“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!