Oprah

I think I am the only person on the planet who never saw an Oprah show . . . until this past week. 

Some friends are moving back to the States and had a moving yard sale.  My wife, Nikki, picked up a bunch of DVDs cheap, including the 20th Anniversary collection of The Oprah Winfrey show. 120 DVDs, or so it seems . . . lets just say and endless supply of Oprah, maybe more than anyone ever wanted to know about Oprah. 

So I decided to take a look.

I knew Oprah had good politics (Obama!).  I had driven by her Montecito mansion, with no real idea how grandiose it really was.  I used to wonder how the rich and famous, and crazy (I also drove by Michael’s “Neverland”) lived behind the closed gates.  Unfortunately, now that he’s dead, we’re learning more about Michael than we ever needed or wanted to know, at least more than I needed or wanted to know [. . . and if he was using a fake nose, couldn't he have found a better looking one??]  I’d heard that Oprah had more money than the Queen, and apparently liked to throw it around . . . new cars for a studio audience?  It used to be you were lucky if you got a Coke and a sample box of Tide.  And I had heard that she’d done some neat things in South Africa.

Other than that, I knew nothing about Oprah, other than women of all ages seemed to adore her. 

Well I have to report that after watching two of six DVDs, I am impressed!  And I’m begining to understand, albeit belatedly, what the fuss is all about.  According to Oprah her show “ is seen by an estimated 44 million viewers a week in the United States and is broadcast internationally in 145 countries.”  OK . . . so it takes me a while!

TV personality, talk show host, magazine publisher, actress, model, philanthropist, political presidential-maker, literary critic, evangelist,  inspirational speaker, therapist, consumer extraordinaire . . . what else?

Here’s some of the things I admire . . .

She grew up in Milwaukee . . . that’s a plus!  So no wonder she feels comfortable in frigid Chicago, but makes her home in Montecito, CA, the zillionaire’s heaven, if you discount the occasional wild fire that wipes everything out.

She’s supposedly richer than the Queen, but appears at least to be rather “down to earth”.  Can you imagine the Queen being “down to earth”?  She knows where she came from, and how she struggled through life certainly without a silver spoon, and so appears to identify with normal, ordinary people.  When she says, “I didn’t do it for the money”, I believe her.  I think she found her passion, followed it and the money came along.  Nice . . . if you can do it!

Her black church roots are evident in her world and life view, her philosophy of God’s leading and God’s plan for her life . . . she comes across as deeply spiritual without attempting to push her faith on anyone. 

She appears deeply aware of a world beyond herself, and committed to use whatever talent and resources she possesses to impact that world in a positive way. 

She appears to value her team and take good care of them, realizing she is not a one woman show.

There is certainly a celebration of things and materialism . . .which, I suppose if you are the richest woman you gotta flaunt it somewhat, but I’m not sure the connection between her “ordinary” viewers and this woman who has everything, and then some . . . I heard $50 a piece truffles!  Can that be? . . . somehow gets lost.  I don’t know, but on the whole, I’m impressed!

Welcome to the “I Love To Garden Boquete Garden Club” . . .

Wow!  That’s a mouthful!  So I went to the Garden Club meeting yesterday.  About 25 people, hosted by Bonnie Williams who reads my blog and has made some helpful suggestions to me about my gardening challenges.  Bonnie has a drop dead garden and a home with spectacular views.  We heard an hour and fifteen minute lecture on water gardens from an expert . . . everything, and I do mean everything . . . from materials, location, plants, fish, even snails and turtles.  I tried water gardening in some whiskey barrels in Ventura.  I should have just sipped the whiskey!  But it was fun: neat folks, and very serious gardeners.  I’m afraid a lot more serious than I.  With the water garden lecture I really didn’t have time to present my gardening woes: seeds that won’t germinate, dogs that are always busting plants . . . and the latest gardening tragedy . . . the only seeds that germinated for me were my cosmos in my butterfly garden (butterflies love ‘em), which my soon to be ex gardener (for other reasons, not this) had decided needed to be sprayed with Roundup.  Ah, Panama!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll bet Oprah didn’t do her own water garden . . . the White House-type fountain in Montecito.  Of course nobody in Montecito does their own garden.

“Genius is . . . “

I had a professor in seminary who used to tell us, “Genius is applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair . . . and staying there.” 

It was the “staying there” that always conflicted with my ADD personality!

Right now I’ve got tons of stuff on my plate. My wife is in the States, so I’m managing the farm, feeding the dogs, taking care of the house, and our farm manager is finishing up his contract (don’t ask, it’s an impossible quirk of Panama’s labor laws . . . no matter how much we may like someone, we need to terminate them every so often or we are responsible for them and their welfare . . . for life!  I know, it sounds like the CIA, but it’s not that bad). We’re renovating the casita on the farm for my brother. I’ve got guys doing the work, but I’m the “contractor”, so they have tons of questions and always need me running to David or Boquete for stuff. Plus, I need to sit at my computer and create lectures and PowerPoint for my contract on ROYAL PRINCESS this fall.

So far I’ve completed . . .

