Chiriquí Chatter

Having just returned from Panama City, I have some thoughts that I would like to share. Since I would like to keep the primary post about my trip positive and upbeat, I decided to write this part as a stand-alone piece, so as to not corrupt the trip narration portion.

I have to admit that I hate going to Panama City. This trip, I drove and just parked the car in a secure area with a guard. Traffic has definitely increased in Panama City, since I moved to Panama. There is no way I want to drive in Panama City traffic. Unless you do it on a daily basis, you are taking your life in your own hands. Even if you do drive on a daily basis you are taking your life in your own hands.

I was talking to a Panama City resident and I was saying that you need to drive in Panama City everyday to feel reasonably secure. Wherever you are going, you need to know multiple ways to get to the destination. You never know when there will be a protest or accident or some other reason that will prevent you from taking a primary route to where you want to go.

To complicate things more, some streets have three hours in the morning where the street is one-way in one direction. Then in the evening, there is a three hour period when the street is one-way in the other direction. The rest of the time the street is two way. There is no indication on the streets and only a local would know this. There is no organized transition from one direction to the other. People just look at their watch and based on the time, they go one way or the other. What happens if your watch is a few minutes fast or slow? You will likely be going against traffic.

I talked to a local that had an accident just because of that. He was at a corner of one of those streets and looked to the left and saw cars coming. It was right around the time of direction change. Since he saw cars going one way, he turned the other direction and hit a car coming from that direction. It is just that easy. Continue Reading »

Tags: Crime, Panama

Here is the price of gas in Panama City, when I filled up for the return trip.

Continue Reading »

Tags: Gas Prices

I just received the following email and felt it should be published immediately.

From……: Mike
Email…..:
Url…….:

Hi Don I am a regular reader of your site and would like to pass on this info to you. My father is an american 71 years old owns a dairy and home in Boqueron, both he and and his girlfriend were victims of a home invasion last night around midnight. Four masked gunmen broke into his home and beat him as well as raped his girlfriend. They tied both of there hands and feet and gagged and blinfolded my father. These cowards invaded the home for two hours going through the entire house and stealing us much as they could. My father is currently in Chiriqui hospital with his worst injury hopefully an injury to his eye from a pistol whip. The gunmen were furious my father spoke little or no spanish and they were asking for dinero dinero. He had little cash in the house and they threatened to kill both of them if they didn’t give the pin for the atm. The pin was given but it appears not used. They carried on smoking pot laughing etc for the two hours. My father was ill prepared with no alarm, dogs, etc. In hindsight he would do a lot of things different as far as security. They both appear to be alright as of now, I can only hope and pray for the best. I thought I would forward this to you in hopes of passing the word to secure yourself as best possible.

Thanks,
Mike

Tags: Crime

I have been playing around with YouTube today for entertainment. It is amazing what is out there, if you spend a little time looking for it. The last song I played got me to thinking a little. Maybe it was because I went out a couple of evenings, while I have been here in Panama City, and played Table Tennis.

What is the connection with table tennis? When I was in college at Texas Tech, I spent every hour, that I wasn’t studying or in class, in the basement of my dorm playing table tennis. I jokingly say that table tennis helped me finance my way through college. That isn’t exactly true, but it did buy a lot of enchilada dinners that I wouldn’t have eaten otherwise.

The point is that I was a pretty good player. I won several college trophys and my best trophy was the runner-up in a Texas State Open tournament in Midland Texas.

The two evenings I spent here last week showed few resemblances of the player I used to be. In fact out of about 9 or so games, I only remember winning one. While the mind still saw the shot, the reflexes just could not execute the shot. Continue Reading »

Tags: Reflecting

Like I said in a previous post, my plan was to return to David prior to New Year’s Eve. Guess what? It didn’t happen. But I also said that all of my plans in Panama are subject to change and I never know what I am going to be doing much ahead of my doing it.

Tonight will be a rip roaring night in Panama City. It will certainly be one to watch from afar and better to stay out of the fray. There will most likely be a lot of traffic accidents and a few deaths. Booze will be flowing and the fireworks will be going.

The fireworks should be spectacular and I hope to get a few photos.

I will keep this post short, since I am on a foreign computer and hate to write anything without my own spell checker. Even then I still make many mistakes, just less than without.

When you see the next “one liner” post, then you will know that I am back in David. Stay safe and I will be back next year (God willing).

Good bye 2008. You have been a good year.

I received an email from a private individual that has land for sale in Chiriqui. The description follows:

Notice for sale - 68 hectareias of land in the Horconcito district of San Lorenzo Province of Chiriqui. 62 hectaries are reforested, 40 hectareias with African Mahogany (khaya Senogalersis) and 20 hectareias of Theca that is approximately 14 years of age with forest registry. If anyone wishes more information, they can contact me at 66725233 or at 65106952

Kindly: Aracelly G. of Rodriguez

As with any posts of this nature, this is not an endorsement by Chiriqui Chatter, but merely a service to individuals that I am willing to do. It is up to all interested parties to do the due diligence to validate the property.

Tags: For Sale

On this day let’s reflect on how fortunate we are to be alive. To be with family and friends. To live in a place where we can express our views freely. To have plenty of food on the table. To have the memory of times gone by. To have the eyesight to see the beauty of nature. To be able to hear the happiness of a bird’s song. To have the opportunity to help others less fortunate than we are.

Chiriquí Chatter wishes all of you that read this message a Merry Christmas. May your hearts be filled with joy and may you have many more days to follow.

Tags: Holidays