The Lastest Boquete Guide
Scavenger hunting in Boquete
Shopping in Boquete can be either limited by what Romero carries or as varied as a scavenger hunt. Today was a scavenger hunt, KimChi, coffee, eggs and trout. Tomorrow, more hunting in David. Today as many were in the Tuesday Market I did some shopping. In addition to buying some breathtaking, literally breathtaking, KimChi from [...]
Culinary Obsession in Boquete Panama
When in the northland all food items seem to available at all times, here in Boquete things are seasonal and fortuitous. This week has been a cornucopia of seasonal treats and coupled with some always available items I have been having some kitchen fun. Start with a selection like this outside of Romero in Boquete [...]
IRS, FATCA, NSA, And The International Banking Conspiracy
Reprinted with permission from Mopsick Tax Law, LINK for more IRS? CIA? FBI? Most kids in school know what these acronyms mean. But NSA? What’s that? National Security Agency? What do they do? Although it has been an 800 pound gorilla in the room for quite some time, it is only now, with the recent [...]
TCM: Medical Home Care and end of life care
Today at the BCP Justin Reinholz from Medical Services International spoke about his company and their service for in home nursing assistance. Justin offers nurses on contract for people who need in home care. His service stimulated a convergence of thought on recent experience with end of life care and the resources available for the [...]
Dear NSA, Saturday Night was the bomb, truly explosive
I am sure that there were some Muslims, a few Jewish radicals and a few pagans mixed with the normally tranquil Panamanians at the Coca Cola when it exploded with live music. I doubt the was any nerve gas but the odor of rum was abundant. Enough for the NSA, I am sure their computers [...]
More Saturday in Boquete
It is only 11 pm at Coca Cola in Los Naranjos and you are not here. Part of the pleasure of living in Panama is immersion into the culture of Panama. I find it sad how few expats here in Boquete make the effort to experience part of what makes Panama an exciting place to [...]
Saturday night
La posada in Boquete is great tonight. Not a gringo in site. The music is hot the pizza too, The question is where are you So much for childish verse, the question is more terse We have so much that people say they want, yet few take advantage. It is sad and perhaps it why [...]
Remains of the hens or eggs and organic fertilizer
This is a helpful hint to those who consume eggs and those who grow organic gardens. In Los Naranjos, across from the gym, on the west side of the road is a Toledando warehouse. If you want to buy fresh eggs for less, $1.45 a dozen when I visited, you can buy them there by [...]
Making a run to the border, forget Taco Bell, go to Gringos
About ten minutes west of Price Smart is a new and excellent place to enjoy excellent food from the north, the north of Mexico. Gringos Mexican restaurant is open and if you are heading to Bugaba or doing a border run it is the best place to stop and eat a fresh, oversized real mexican [...]
Habla Ya Bocas del Toro, Learning Spanish from sea to shining sea
Our primary reason for this visit to Isla Colon was to visit the Habla Ya Spanish language school on Isla Colon. It was a short walk from Tropical Suites to the Habla Ya building. Habla Ya has been in Boquete eight years helping people learn Spanish and brings probably thousands of students into Boquete’s economy. [...]
Isla Carenero: Restaurant Bibi Caribbean Food
The Bocas del Toro archipelago is part of Panama, but it is culturally unique. In addition to a unique language of Guari Guari, the cuisine is far more Caribbean than most of Panama. A day after our dinner at the non caribbean restaurant called Guari Guari, we were invited to dine on another island, Carenero. [...]
Guari Guari and a touch of the Keystone Cops
Guari Guari is Bocas del Toro Creole, a linguistic variety of Jamaican Creole spoken in Bocas del Toro Province of Panama. The native speakers of this dialect call it Guari-guari It is a hybrid tongue of English and Spanish with elements of the local Guaymí language of the Ngöbe Buglé people. Wikipedia On Isla Colon it is also the name of a [...]
Isla Colon Hotel: Tropical Suites
It was just last Tuesday at Two for Tuesdays at Amigos when a group of Boquete and Bocas residents were discussing lodging on Isla Colon. The theme was all the funky hotels and one comment about how Tropical Suites was different, cleaner, more upscale, less Bocas del Toro. We stayed at Tropical Suites. Tropical Suites [...]
The Bocas Trip, some visuals along the road and advice to travelers
We drove to Almirante on Sunday and back again today, Tuesday. I prefer flying but alas there are no flights from David to Isla Colon anymore. What was 20 minutes in the air directly to the island is now three to four hours in a car and twenty minutes in a water taxi. There are [...]