• “Naples: History, Risk and Pizza”
• “Palermo: Forget the Godfather”
• “Tunisia: Bargaining Paradise”
• “Casablanca: Rick Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”
• “Adventure in Dakar”
• “Cape Verde: Slaves & Whales”
• “Santarem: Meeting Place of Rivers and Ideas”
• “Manaus: Heart of the Amazon”

Some of these will be done before a live audience and recorded to be shown on TV, and others will just be stand up before a camera and recorded for TV. So basically I have the port talks for the 28-day Tri-Continent cruisefinished, and now I need to move on to the more substantial informationaland culturaltalks. Needless to say it takes a lot of time, and work, and “seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.”

While you are sipping your morning coffee . . .

It looks like the coffee harvest will be early this year . . . and our Indian farm worker is spotting cherries already turning red, and picking them, cleaning and drying them.  Today I got my first look at the first beans from this year’s harvest.  All I can say is WOW!  Wait until my wife gets home and sees what she has been growing!  Beautiful, top grade beans!

Bitchin’ about the road to David . . .

I know that yesterday I was complaining about the trip to David . . . turns out Panama’s new President, Ricardo Martinelli, plans to make things a whole lot easier . . . eventually.  Word yesterday that the new government intends to build a four lane road from Boquete to David.  Of course the last government promised the same thing, but failed to deliver.  We shall see.  The Martinelli government also plans to invest in enlarging the David airport and enhancing radar to be able to accommodate large jets.  Don’t hold your breath, but . . . it just may happen . . . someday.

Speaking of Martinelli, when I was in David I had a frustrating time trying to find something in Super 99, Martinelli’s super market chain.  It is the most frustrating, disorganized store I’ve ever been in!  I hope he does a better job organizing his government!

Boquete Property Taxes

Hi Richard, My husband and I are beginning our investigations into life in Boguete, from the perspective of a full time resident. However, as you must know, we have zillions of questions….but just this for you. How much is the real estate tax for your Casa #56 and what is the Boguete realestate tax rate per $100K value? If you can steer us to any particular website that would give us a good overview of such a move (including available medical facilties), it would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Linda & Josef Bruder

There are lots of exemptions for property tax for agricultural properties, and properties with improvements under a certain value. There are incentives for building new houses with 5 to 15 year exemption, depending on the value of the improvement. The more expensive houses get the shortest exemption, and the least expensive get the longest exemption. Normalproperty tax is about 2%, but to encourage people to update the value of theirlots and properties, in order to increase collection, Panama is offering a maximum 1% to thosewho go to the expenseand trouble of having their properties appraised and the value updated.  According to Osvaldo Lau, the 2% real estate property tax is the highest of the region, and Panama would be more competitive with the 1% tax incentive.

In the case of my property for sale in Valle Escondido, it already has a exoneration until 2023, since it was built when there was a 20-year property tax exemption for new construction.

Trying to go bi-lingual

Not only am I trying to learn Spanish, but I’m also trying to get my blog translatable, even if it is a Babelfishcomputer translation.  My friend Jubal writes from Madrid . . .

Hi Dick. well, in order to give you my opinion, about the babel fish translation, i will send you and alternative proposal.  First i want you to read my translation, i want you to know that it is as literal as possible, considering the international readers that you may have in your website. There are some phrases that can be said in a different way not literally translated but preserving the message essence.
Anyway here it is:

Nuestroamigo Jubal estuvo visitándonos en Palmira recientemente, y le gusta tanto leer mi blog que quiere traducirlo a español. Eso parece mucho demasiado trabajo, así que eso, me motivo a pensar en como crear un enlace a Babel Fish para que todos puedan leerlo todo en español. Bueno, más o menos español… es una traducción computarizada que no es perfecta, pero, es mejor que nada!

Jubal es un chico interesante. Le conocimos hace muchos años cuando visitaba nuestrosamigos en común, Brad y Jackie. Jubal nació en la Ciudad de Panamá, pero hace unos años fue a España para trabajar y estudiar un Doctorado en Finanzas. Debido a que actualmente, no hay mucha demanda de Doctores en Finanzas, ha hecho una pausa en sus estudios. Vive en Madrid y ahora tiene un pie allí, y otro en Panamá. Es muy elocuente, y es muy ameno estar con él.

Cuando nos conocimos, y vivíamos en ValleEscondido, Jubal quería que enseñar a mi esposa Nikki como cocinar comida panameña. Así que vino a casa para prepararla. Para cuando tenía la mitad de los enseres y platos sucios, y había ensuciado la cocina; quería saber donde estaba nuestra “piedra”. Le miramos asombrados y dije, “¿Nuestra piedra?” El nos dijo que una cocina panameña no estaba completa sin su “piedra”. Así que, salió encontró una piedra lisa y negra, la lavó y la utilizo para aplastar alimentos. Desde entonces, hemos encontrado a “la piedra panameña” muy útil en la cocina. De hecho, he pensado comercializarla en las tiendas gourmet de Estados Unidos. La “piedra” es magnífica para suavizar, machacar ajo, y si se pone peor, hasta para espantar a los perros.

Para cuando Jubal terminó disfrutamos de una deliciosa auténtica comida panameña…aunque con cada cacerola y utensilios sucios, y como si hubiese pasado un terremoto por la cocina. Lo siento Jubal, es la verdad!

