Larry's Central American Travels

More News And Views From Panama

Reflections On Father's Day

The Dia del Padre is a big deal in Panama.  Saturday downtown was clogged all day with shoppers, and Sunday all the restaurants were jammed all day.  All the excitement caused me to reflect on an observation by Alfredo Sanchez, a Chilean newspaper columnist, writing in the Panamanian daily, La Prensa.  His comment said it all, at least as far as I am concerned:

"As you get older, you tend to re-evaluate what you have accomplished and collected in your lifetime.  Accolades, titles, promotions, and awards that you have accumulated tend to lose their luster and diminish in importance.  You realize that what is truly important is how your children would describe you to a friend."

More From The You Gotta' Be Kidding Me Files

-  A U.S. agency just issued a report recommended the addition of an additional chemical to all swimming pool chlorination products based on an extensive survey they had conducted over a five year period.  The study revealed that one in five adults admits to peeing in the swimming pool, a practice that the agency had previously thought was more or less confined to adolescents.  (I swear, I did not make this up!  But, it does trigger my memory about an old joke.  The question is, does it change the magnitude of the problem if they do it from the high diving board)

- But speaking of that.  My infected foot continues to improve, just as the doctor predicted.  The swelling has continued to go down every day, and the affected area has changed shades from a bright red to a pale pink.  But, now that I feel I can go back to wearing cut-offs again, with my foot and ankle exposed, I have just in the last week gotten treatment advice from four different people.  These treatments are from the traditional, grass roots Panamanian home remedy files. 

Although the suggestions differed slightly, they all involved utilizing a green tree frog. Two people said I had to rub the frog on the red area, the other two advised that the frog had to pee on the area.  Come to think of it, since I don't know how a green tree frog reacts when you rub it on your leg, it may not be different suggestions. I swear to you, I did not make this one up either!  And, these suggestions did not come from some tribal lore or from the land of the indigenous 'witch doctors'.  These 'sure cures' were offered up from middle-class man-on-the-street types.

However, after I had a chance to reflect on it, I am sure that these people would find some of my mothers 'can't miss' cures equally interesting.  My Mom knew in her heart that the one thing that would fix everything from a headache to a sore back (maybe even heartache), was a laxative (preferably Ex-Lax brand).  And, my paternal grandmother instilled in me at a young age that the one way to insure a bumper crop of, I think it was sweet peas, was to do the Spring planting in the middle of the night in the light of a full moon. 

The problem is I haven't run across any green tree frogs in downtown David.  The pharmacy did not have any.  I forgot to ask about Ex-Lax.

It Really Pays To Have Friends- Continued

I had told you last time that my laptop computer was stolen at the end of the cruise, and all the pictures I had taken went with it.  And, that the four people that I had buddy-ed up with on the cruise, and shared pictures with each day, had  heard about my computer, and started emailing me pictures.

Well I did not realize one of the real benefits of this sharing arrangement until I went to put together this video about our day in Santa Marta.  All five of us did something different on our short stop in Santa Marta.  So, the photo coverage of the group's collective day is the equivalent of a five day visit rather than just one day.  Enjoy!

I have put it in here as a link to speed up the loading of the blog for those of you who have slow connections.  Just click on the link and it will go to the video.

Just Click This Link

The Stuff You See On TV.

I may have mentioned before that the satellite TV package here in Panama includes a number of foreign networks.  We get, among others a Chinese network (interesting, especially during the Olympics), Al Jazerra (someone here in Panama speak Arabic?), two CNN feeds (one concentrating on Asia, another on Europe), BBC out of London, and several networks from South American countries (the one from Chile is awesome - many National Geographic-type programs about Chilean points of interests).  But, the German network is especially interesting, if for no other reason, every third hour is broadcast in English (go figure).

The German network had a story last week about a restaurant in Chandler, Arizona.  The restaurant's name is 'The Heart Attack Grill', and it's motto is 'Food Worth Dying For.'

The Grill's hamburgers are named after heart by-passes.  The single patty (1/2 pound-er, with cheese, bacon, etc.) is called the single by-pass, and the burgers progress up to the quadruple by-pass (Yes, quad everything. Gross! Could feed a whole family, or two).  They serve no diet drinks in the place, or light beers, or any food that is not fried.  And, the condiment bar does not include anything that could be classified as healthy, thus no lettuce or tomato.

