Daily Archives: September 15, 2011

Just Another Great Day

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When I was returning from Nutre Hogar, I saw that there were musicians in Parque Cervantes. I looked for a parking place and couldn’t find one, so I parked in one of the downtown lots.

I found a place in the shade and took some photos and some videos of the groups. I am not sure if there were one or two groups of musicians from Ecuador that were playing in two different corners of the park.

I have seen groups like this before and now believe they also were from Ecuador. I had thought the music sounded like it was from Peru, but this time I took some time and talked to the musicians.

I thought about calling this post “Why you should learn Spanish if you are going to live in Panama.”

I got to visit with several Panamanians and with the Ecuadoran musicians and I would not have been able to do that in 2003. I would say that I would miss out on 90% of the fun available if I was limited to English. Well, time to get off my soapbox and back to the post.

Here is a photo of the first group.

This is the first group. Pay attention to the musician in the middle. He is the one making all of the bird and animal sounds. Continue reading →

Nutre Hogar – Give Till It Feels Good

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After talking to Bob Hatting and Chris Smoot yesterday, I decided that today would be a good day to make a video showing the location of Nutre Hogar in David. I thought if I drove without Bob, then I would make the same mistakes a person that did not the route well might make. I have been there several times, but it has been a while and the video will show that I made one mistake.

While I was there I went in and visited with Melitza whose photo is my original post for Nutre Hogar.

Today I got to meet Deysi (pronounced Daisy), who has not been there on my previous visits. She was gracious enough to allow me to take her photo. Continue reading →

ALERT ON FRAUDULENT REQUESTS FOR BAIL FUNDS

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I found the following this morning, when I was looking at the Bocas Watch Site. The information comes from the U.S. Embassy Web Site.

I have cross posted it in the Chiriquí Watch.

The American Citizen Services unit of the U.S. Embassy, Panama, has received a number of calls in recent weeks regarding fraudulent requests for bail funds.  The typical scenario is that a family member – parent, aunt, or grandparent – receives a call regarding an emergency of a son, nephew, or grandson allegedly in Panama.  The call is sometimes from a third party, sometimes from someone claiming to be the actual family member in trouble.  Sometimes the “emergency” is because of a traffic accident; sometimes it is an immigration violation.  In all instances, the victim needs between $2,000 and $4,000.  The family member is told that the U.S. Embassy in involved on behalf of the victim and is given a phone number to contact Embassy personnel for information on wiring funds.  These calls are fraudulent and no Embassy personnel are involved.
Please be advised that the contact information for American Citizen Services at the U.S. Embassy in Panama City is (507) 207-7000 or Panama-ACS@state.gov.  All phone numbers in the consular section begin with 011-507-207, as dialed from the U.S.  Should you receive a call such as those described above, please contact us directly or have the alleged victim come to the Consular Section during business hours for assistance.

The Bocas Watch and the Chiriquí Watch sites have both been setup to provide information to residents of those provinces of activities that may affect them. I encourage the usage of these sites. My original post on the Chiriquí Watch can be found HERE.