Jubal es la razón por la que tenemos nuestra querida finca en Palmira. En un viaje anterior, mientras estaba de visita, use sus conocimientos de español para ir a ver propiedades. Nunca olvidaré a un señor mayor en Boquete que vivía en lo que muchos gringos consideraríamos una “cabaña”. Regresaba de haber trabajado todo el día en el campo, estaba desarreglado y sucio, y Jubal le pregunta por propiedades en venta. La realidad era que este señor era dueño de alrededor de un 15% de Boquete. Comentó a Jubal en español (señalándome): “La próxima vez que mires propiedades no traigas gringos”. De hecho, mi presencia hizo que doblara el precio de la propiedad! Hubo y todavía hay, aunque en menor cantidad, un precio para los panameños y otro para los gringos, y son muy diferentes.

Jubal y yo viajamos por Chiriquí a través de caminos intransitables. Yendo por Boca Chica, buscábamos una propiedad y nos detuvimos para preguntar direcciones, se nos dijo “seguid el ripio”… y era una palabra que en el contexto no tenía ningún sentido para Jubal. Averiguo el uso de los lugareños para esta palabra, la cual hace referencia literalmente a una abertura entre la maleza, y casi inapreciable camino entre la hierba alta.

Jubal estaba de camino a casa en un autobús desde David y escuchó una conversación en la que un hombre decía que tenía una finca en Palmira puesta en venta. Jubal pregunto al propietario por su número de celular, vino a casa y dijo: Están interesados? Vimos la propiedad… y aquí estamos! Así que si no hubiese sido por Jubal, no tendríamos nuestra finca y casa en Palmira.

Gracias Jubal! Y gracias por animarme a tener mi blog disponible también en español.

So that would be my Spanish translation, which i think can also be used by English speakers interested in Spanish to understand better the language by comparing the English and the Spanish version.

You write a lot, so, you are right it would be too much work, but before posting your articles in the blog you can send them to me so that at the same time they can be posted in English and in Spanish, not all the articles should be in both languages, I think that thoseones referring to Panama, and its politics, economy, people, would be very interesting to tourists and Spanish speakers.

Well, my best wishes to you Dick.  a big hug, Jubal

Jubal is such a dear friend, and I’m touched that he would want to translate parts of my blog, but, really, I don’t want to put him to all that work. If you speak and read Spanish . . . I know Jubal’s translation is MUCH, much better . . . but can’t you get the gist of what I’m saying with the computer translation? Let me know . . . Si or no!

A Costa Rica shore excursion question . . .

Greetings, We are booked on the Zuiderdam for the 10 Day Sunfarer in February. With all your Z’dam experience I’m guessing you may have been to Puerto Limon. We are looking for recommendations for one of the shorter excursions. Do you have any comments on the “Off Road Adventure” or “Pineapple Farm – A Taste of the Tropics”? I’ve posted the question on CC Ports of Call and had no responses. Thank you very much, Mike Weddle

Hey Mike! I try to follow, more or less, the Holland America, Princess, and Canal boards on Cruise Critic, at least when I am not on the ships. At sea . . . with the cost of Internet and the slow connection, I’d go broke if I tried. I don’t usually look at posts on the other port boards. Puerto Limon, “Lemon Port”, not that they evergrew lemons there, but it really is a lemon of a port if you stay in town, but if you “get off the Dam ship” and take an excursion it may well be the highlight of your trip. I, personally, haven’t been on either of the trips you mention. The “Pineapple” trip sounded like a lemon to me, but my wife loved it, and the shore excursion gals loved it. Perhaps more importantly it got great reviews from the guests who took it. The “Off Road Adventure” was always sold out, so I couldn’t get near it to actually go on it myself, but again all the guests who took it loved it. The Pineapple trip is a little more tame . . . but either would be great fun. The others I really like are the “Tautic Hacienda”, the banana train coupled with the Tortugero Canals, and the Veragua Rain Forest. The zip line is fun as well!

Hard to believe it is almost August already . . .

My time flies when you are having fun!  I’ve still got lots of projects to complete on the farm, stuff to get ready for my lectures on ROYAL PRINCESS . . . and, just so you know already for August we’ve hit a new record of blog visitors!!  Almost 13,000, and the Map (which started all over again July 13th) is already looking like a world-wide pandemic.  Thank you so much!!

And now I’m off to visit the Boquete “We love to Garden” Club!

Shorts & Flannel Shirts

 
Yesterday I went to David. NOT my favorite thing to do.

David is the third largest city in Panama, behind Panama City, obviously numero uno with over 2 million of the 3 million people in the country, then Colon, mostly because of the Colon Free Port the second largest in the world, and then David. David is a city, and, as LONELY PLANET describes it, “Hot and sticky all year.” David is primarily the commercial center of the Western part of the country and really has nothing of interest to tourists. There is a little airport with busy daily flights to Panama City and several flights a week to Costa Rica. It is an airport a lot of us hope will eventually have flights to the US. During the US invasion of Panama giant bombers flew into David, so the runway can take big planes.

We go to David usually for doctor and dentist appointments. There are four big hospitals. We have doctors and dentists in Boquete, but there are more choices in David, and the specialists are all in David. And we go to David, usually twice a month, to shop. We have three grocery stores in Boquete, one which might be called a “supermarket” of sorts, and two smaller shops that cater mostly to Panamanians and Indians. Additionally there are lots of smaller Chinese markets all over. People without refrigerators tend to go shopping at these little markets daily. They may pay $1 extra for two pounds of rice or sugar, but they don’t have to take a cab or bus to Boquete.

