A Chiriquí Chatter reader sent me the following link. I enjoyed it. I wanted to share it with you. The thought is exactly what I like to practice. I hope you enjoy Life is like Coffee.
Life is like Coffee
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Category Archives: Panama Journal
Will You Take Me And Love Me?
I received a request to post the following.
Puppy Bianca
This adorable puppy is 3-1/2 months old (May 14) and is crate-trained. She has had all her shots and has been de-wormed. She is a loving, intelligent, enthusiastic dog, very interested in the world around her.
We adopted her with the thought that she would be a good playmate for our other two dogs, especially for our 8-year-old Lab. Unfortunately, the relationship is not developing well, and we must give priority to our older dogs. We will donate her crate and toys to the new owner. On her own she will bring great joy and affection.
Contact Mary Farmer 6700-4166 or mwf @ pobox . com (remove spaces).
Site Problems
This morning, Chiriquí Chatter has been up and down several times. I think the web-host has been doing maintenance and it has not been transparent.
As a reminder, I use a Chiriquí Chatter Status site to notify readers if the site is down and I am aware of it.
Photo of a Photo
This was the favorite photo I took at the Ambassador’s residence in Panama City. The Ambassador’s wife said this was her favorite photo within the residence. Many historical photos lined the walls.
If you click on the photo you should be able to read the description below it. It was taken October 10, 1913 when President Woodrow Wilson set off the explosion joining the two oceans. Look at clothing the people were wearing.
Life is Good!
I spent most of the day yesterday with my headphones on listening to Spotify. The part I enjoyed the most was when I put it on a “Peter, Paul and Mary” setting. All music played from some of the best years of my life.
I got absorbed in the lyrics. When I closed my eyes I could almost picture what I would have been doing when I first heard the tunes.
Periodically I would open my eyes and be brought back to the present. What was interesting was that I realized I am just as happy today as I was then. Older, not necessarily wiser, but surrounded by joys I would not have imagined I would be enjoying at this stage of my life.
The “Proof of Life” post that I did the other day has to be considered a success. I feel the notice has been received and is being discussed, which was my objective in the first place.
It also made me realize how fortunate I am to be enjoying life here in Panama and not back in the US in the rat race that occupied so much of my life. I am living a dream that many in this world never get to live.
I am thankful every day for the influences that persuaded me to investigate retiring here. I am surrounded by positive people. I have the opportunity to still contribute, and never have a boring day. Life is good!
Today I will leave Panama City and I will head back to David. When I open the door I will be greeted by Koki and she will give me a welcome as only she can. I am sure Natalie will be happy to have Lilliam and I return also, but her tail won’t wag as much.
I thought I would drop you this short note before I leave. As you read this, take a few moments and count your own blessings. I think we all have more to be thankful for than we ever acknowledge.
Take another moment and tell those in your life that you are happy that they have chosen to spend this time of your life with you. I don’t do that enough and this reminder is for me as well.
Today is a great day to pass out smiles. They are cheap and are always make others feel better. No doubt you will receive many smiles in return.
Next week I will provide a little more information on my time in Panama City. It just doesn’t get better than this.
Warning Email Received
I received the following warning email. I have no way of verifying it, but in the interest of public awareness I felt it should be posted.
Hello Don,I used to live in Panama for several years, and now am back in Boquete for a few months.
I want to tell you a story that almost to a “t” happened to a man in my building, and then a husband and wife from Canada had a friend who had a similar incident happen to him, all within a few weeks.
I was at La Cabana in Boquete and then the next thing I remember is running and hiding in the woods with no shoes, no belt, no wallet, and no passport. I had everything stolen.
While I would agree it might sound like “some drunken tale” – all of my clothes were torn, bloody, and I literally felt like my mind was erased.
To some extent or another – this is the same story I have heard from a few people in Boquete as I mentioned. I am not sure if it happened at La Cabana, or walking home at night. The other 2 stories I heard similar were people walking home and/or taking the bus.
I tried filing a police report when it happened in Boquete, they just laughed at me and told me to go to another office that was closed nearby.
One other gentleman is a 40 something doctor from the States, and another was a professional from Canada who was held up and knife point by 3 gentlemen.
All of these have happened within the last few weeks around the Boquete and Volcancito area.
I don’t know what you would do with this information – I just wanted to inform you as I know a lot of expats read your blog and wanted to say something.
Thank you Don,
–
Scott
Banking in Latin America
If you use ATMs in Latin America to get your money from your accounts in other countries, expect to have periodic problems. It has happens to me twice and on Friday it happened to Lilliam.
Here is the scenario.
Lilliam made an ATM request to get money from her account in Costa Rica. The ATM went through the motions to give the money – noise giving the impression it was getting ready to dispense money, but alas, no money.
In my past cases, the ATM made sounds like it counting the money too, but then stopped because of a problem. Maybe it had less money that it thought it had. Maybe it had a hardware failure. For what ever reason it didn’t give money.
The latest problem happened to Lilliam at Banco Universal in El Rey. When it didn’t give the money, it put up a strange warning message saying not to reenter the pin number. The other ATM in El Rey afterwards said the daily limit had been exceeded, indicating that the first ATM had indeed posted the transaction.
When one of the ATMs erroneously posts a withdrawal, the only way to resolve it is through your bank. Even though the bank with the failing machine has a record of the transaction not going through and the daily balance being off, you have to resolve it by calling the bank having the account.
When I have had it happen to me, I have been able to call my bank in the US and talk to a real person and handle the problem over the phone. If memory serves me, the transaction was always corrected by the end of the phone call.
Lilliam’s bank was in Costa Rica. Multiple phone calls to the bank failed to get to a real person. The only thing left to do was to drive to the Frontera and go to the bank there.
The wait in the bank was about 2 1/2 hours. Then Lilliam was told the claim would be submitted to San Jose and it would take 22 days to process and at that time the money should be place back in the account.
The bank charged her $10 for this fantastic service. When you add to that $10 for gasoline to drive to the Frontera, it was a pretty expensive hardware failure. It will be interesting to see, when the transaction is reversed, if they also reverse the ATM and Clave charges. What do you think are the odds of that happening?
If you choose to live in Panama or any Latin American country, it is the bureaucracy that is the most difficult to get used to. I thought it was an annoyance when I had to call the US when I had ATM problems here. It was nothing compared to the problems Lilliam had to go through to fix the problem today and we won’t know if it is solved for 22 days.
There Is Nothing Like A Morning Dip in the Pool.
I’ll BEE Jiggered
That was one large bee. When I lived on a farm in Oklahoma it would have been called a bumble bee. I don’t know if there is a different name for it here. I only had my iPhone, so the photo is not the best.