The owner and all the managers in The Grill wear doctor's smocks and roam the restaurant with stethoscopes around their necks 'in case of emergencies.'  In addition, the waitresses' nurses uniforms could, in and of themselves, induce a heart attack in the healthiest of males.  The Grill also provides transportation to your car in the parking lot in a wheelchair.

In short, The Grill restaurant is a hoot, as was the coverage provided by the German network. But, I still can't figure out whether the Germans were laughing at us or with us.

Coming Changes In The Government

The nation of Panama is preparing itself for the July 1st transfer of power to the newly elected government of Ricardo Martinelli.  And, I am just now beginning to understand why this transfer is such a big deal in Panama - a Really Big Deal!

As you are aware, in the U.S. federal bureaucracy the in-coming President appoints new cabinet members, assistant Secretaries, major agency heads and some key deputies - all referred to as political appointees.  But, the rest of the massive federal bureaucracy staffing remains basically unchanged.  People who have been doing their job for years, continue to do so.  Well in the Panamanian government there is virtually no such thing as  'career civil servants'. 'A new broom sweeps clean' is the philosophy.

This method of doing the government's business effects people like me in a couple of ways.  First of, as the transition gets closer, every one in government positions seems to be suddenly obsessed with doing everything 'by the book.'  When I came through immigration on my return from the States last month, I had to produce, since I am a tourist, evidence that I had a confirmed reservation out of here in the future, and also had to prove that I had at my disposal at least $500.  I was aware of both of these requirements so I was prepared. But in my numerous Panama/Costa Rica border crossings in the last two years I had only been challenged on those items once before. 

But, the second way the transition may effect me is even more practical.  For example, there are about 25 people who work in the immigration office here in David, and about that many in the office at the Costa Rica border crossing.  Based on past government transitions, it may well be that all (all!) of these people are replaced en mass on the 1st of July.  Replaced by people whose major qualifications and talents revolve around the fact that they are the brother, sister-in-law, or whatever of a Martinelli confidant or supporter.  So standby for the excitement.

Till Next Time.  Pura Vida.

Pictures from a nice secluded spot in the edge of the jungle, but just a stones throw from the beach.  Who says you can´t have it all?

The Panamanian Perspective

In Some Areas, Don't Sell Panama Short

My eyeglasses had developed a film on them that I could not get off.  I was constantly looking through a haze.  So, while in was in the States I visited an optical shop to get some kind of cleaner for them. 'Sorry sir, those are tiny scratches, and we can't grind them out', was the verdict.  That ended my research since I was due to leave in a couple of days.

When  I got back to David, my friend Jorge suggested I accompany him to his optician the next day when he went to pick up his new glasses.  So, the next morning we pulled up to Optica Lopez, a large new and modern stand-alone building in one of the swankier parts of town, directly across the street from the luxurious Casino Mirage.  Ouch, pricey?

The Optica Lopez is the biggest optical shop I have ever been in.  The owner, Jose Lopez, met Jorge at the front door (turns out Lopez is also one of Jorge's neighbors) and then proceeded to introduce me to all his employees - five women, all with different specialties, but all in navy blue pant-suits with pink blouses and 'Lopez' embroidered on the left breast pocket. (When I wisecracked to one of the ladies that they must all be sisters since they all had the same last name, it took about 10 minutes for Jorge to explain that I was just joking.  Crazy gringos!)

Senor Lopez explained to me, in perfect English, that I had mis-understood what the optical shop in Wilmington was telling me.  It wasn't that that specific establishment didn't have the capability to grind out the scratches, rather my problem was that plastic lenses could not be ground. Oh!

He then escorted me to the exam room, a room that included machines and instruments I had not seen before.  When I commented on that fact, he just smiled and said, "We try to keep up."  As he was operating a machine to lift the prescription off my old glasses, I had one of my 'duh moments'.  Even as I was asking, "Are you familiar with what we call progressive lenses?", I thought I could hear a 'duh' hanging in the air.

Lopez answered very professionally, especially since he was talking to someone who must have just fallen off the papaya wagon.  "Hardly anyone over 40 wears single-vision glasses anymore.  And about the only time we grind the traditional bi-focals or tri-focals with the lines in them, is when there is some type of special vision problem that dictates it.  The modern technology is such that the progressives are, in fact, easier to make than the old bifocal."  Hmm, Ok, next subject, I think!

