24 hours in and about Boquete Panama
Posted by Lee on December 15, 2009
I have had a busy week in Boquete Panama, if I could write anything like Garrison Keller this would be a great Lake Wobegon story. But I cannot write like Garrison Keller, so I will just weave my own sort of tale.
Monday evening Dr. Elizabeth Quila and I drove to David so she could do a presentation on her books and poetry. David is a undergoing s transformation from a dusty cow town in western Panama to a more cosmopolitan urban setting. I am not sure how I feel about the transition but I am not sure many people in David have noticed yet.
Our group at restaurant Mana was small and intimate and even without a firm grip on Spanish I enjoyed the experience completely as did the other participants. It is not usual for an author with the credentials of Dr Quila to visit these shores and sit in a small group with interested people. If you are interested in Dr Quila and her writing she has a web site.
In the tradition of my David experiences and in the spirit of cultural exchange we moved the meeting and ended the evening enjoying the music at Totumas across from Price Smart. Approaching 11 pm required me to exit for the evening or risk becoming a pumpkin at midnight on the road to Boquete.
Tuesday morning was a wonderful Jaramillo experience of watching Bill Lane, aka Santa Claus distribute goodies to the children in the Alto Jaramillo school.
As rewarding as watching the children tear into the bags was seeing the faces of the community members who made it happen.
In my effort to show Dr. Quila more of the Boquete Community we then drove down the mountain to the Tuesday morning meeting and marketplace. I think the marketplace is becoming more the focus then the meeting. More networking is happening over coffee and pumpkin pie then by sitting in chairs and listening to speakers. The English speaking community of Boquete has developed a new focal point at the BCP community Center. While we were there the facility was mobbed.
Across the street in the Arco Iris at the same time there was a holiday exhibition of arts and crafts by local artists, we visited and we both came away saddened by the lack of local crafts. What ever traditional arts that might be available in Panama were not being offered in the Arco Iris and as the Gringo Meeting was congested the Arco Iris was desolate.
Our last stop of the morning was a return David at Conway. It seems clothing is one of those things more expensive in Ecuador than in Panama. Conway was the beneficiary of Ecuadorian dollars turning into imported clothing to be exported to Ecuador. Did you know that if you have a tourist visa you can request an exemption of the 5% point of sale tax? If this is news to you and you have a tourist visa try it, it works.
In all a rewarding day that will soon be ended with a Thai dinner from Bambu Lampang, always a treat and a little fire for the palate.
Maybe the only difference between this 24 hours and Lake Wobegon is that despite any efforts at writing fiction, this was my real day in Chiriqui provence, Panama.
Comments
2 Responses to “24 hours in and about Boquete Panama”Leave a comment, and if you'd like your own picture to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
You have caught my attention once again with your comment on “exemption from sales tax”. Could you post more info, ie: the law which states this exemption, so we may be educated when trying to use it? Many of us spend thousands of dollars when we are in Panama on furniture, appliances, construction etc. and this would be a significant savings.
Thank you in advance for your time and keep up the great work you do on your website, it is one of the best I have found for people like myself waiting until the day I retire and move to my home in Panama.
Jim, that law is only for tourists because they are suppose to take out of the country the merchandise they buy. What is happening is that many foreigners already living in Panama are taking advantage of this law because some stores only ask for a passport instead of a tourist Visa. There is a problem with that also because Panama does not require Visa to a lot of countries. So it’s very difficult to control.