The Romero “supermarket”, and we use the term very loosely, is actually owned by Rey, which has giant, beautiful supermarkets, albeit with surly checkers, seemingly a trademark of the Rey operation. Romero is kind of Rey’s “seconds” market, but through the years we’ve been in Panama it more and more has most things that you would need.

But in David you have a beautiful Rey supermarket [Think Vons], Super Baru . . . larger than Romero and has some more “gourmet” items, and Price Smart. The Price family started the original Price Clubs in California which were later sold out to Costco. The original Price people kept a small chain of stores scattered through Latin America and the Caribbean called Price Smart. They look and feel like the original Price Clubs in California, and you can buy in bulk. However, unlike the States, buying in bulk here does NOT save you any money, and in some cases you might actually pay morefor an item bought in bulk at Price Smart, than for the same item bought individually at Romero in Boquete. Go figure! I know it doesn’t make sense, but this is Panama, so things don’t have to make sense.

Prices for items imported from the US . . . Cherios, Doritos, Sun Chips . . . all that US-health food stuff . . . are usually almost the same as in the US. So you learn, wherever possible, to buy local stuff and save money. Unfortunately Price Smart does not carry many Kirkland brand items.

So we don’t look forward to going to David. Usually when we go we have a “to do” list a mile long, and if you get half of it accomplished, you’ve had a successful trip to David.

The road from Boquete to David is downhill all the way: you can almost coast to David. It is a 45 minute trip on a two lane road with crazy drivers all the way. When I “buy it” it will probably be on the road to David. Coming home is worse than going. If you are behind a big truck carrying gravel or cinder blocks to Boquete followed by a line of cars, unless you have a death wish, it is going to be a long trip.

David is, as the guidebooks say, always “hot and sticky.” So you wear shorts and short sleeves. It can be 95 or 100 degrees in David easily, with lots of humidity. Then as you come up the mountain, climbing all the way, when you get to Dolega the temperature starts to change. You turn off the A/C and open your car windows and start to breathe again. By the time you are at the turnoff for Caldera you are watching the mountains and starting to relax. And by the time you are in Alto Boquete the air is fresh and clean and cool, and you are rolling up the windows to keep warm. Now it’s time for a flannel shirt!

I have to admit that when we were preparing to move to the tropics the last thing I thought about was flannel shirts. In fact I took all my flannel shirts to Goodwill. But here in Boquete in the evening and in the early morning I live in flannel shirts.

Fortunately they are pretty easy to come by and surprisingly inexpensive. Panama is the “end of the line” for clothing. If it doesn’t sell at T.J. Maxx it is bundled up and sent in a container to Panama. Which is why you will see Indians picking coffee wearing shirts that read “Stanford” and “Harvard”. On the way to Panama City is a huge store called “Ropa Americana” where much of the remainder clothing from the US ends up, most of it still with the original US price tags. It’s my favorite stop when driving to Panama City to hop a plane to Fort Lauderdale. The last trip I needed a new bathing suit. (The chlorine in ship pools wrecks havoc on bathing suits!) $5. My Hawaiian shirts run me $1.50 to $15 for a Tommy Bahama. Anyway, I bought a dozen flannel shirts for $8 each (still with the Kohl’s price tag on them for $24). I gave half to my brother who lives in town, and kept half.

Boquete is about 3,400 feet and our new house in Palmira is about 4,100 feet. And although we are in the tropics (Latitude 8.75N Longitude 82.45W) it is our elevation that makes it cool when the sun goes down. Last night it got down to 60 degrees, and now, at 6AM it is 61 degrees. It can get down as low as 52 degrees at night. But our maximum temperature midday with the sun out is usually in the upper 70s. Year round! Pretty much perfect if you ask me.

It is perfect for growing our fantastic Boquete coffee!! And there is nothing better early in the morning to sit in my flannel shirt, drinking our own coffee and listening to the cacophony of birds. And this year promises to be a great coffee harvest. Are trees are laden with beautiful green coffee cherries.

Staying Connected

Carnival is busy putting the finishing touches on their new ship CARNIVAL DREAM with the usual stuff that’s now become de rigeuer on giant, mass market cruise ships, but they do have something that is really an innovation. Carnival has been the leader in harnessing the Internet and “social marketing” on the Web, and they are now innovating on board as well with something called “The FunHub” on CARNIVAL DREAM.

According to Cruise Market Watch . . .

“The FunHub creates the cruise industry’s first on-board social network, along with access to ship’s services, facilities and daily activities information.

Guests can:

• create a personal profile to meet and interact with others on-board
• create groups based on interests
• find details about the Dream’s numerous on-board activities
• browse food and beverage offerings
• learn about ports of call and excursions
• access weather updates
• read biographies of key shipboard personnel and see ship maps
• receive cruise director announcements
• participate interactive polls

. . . In addition to FunHub portals, access to the FunHub is available on any guest computer or Wi-Fi enabled device free of charge. Internet access to sites outside the FunHub is available with purchase of a special Internet package.

