For one thing a Jewish deli with real bagels!
Something along the order of Western Bagel! All of you “Valley” people from California will instantly know that Western Bagel produces THE supreme bagel on the planet! Sunday morning and a salt, or onion or everything . . . or a cheese bagel . . . perfect! We have nothing that comes close. Even something close to Noah’s would be acceptable.
Panama City has this huge Jewish population. Why don’t some of you good Jewish kids come up to Boquete and open the real thing?
GOOD Pizza
Pizza is one of the most popular foods on the planet and particularly in the US. According to Domino’s each person in the US eats an average of 23 pounds a year! So why can’t we get good pizza in Panama? We can! Pizza Italia in Panama City makes fantastic pizza at a great price! A medium Hawaiian pizza, ample for two people, costs $4.50!! I ate at one of Boquete’s “Italian” restaurants and the same pizza was $12 and it wasn’t nearly as delicious, well baked or pleasantly served. Pizza Italia also has a nice little Italian restaurant. Whenever we’re flying out of Toucmen and stay at Riande Airport (ah, that’s another story), we always make a point of eating at Pizza Italia. Why don’t these folks come to Boquete??
Of course we need a few other things as well, but good pizza and real bagels would be a nice start.
What we don’t need is yet another diesel price increase!
But we got it! Diesel, the fuel of choice in Panama, is now $4.58 a gallon! The high cost of gas is pushing farmers who normally grow food to divert food supplies to produce fuel. The cost of rice and flour is soaring making it very difficult for people around the world whose primary food is rice.
We live in a very complex world in which, like it or not, we are all tied together. Let one major player get out of line or take an aggressive stance and it impacts the entire world.
Like a plague that does not discriminate by economic class, race or age, soaring gas prices are inflicting pain throughout the U.S. Nine in 10 expecting the ballooning costs to squeeze them financially over the next half year, an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll said Monday.
Nearly half think that hardship will be serious. To cope, most are driving less, easing off the air conditioning and heating at home and cutting corners elsewhere. Half are curtailing vacation plans; nearly as many are considering buying cars that burn less gas.
As the price has spiraled upward so, too, has the public’s ire.
But can you imagine the hardship if you are a Gnobe Bugle Indian farm worker earning $40 a week in take home pay and suddenly the price of rice has almost doubled, and that is primarily what you eat? It’s one thing not to drive your Hummer (that gets 5 miles to a gallon on a level road) . . . and it’s another thing to head off for a days work without breakfast because you can’t afford enough rice for three meals a day.
Until now Panama’s use of the dollar has been a blessing as it kept inflation low and the economy stable. Now with the dollars decline, Panama is feeling the negative side of this relationship in every sector.
According to the Panama Comptrollers office, the price of food has increased 17.2% over last year, and many saw it exceeds 20%. Consumer prices in Panama rose 0.8% in May, while 12-month inflation at the end of the month was 8.8% as consumers paid more for gasoline and food.
It appears that eight years of Bush deficit spending, piling up trillions in national debt, have hurt more than just Americans. These irresponsible fiscal and financial policies now have found their way to Panama and other U.S. dollar denominated economies of the world.
One Panama observer claims that “the lower income people of Panama are getting hit from every angle. Utilities, food, transportation, gas, housing, rent, health care, medicine, propane, loans just to name some of the costs of living they struggle with. Their combined family income is gone by the time they buy basic food, housing, water and electricity and care for children.”
And I’m worried about bagels and pizza? Mea culpa!
3 responses so far ↓
bt // July 4, 2008 at 11:57 pm
I’m putting in an outdoor masonry oven so I can bake good bread and thin crust pizzas.
Maybe I’ll try bagels too.
(my uncle owns the Bagel Factory chain in LA. so I know how to make them)
Getting the proper ingredients might be a problem. And, the altitude. My “finquita” is at 5,000 ft. But, if you promise to eat all the test bagels, maybe I’ll give it a try.
YOU’RE ON! In fact I predict you’ll have more test volunteers than you can handle!
My dream is to build an outdoor clay oven on our finca and bake bread and pizza. I will be interested to see your oven as well as test the bagels!
Jim // July 7, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Hello again….could Boquete use an English speaking computer repair tech?
I’m not the guy to ask. It seems we have a lot of them, but I have no idea how good they are or what background or skills they have. I know one guy had a hard drive problem and was having trouble finding someone who could deal with it. You can’t be an employee here if you’re not Panamanian, but it is fairly easy to start your own business. Like most places, it seems a lot harder to make money having your own business but maybe it’s because a lot of small busineses are started on a shoe strink without an adequate business plan.
Dana // July 10, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Richard, I was just in Boquete the last few days of June (wish I would have spent more time there — I liked Boquete more than I thought I would).
Anyhow, I heard numerous good things about the pizza place just near the ‘Machu Picchu’ Peruvian restaurant.
“Ricardo’s” — I think the name is? I forget if it’s the name of the owner &/or the name of his establishment.
Either way, the owners of the hostel where I stayed like it so much they go every Friday night. Some of the guys who come to Boquete on a regular basis say they like it too. Prices are reasonable too, I hear. I only spent 3 days in Boquete and didn’t try this spot unfortunately.
Pappa Ricco’s. I tried it when they first opened. Real thick piece of bread with a tiny bit of sauce, and cheese . . . seemed to me like those pizza rolls they sell in the US super markets . . . so I haven’t been motivated to go back. I guess I should try it again. I understand his lasagna is good though. I guess, having lived in Northern Jersey and New York City, I had different expectations. I’ll let you know what I think.
Come on back to Boquete!