big Daddy's business card that came with our food order.

An alternate title might be: GoGo for GaGo.

RIP.

Not having a good experience here. Beginning to look like a good idea that went south. La Posada restaurant is now closed. I tried four other places on this list and none answered their phone. Will just stay home and have leftovers.

On a related matter, I called La Posada just now for a "to go" pizza, and they have told me that their restaurant is now closed, as in shut down (hopefully only temporarily). It was NOT where they are going to open later today, but they are closed until this pandemic thing is history. Can someone confirm that I did not misunderstand the Spanish?

Thanks. I missed it. Guess I am getting too old.

One aspect of this pandemic is bothering me. We had to use a hand sanitizer at the entrance to PriceSmart. I don’t have a problem with doing that. We have hand sanitizers at home and use them frequently. Marcelyn even carries one in her purse, which we use prior to eating out (she offers it to others if we have dining guests). As an aside, I also frequently scrub both hands with hot soapy water while we are home. The soap is a liquid anti-bacterial variety. What bothers me is that hand sanitizers are anti-bacterial agents, and yet Covid-19 is viral in nature. Seems to be a disconnect there. What am I missing?