Panama’s new President Ricardo Martinelli is making a giant leap forward for Panama into the Information Age. According to Sam Taliaferro’s Panama Investor Blog . . .

Panama’s main cities will enjoy free wireless Internet access, within the first 100 days of the new government.

With the goal of having “border to border” coverage, Martinelli’s government will initially invest $250.000 to service 10 cities, with coverage in parks, touristic sites, schools, libraries, universities, hospitals and health centers.

“Panama is currently the most advanced Central American country in Information and Communication Technologies, and, in accordance to the road-map developed by the Panamanian Chamber of Technology, in 2018 it will become the first Information and Communications Technology Hub of the region”, said Eduardo E. Jaén, head of the Secretary for Governmental Innovation.

Technical designs and public purchasing processes are being prepared, to implement this project within the first 100 days of Ricardo Martinelli’s administration.

This is really needed, as Panama doesn’t provide students with school books. Students get assignments that require them to use the Internet and copy reams of lessons. May be OK for some, but not for children of Gnobe Bugle Indians whose family may be taking home $45 a week . . . for food, clothing, including school uniforms, shoes to wear on special occasions like school . . . now add the cost of going from Palmira to Alto Boquete to use the Internet for an assignment ($1), plus the cost of an hour on line ($1), plus the cost of copying 40 pages of a lesson on Science ($1.20) . . . and you’ve spent $3.20 that you don’t have!! The school teachers seem to assume that every Indian kid has a laptop, even if he doesn’t have shoes!

Español

Chasque encendido la bandera de Panamá para traducir una página a español. Estoy trabajando en esto pero en este momento usted no puede ir de la traducción española de los nombres de la página (arriba) directamente al español de traducción de páginas. Usted necesita primero ir de nuevo al Home Page inglés. Esto se llama un “trabajo alrededor”. Si usted tiene una manera mejor, déjeme por favor saber.

Gotcha: The Truth About Valle Escondido

A fellow named Ted Lincoln asked on Boquete.org, “I just completed a visit to Valle Escondido. It was impressive. Are there any gotchas which I should be aware of which would detract from the rosy picture presented to me at their development?”

I spent so much time crafting a reply, that I thought I out to post it here to share with all of you.

There are pluses and minuses, but IMHO the pluses outweigh the minuses. I’ve written a lot about the almost 5 years we’ve lived full time in Boquete, 4 of those years in Valle Escondido. And yes, I have a home with one of the best views in the Valley for sale.

The pluses:

It is. There are a lot of “dream” projects that may or may not actually materialize, especially given the world financial climate right now. Valle Escondido is a reality! It’s not just a pretty picture and a developer’s dream which may, or may not, happen.

You know what you are getting.  Most of the houses in Valle Escondido have been there for a while. They’ve had time to “settle.” You can see how the house you’re buying has “weathered” Boquete and Panama for a few years.

Security.  Every development promises this, some deliver, a lot don’t. Having a watchman asleep in a gate house really doesn’t provide “security.” Valle Escondido has been doing this for, what, seven years now. Nothing is perfect, but they have it about as good as its going to get. Frankly we left our doors open all the time, and that was when there were hundreds of workers wandering about.

Beautiful! It is!

Working homeowners association in place.   It’s taken a lot of work by a lot of people, but Valle Escondido has a real, live homeowners association that has already worked through most of the inevitable homeowner/developer issues.

Amenities – If you are into golf, etc., and willing to pay for it, the Valle Escondido Resort complex is right there. But if you’re not into that, you don’t have to pay to enjoy the view and have Sam take care of mowing the lawn.

It is pretty much built out.  We went through 4 years of constant construction noise. That’s for the most part over! In a newer development you have that to look forward to.

Inventory  – Right now there is a decent inventory of homes for resale already built. They are nice, up to gringo expectations, so you don’t have to go through all the hassles and uncertainties of building in Panama. See my blog!

Community - There is a community of folks who actually live year-round in Valle Escondido. It’s neat to go to someone’s house for drinks or dinner and just walk home!

5 minute walk to town  – There is something to be said for that!

Minuses -

Sam. Some folks don’t like Sam, some love him. I’ll include Sam as a minus because as developer he comes up as an “issue”. Sam has his strengths, and weaknesses. But face it, Sam is a developer. Show me any development anywhere where homeowners don’t have some issue over something with the developer. Like it or not, Sam put Boquete on the map. Sam has created a beautiful development that is a reality, not a pipe dream. And most of the developer/homeowner issues have already been resolved. Sam lives in Valle Escondido, runs the resort, but at this point is more just a neighbor and seems less and less involved as the Valley matures as a community. Valle Escondido is no longer just about Sam. Yes, you may pay a few cents more per kilowatt because you buy electricity from Sam, but you’re not worrying about the winds blowing down your power lines.

California - Valle Escondido is a beautiful, US-style mixed development with covenants, just what many expats are looking for. We loved living there, but as it built out it became too much like the upscale California developments we left behind. That wasn’t why WE moved to Panama. If that’s what you want, Valle Escondido is it! A golf course that’s open! An indoor pool and club house! A tennis court (is there another in Boquete?). Yeah, you have to pay to join, but it’s there! For us the US-style development became a minus, but for others it is a giant plus.