Sunrise on Isla Colon
At 4:41am we woke feeling the bed dancing under us as a 5.6 richter temblor erupted about 28 miles from Isla Colon. It was several seconds of swaying and I recalled the buildings here are mostly wood and can stand a pretty good shake. I decided to go outside and enjoy the sunrise and cool [...]
The sun is shining on Isla Colón
Bocas del Toro despite all ideas is not an island or even a series of islands in Panama. It is an entire Provence. Today we made the four hour drive from Jaramillo through Caldera to the truly ugly port of Almirante and took the BMT, Bocas Marine Transport to Isla Colon. It is hot and [...]
Social Security in Panama, an observers perspective
In my post titled “Reflections upon a return to Boquete” I stated. “ It fascinates me that in Panama workers can have a month off from work each year, that Social Security in a third world country can cover medical care and medicines. Agreed the system is flawed, it is imperfect, but I have friends working [...]
Benchwarmers at the BCP: “Life is like a box of chocolates”
As I went to see the rehearsal of Bench Warmers at the BCP last night I did not think I would be quoting, Forrest Gump. However this describes the Boquete Community Players production Benchwarmers, “Life is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re gonna get.” Bench warmers is not a single [...]
Reflections upon a return to Boquete
Most expats occasionally return to their point of origin, at minimum to visit friends and family. I have done it twice in seven years, once in 2010 and once again last week. The visits were wonderful, separation makes the fleeting moments more enjoyable and condenses warmth and joviality. This however is not a post about [...]
Still desiccating in Arizona
I have been touring around Arizona visiting friends and family. I thought I would just post a few photos to say I am still breathing and return to Panama this week.
Return to Tucson Arizona, the only constant is change
It has been more than three years since my last trip to Tucson, Arizona from Boquete Panama. It has been great to see friends, see my son Sebastian and his lovely wife Carol. Sebastian and Carol are back in the University, he in a doctoral program in Biology her in graduate school in Nutrition, I [...]
Water, Water everywhere
Today I flew out of David’s spiffy new airport to the morass known as Panama City. I have grown to dislike the urban jungle. If I want a city there are many I would prefer and tomorrow I will be taking a bigger bird to one of those. On my way out of David I [...]
TCM: World Wide Medical
The presentation today was by World Wide Medical with some new health insurance offerings to the expat community. I am going to try to summarize and below my summary is their presentation. They have a new option for Panama only health insurance that includes Hospital Chiriqui and Punta Pacifica in Panama City as the two [...]
Nobody asked, but here is the Recipe for Boquete Chili Verde
In Texas they have a bowl of red, in Tucson I preferred a bowl of green, chili that is, Chili Verde. Chili Verde is what I make here in Boquete Panama. It takes a little work to find all the ingredients in Chiriqui, but for me it is comfort food and worth the effort. My [...]
Cinco de Mayo a faux holiday for a good cause
Today as we served Chili at Amigos Restaurant for the benefit of Buenos Vecinos, a good cause, Mayra, a Panamanian, asked me about Cinco de Mayo. She asked what it was about, my answer was that it was not really a Mexican Holiday but a something celebrated in the US Southwest. I was not able [...]
I found a Dorado in Bajo Boquete
Dorado is a great firm fish, also known up north as Mahi Mahi it is splendid to see fresh out of the ocean. the photo below is of Mayra’s daughter Karina on a fishing trip we made some time ago. This Dorado was assimilated a long time in the past, but memories still stir desires [...]
Robinson Crusoe never it so good
Isla Palenque is a island in the Gulf of Chiriqui about thirty minutes from the small port of Boca Chica, Chiriqui Panama. This is the last of three posts about what we experienced in one weekend exploring Isla Palenque. Here are links to the earlier posts if you missed them, the first on the hotel, [...]
A great vacation requires great food
There is a current thread running on Boquetening.com with a resident claiming the food in Chiriqui is not equal to Washington State. I am sure there are places in Washington State that have both excellent and awful food. We have the same here, but because there are fewer people in Chiriqui Panama than in Seattle [...]
From survivor to five stars, Isla Palenque, what a difference in two years
In June of 2011 Mayra and I visited Isla Palanque. At that time in a post, I described the vision of the developer and called it “survivor for the jet set”. We were invited to return this past weekend to see the changes made in two years. I am pleased to say Isla Palanque is still [...]
Tuesday Water Update
If you missed the meeting today please read my April 21 post, LINK. What was added to my analysis is that the people here, in Volcan and Dolega are not happy about the proposal. As I pointed out in the meeting, now we resolve our problems locally, as we did in Jaramillo this month when we [...]
GRAND Galleries
