What’s The Alternative?

With diesel fuel in Panama now at $4.55 a gallon . . . it’s time to look for alternatives!  At this rate horses may start making a big comeback.

We have a friend with a big-ass Dodge truck who told me it cost him $138 to fill up the other day, and that was before the latest gas hike!

We have another friend who brought down two Hummers from the states.  Two!!  And a big ass truck!

When we first came down we had a gasoline SUV, but diesel seemed a lot cheaper and a better choice.  Now that we have a diesel truck and car . . . and gasoline is 50 cents cheaper . . .

And it’s not just gas that’s going up.

Electric rates in Panama, already high, are going up probably by 2 cents which would make it about 21 cents per kilowatt hour.  Fortunately in Boquete we don’t need heat or air conditioning, but now that it’s rainy season we’re running four dehumidifiers which suck electricity.

Panama’s food prices have gone up 15% in the past year, in part due to the increased cost of fuel.

In the dot com business everyone talked about the “burn rate.”  If you were a dot com start up an angel investor had given you so many millions of dollars to work with, and the rate at which you were spending that money, without, it turns out, much to show for it in many cases, was called the “burn rate.”  If you are retired, wherever you happen to live in the world, you have to be very aware of the rate at which you are burning through your retirement money.  Fortunately Panama’s overall lower cost of living makes life easier, but . . .

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Que lastima Audiofoto!

I wrote the other day about the abysmal lack of any sense of customer service in Panama.  Here’s an example.  Audiofoto is a big electronic and appliance store in Panama.  Now don’t think Best Buy.  These guys have virtually no inventory and not even floor samples – you order from a catalogue.  They opened a big new store in David with the look and feel of a small Best Buy, mostly because of all the building going on, much of it expat building, so you might think they would at least have one dishwasher.  No, you have to order from pictures  . . .

Fortunately my wife is in Seattle with our grandson and is able to check out appliances at Best Buy and Home Depot and then email me model numbers.

So I’ve already spent $2,000 at Audiofoto, and I need to spend $8000 more.  Don’t ask: appliances are about double here what they are in the States!  So I call the gal with whom we worked before, one of several sales people who speak English, and set up an appointment for 11:30AM.  I’m going to David: 40 minute drive, $25 gas round trip, so I have a lot to do and have everything scheduled including doctor and dentist appointments.  I get to Audiofoto, “Sorry, she’s at lunch!”  To the manager, “But I set up an appointment and I want to spend $8000.”  “Yes, but it was her lunch hour.”    Obviously first things first, and she must not have needed the sale.  No one volunteered to help.  No thought of let’s get the sale and then worry about splitting up the commission.  The manager obviously wasn’t interested in making the sale, let alone servicing the customer.  So I walked out vowing never to walk into an Audiofoto again!

So I’m now looking for alternatives . . . and I think I’ve found one.  I’ll let you know.

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 The Chicken Chaser Was At It Again

Monkey, our Rottweiler, was chasing chickens again, and nailed one.  Fortunately this one was on our property and I don’t pay for chickens killed on our property.  I figure that if your chickens are important, you ought to keep them at home.  The Dalmatians have learned to let the chickens alone, but not Monkey.  This morning she sneaked off while I was talking with our construction crew, and suddenly I hear a chicken squawking.  My Indian farm worker Alfonso took off with his machete, and came back with a dead chicken.  Somehow I have to break Monkey of this very bad habit.  So, on the advice of another friend, I took the dead chicken and beat Monkey with it.  Well a dead chicken isn’t very good for spanking: guts flew, I was covered in chicken blood, and the stupid chicken came apart.  Now, following my friend’s advice, Monkey gets a chicken necklace with part of her kill.  I’m told that after a few days, especially if its warm, Monkey will be cured of chickens. 

Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode of “The Chicken Killer”.

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I invite you to visit my new photo blog www.BeautifulPanama.wordpress.com with my favorite photographs of Panama and my travels, stuff like . . .