It may cost more than some, true, but . . . IMHO if you are looking for a planned community, it is worth it. The reason to come to Panama is no longer just that it’s cheap: the reason to come to Boquete is the lifestyle, and Valle Escondido is probably one of the best expressions of an upscale expat lifestyle.

Will you take a moment?

Over 150,000 folks have visited my little blog and I’d really appreciate your help! If you haven’t done so already, let me know how you happen to be here. It’s totally annonymous. No salesman will call, no identifying information will be retained, nada! Thanks for the help!

Read on!

Now in Spanish! About time!

Our friend Jubal was visiting us in Palmira recently and he likes reading my blog so much that he wanted to translate it in Spanish for me. That seemed like a whole lot of work, so it motivated me to figure out how to link to Babel Fish so that everyone can read everything in Spanish. Well, more or less Spanish . . . it’s a computer translation so it isn’t perfect, but it’s better than nothing!

Jubal’s an interesting guy. We met him several years ago when he was visiting our mutual friends, Brad and Jackie. Jubal is from Panama City originally, but several years ago went to Spain to work on a PhD in finance. Since, right now, there isn’t a big demand for PhD’s in finance, he’s put his degree work on hold. He lives in Madrid and now has one foot in Madrid and the other in Panama. He’s an articulate guy, and fun to be with.

When we first met him, and were living in Valle Escondido, Jubal wanted to teach my wife Nikki how to cook Panamanian. So he came over to prepare a true Panamanian meal. By the time he had half of the dishes and pans dirty and strewn around the kitchen, he wanted to know where our “rock” was. We looked at him incredibly and said, “Our rock???” He informed us that no Panamanian kitchen was complete without a rock. So he went outside, found a nice smooth, black rock, washed it off and used it as a tenderizing mallet. Since then we have discovered the Panamanian “rock” to be a very useful kitchen tool. I’ve actually thought of marketing them in gourmet stores in the US. The “rock” is great for tenderizing, crushing garlic and, if worse comes to worse, throwing at the dogs. By the time Jubal was finished we enjoyed a great Panamanian meal . . . albeit with every pot, pan, utensil dirty and the kitchen looking like an earthquake had hit. Sorry, Jubal, but it’s true!

Jubal’s the reason why we have our lovely finca in Palmira. While he was visiting, I used his Spanish skills to look at a lot of property. I’ll never forget an old guy in Boquete who lived in what most gringos would consider a “shack”. He had come back from a day working in the fields, was crusty and dirty, and Jubal asked him about property for sale. The reality was this gentleman ownedabout 15% of Boquete. His comment to Jubal in Spanish was, “The next time you’re looking for property, don’t bring (pointing at me) the gringo along.” Fact was, my presence doubled the price! There were, and still are, albeit to a lesser extent, Panamanian and gringo prices for land, and they are very different!

Jubal and I traipsed around Chiriqui on unbelievable roads. Down near Boca Chica we were trying to find a property and stopped to ask directions and were told to follow the “ripio” . . . and it was a word that in this context made no sense to him. He inquired further and found out the local use of the word refers to literally a rip in the earth, an almost imperceptible path through the grasslands.

Jubal was riding home on the bus from David and he overhead a conversation where the man was indicating that he had to sell his finca in Palmira. Jubal worked his way into the conversation, got the guys cell number, came home and said, “Are you interested.” We looked at it . . . and here we are! So, if it wasn’t for Jubal, we wouldn’t have our finca and home in Palmira.

Thanks Jubal! And thank you for pushing me to get my blog available in Spanish!

Your “Plan B”

The one publication from the US, aside from my wife’s alumni association magazine . . . (Why didn’t the CIA hire an alumni association to find Osama ben Ladin? They’d have nailed him in weeks!) . . . is the AARP Bulletin. OK, I have an AARP card. It’s OK now since I have a “Pensionado” visa and get discounts in Panama. But when I first heard from AARP, I think it was around my fiftieth birthday, I was pissed!

Anyhow, they had an article, “Time for a New Financial Game Plan” by Jim Toedtman, and this is what I found interesting:

In February, the stock market was down nearly 45 percent from its October 2007 high, a $7 trillion loss in value – $5 trillion of that loss absorbed by those over 50. Housing values are down 20 percent, with most losses again borne by those over 50. In the past 16 months, the economy has trimmed more than 5 million jobs, and the unemployment rate among workers over 55 has more than doubled to 6.2 percent . . .

No wonder we’re angry, especially after the huge bonuses paid to creative speculators whose handiwork undermined the global economy, and the trillion-dollar bailouts given to a financial industry whose greet has ravaged retirement savings.

But the stakes for 50-plus America don’t give us the luxury of anger . . . Already, older Americans are adjusting their game plans . . . The old strategy that retirement would be financed by steady income from Social Security and a company pension has been upended by today’s turmoil and the prospect of rising inflation, rising health care costs and rising taxes. We’re redefining retirement as we adapt our game plan to the new reality.”

Rather than deferring plans to retire abroad and adopt an expat retirement lifestyle, say in Panama, it would seem to me that what is happening in the US would indicate that you should consider speeding up your timetable. The trillions spent on rescuing the economy are going to have to come from somewhere. Just printing more and more paper devalues the dollar. Devaluation, inflation, unemployment . . . I voted for Obama because I believed him to be the best choice for President, not Messiah! Those who expect Obama to solve all of the nation’s problems, problems that have been building for years, are going to be greatly disappointed. Arnold Schwarzenegger who rode into office as “The Terminator” who was going to fix all of California’s problems now finds himself in exactly the same, or worse spot as his predecessor, Gray Davis. As California, about the 10th largest economy in the world, struggles to survive, there will be changes. Services have been, and will continue to be cut. Taxes are already high, and will get worse. Prop 13 can’t continue forever: it was nice while it lasted, but it’s time to pay the piper. Health care costs will continue to soar. Unemployment, releasing hundreds of prisoners back into society from prisons where they were warehoused like animals without any attempt at rehabilitation or education, will make crime continue to increase.
I’d get out while the getting is good!

Yes, you might have to scale back on a few things. We had some wonderful neighbors in Valle Escondido whose primary residence is in New Orleans. They have a little 3,000-sq-foot-something house next to us, overlooking the river and the Valley . . . and the 8,000-sq-foot-something mansion they are building just across the river. Over drinks one night, the wife said to us, “I love my little house! I don’t know why we are building this big mansion for just the two of us!”

I’m working on renovating the little casita on our farm that used to house our farm worker for my brother to live in. He has a lot of physical problems and we need to have him closer to us. It is really going to be cute! Small, efficient, cute, great view. Sometimes I find myself wondering, “And why do the two of us need a 4,500 sq ft house, especially when I’m gone half the year?” Yeah, I know . . . for the dogs!

But rather than abandoning your plans to retire, to move to Panama . . . or wherever . . . it might make sense just to scale down your expectations a bit, but to go ahead and get out while the getting is good.
If you’re thinking of coming to Panama, there is another reason why you should move sooner, rather than later. The new President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, seems anxious to have Panama be more “accepted” by the world financial community that now tends to view Panama, inaccurately in my opinion, as a “tax haven” because, unlike Switzerland, Panama still does have a private banking system. The “big” countries of the world, now hungry for cash, would love to go snooping around in Panama banks. I don’t expect that Panama will totally give up the banking system or the anonymous corporation (SA) system that benefits many huge international companies. But I do expect there will be some “window dressing” concessions. One may be that “bearer bond” companies will disappear. I think the ones that exist will be grandfathered in, but I suspect that there won’t be many, if any, new “bearer bond” companies, primarily because it is harder for Panama to collect taxes.

Change is a fact of life. And you have to keep changing your plan as the financial terrain changes.
Sitting around, waiting for the value of your house to go back up, wasting the time of your life, is like trying to win back the money you’ve lost in a casino . . . playing on quarter slots. If you’re thinking about retiring to Panama . . . now is the time. Panama is on an economic roll. Granted, with the world economy in the crapper, Panama may only have 3.5% growth this year, instead of the 7-8% it has come to expect, but it is positive growth, when most economies are experiencing zero or negative growth. The reason to retire in Boquete isn’t that it’s cheap (although compared to Southern California it is cheaper, but that the lifestyle is so much better!

“Plan B”

“Plan B” in Panama is frequently used in reference to Venezuelans who are either looking, or buying, or moving to Panama, unhappy with the direction their government is taking, and anxious to either get out while the getting is good, or have a plan in place should they need to leave in a hurry.  Already entire companies have picked up and moved to Panama City.  For whatever reason, Venezuelans appear to be more attracted to the big city life of Panama City, than to the rural, more “tranquil” atmosphere of Chiriqui. 

But I have discovered, living in Panama, that I, too, need a “Plan B” . . . and C, and D, and Z . . . and for some things I’m now on plan Z1Ax.  Things do NOT always go according to plan, in Panama, or elsewhere . . . just ask any of the folks who bought homes in the US anticipating that the value would always go up, and who now owe more on their homes than their homes are worth, or the folks who lost $7 trillion dollars when the market collapsed.   So I guess my frustrated plans are trivial by comparison.  But, anyway, when has “trivial” ever stopped anyone from complaining?

The Garden

Well, I hope Michelle’s garden is doing better than mine!  With all the resources of the White House at her command, I assume the Obamas are feasting on fresh, home grown produce.  My garden on the other hand . . . well, it isn’t.

Nothing BUT problems!  It restores the belief I’ve always harbored about vegetable gardens: it’s just not worth the time, cost and effort!

We had tons of seeds we have been collecting and bringing back to Panama anticipating our garden effort.  Turns out seeds have a very short shelf life.  Now I discover that the only reason why a few seeds from King Tut’s tomb germinated after all those years is that the desert is dry, dry, dry.  Turns out humidity is one of the biggest enemies of seeds and we live in a very humid area, cool, but humid.  Nice for skin: bad for seeds.  So none of our seeds germinated, and even the new seeds we bought have had major problems.

When it rains here it pours, and so most of the new seeds I’ve planted, all sorts of flowers our friends brought down from the States, nice, fresh seeds . . . have washed away somewhere.  Hopefully along the Chiriqui river there will be all sorts of beautiful flowers because they aren’t in Palmira.  While all the rain makes starting things from cuttings a breeze, I’ve belatedly discovered that if I want to plant seeds I need to first start them in a protected area and then transplant. 

The other garden problem has been the grubs in the ground.  They are everywhere and the chew away at everything, not to mention the leaf-cutter ants.    There is a solution, a chemical that is death to these little buggers, but the only problem is that it is also death to dogs and cats.  And since we have three dogs and five cats . . .  (Don’t even ask about the cats!  Turns out my wife is a closet cat lady!)

Plan B for the garden is to try again, this time in a fenced in area we built a few years ago for the dogs, but have never used since Monkey, the Rottweiller, (guess how she got that name), climbs over the fence.  The dogs won’t be able to get in so we can get rid of the grubs.  And the cats, well the cats live in the deposito with all of the farm chemicals and seem to know what to get into and what to avoid.  (Maybe cats are smarter than dogs!)

The wonder dog electric fence . . .

Definitely a “Plan B” item . . .  I have already mentioned that Monkey, our Rottweiler, is a chickaholic.  She looks like a normal dog, but she has this addiction to the neighbors chickens, which doesn’t make her popular in a little town like Palmira where everyone has chickens running all over.  Plus she has a thing for cats.  It’s not that she’s vicious, she just likes to play with anything that moves and doesn’t realize that when 85 pounds of Rottweiler is hurtling through the air, regardless of intention, whatever is at the other end is not going to fare very well.  So we’ve spent lots of time and energy and money on 37 strand barb wire fences, only to watch Monkey neatly separate the strands of barbed wire with her paws and crawl over, under or through.  So I discovered the Innotek UltraSmart Contain N Train Pet Fencing System.  Not a bad idea, really.  I’m sure it would work great for most folks back yard . . . but it doesn’t work well on a coffee far with steep inclines and a quebrada and enormous amounts of rain.  Attempting to bury the wire 3″ deep on a steep slope with tons of rain only creates just another channel for erosion.    So, if you want to buy a pet fence, call me.

What’s to do in Boquete?

Boquete Tree Trek is a zip line trip through the mountains above Boquete.

“3 kilometers in total length, divided into 12 different zip line cables. Glide through the treetops of century-old forests, high above the pristine rivers and waterfalls that make up the incredible collection of natural landscapes bordering the National Park La Amistad and the famous Baru volcano.

Tarzan, 21st century! Who would have thought that a technology utilized hundreds of years ago by our indigenous people and later perfected by botanists and naturalists to observe and study the behaviors of wild creatures in their natural habitat, would be transformed into one of the most revered extreme sports.

A harness, an ultra-resistant steel cable and gravity are the only elements necessary to suspend and propel the “fearless rider” in this incredible “adrenaline rush”.

My wife and kids have done it and loved it. I haven’t, but that’s because I get to do similar zip line tours in Costa Rica, so it just doesn’t seem worth $90 to do it here.

The same outfit, www.adventurist.com also offers . . .

Boquete Mountain Bike Tour . . .

“20 minutes trip by car to high point (Alto Quiel), 10 minutes  briefing, 2 hours down hill to the end  of the tour (Wilson Bridege), 15 minutes trip by car to get back to the office, Central Avenue, Boquete, 10 minutes  tour evaluation.”

In the past few years mountain bike, scooter, and ATV rental places have popped up in downtown Boquete as well a s little paintball course and a mountain climbing outfit.

White Water Rafting . . .

There are two river rafting operators in Chiriqui. The oldest is Chiriqui River Rafting, run by our neighbor, Hector Sanchez. My kids and I have gone with Chiriqui River Rafting and it was a fantastic experience! They offer a variety of trips, rafting on rivers that run from Panamanian class I (for beginners) to class V. And just for the record, according to Hector,

The classes of the rapids are based upon Panamanian classifications. We have been told many times that these classifications are understated compared to American and other classifications. Be aware especially during the rainy season that our class III’s are easily comparable to U.S. class IVs and so forth.

The other, newer, company offering rafting is Panama Rafters, also in Boquete.

Boquete Mountain Safari

Boquete Mountain Safari started a few years back with a bright yellow jeep and has developed a wide selection of tours in and around Boquete including the following . . .

Coffee Tours –

“Wild Coffee” – Hiking and tour of mountain coffee estate – 5 hours

“Coffee Adventures”- “The first Specialty Coffee Tasting Tour in Panama designed after the Napa Valley wine tasting tours.  We will take you to 3 different estates to learn why Panama’s micro-climates produce the most expensive cup of coffee.  You will have the unique opportunity to buy boutique coffee at the source.”

“El Poco Coffee” – “Visit a high elevation mountain coffee estate, learn how coffee is grown, processed and roasted.  Taste a ’single estate’ cup of coffee.”

In addition there are a variety of 4×4 Jeep tours including “Cloud Forest Safari”, “Cloud Forest Plus Coffee”, and a full day “Garden Tour” of Boquete including a 3-hour hike at Finca Lerida, an orchid farm, the Wildlife Rescue Center, and several of Boquete’s most popular public gardens.

They also offer tours by horseback, and hiking and birding tours.

Places to stay in Boquete . . .

Boquete has a wide variety of overnight accommodations with a wide variety of prices. You can get a bed in a dorm room at Hostal Nomba downtown for as little as $9 a night. Nice hotel rooms run about $100-150 a night. There are lots of small hotels, bed and breakfasts, and hostels. There really is something for everyone in every price range.