Lopez then turned me over to one of the 'frame chicas.'  She walked us right past a dizzying array of frame displays directly to the display group that she had in mind, and started having me try on various samples.  As she started rejecting first one pair, then another with statements like, "Makes your face look to thin..Dark frames don't look good on you ... Makes you look old....To small, gives you a bird look..", it suddenly occurred to me that I had never in my life picked out a set of eyeglass frames on my own.  So, when WE finally settled on the frames that were just right, I complimented her on how well she had discharged her wifely duties.  As she was giggling over that remark, I, based on my history, considered just buying her a house and leaving the country.

The point of this story is about to become obvious.  One pair of progressive lense multi-vision glasses with new frames, and plastic lenses (because they are much lighter than glass and supposedly unbreakable) and a special scratch-resistant carbon coating on the lenses.  A written life-time breakage warranty on both the frames and the lenses, and a lifetime no-scratch warranty on the lenses.  And, get this, a loss warranty!  Yes, if I should lose the glasses, and chose to just have them replaced as prescribed (e.g., no new eye exam), I pay only 50% of the original cost for the replacements.

Ready for this?  My total cost, including taxes, and with my seniors 15% discount = $138.15.  The last pair I bought over four years ago in one of those cut-rate optical shops in Northern VA, cost close to $400.  Pennies from heaven?  Add that savings to the beer fund, Ralph.

It Really Pays To Have Friends

I had told you that my laptop computer was stolen and the end of the cruise.  And, all the pictures I had taken during the cruise I had dutifully downloaded daily on to the computer.  Wosh, no pictures.

Well, there were five of us that buddy-ed up on the cruise and started sharing pictures each day.  When a couple of these people heard about my computer being stolen, they started emailing me pictures, some of mine and some of theirs.  They also got a third member of the gang on board involved.  Thank you amigos, thank you.

So here is a video look at Cartagena, Colombia.  I'll have one on Santa Marta next time.  (Hint:  If you have a slow connection, start the video and mute it.  It will continue to load, and should be done downloading by the time you read the rest of this posting.  Then just hit the ´play´button on bottom left of the screen)

The Coffee Chronicles

Four of us recently went up to the mountain community of Boquete, just up the road from David about 30 miles.  The big event that drew hundreds of visitors from literally all over the world was the annual Best of Panama Coffee competition hosted by the Specialty Coffee Association of  Panama.  The coffee growers of Panama, and in particular growers in the mountains around Boquete, are world renown in the production of specialty coffees  In fact one of the Geshas blends from Panama still holds a record for the highest price ever paid for coffee at auction - $138 @ pound at an auction in Paris last Spring.

The four of us actually went to enjoy the big festival that accompanies the serious coffee part of the show.  Music, Cervesa Panama, food, Cervesa Balboa, floor shows, more cervesa brands, and dancing in the streets.  A great way to wile away a day. Well, as luck would have it, it started raining about noon and drove everyone inside - inside the various coffee show display tents. One of the tents was a big lecture forum where various speakers where attempting to educated the masses on specialty coffees, and the complexities of growing, roasting and processing same.

I would not even attempt to share with you the mind-numbing array of information coming from the podium.  The discussion about the differences resulting from Panamanian producers using the traditional 'washed' method of preparation versus, for instance,  the 'natural' system (where the bean is dried inside the skin) used by the Ethiopians and Yemens was about enough for me.  And the explanation of the 'Lavado' system where the cherry the coffee bean grows in, is pulped along with the bean and then demucilaged (I had to find that spelling in a brochure), just about did me in.  And a couple of guys with pocket-protectors in their shirt pockets made it clear that potassium in the soil concentrated energy in the beans allowing yeasts to further infiltrate the endosperm. Say what.  When the last speaker, that I listened to, started his pitch that everyone should be drinking only specialty coffees, because drinking off-the-shelf coffees of unknown origin was like drinking blended box wines, I was done.

The wine analogy reminded me of a cartoon I saw years ago where the wine steward in a fancy restaurant is going on and on to the couple he is waiting on about chateau-vs-estate bottling and vintage years, blah, blah.  The husband interrupts to ask, "Is this one going to screw up the taste of my cheeseburger?"

But, I did learn something.  I had wondered why Colombia was a big coffee exporter, but the good coffees of both Costa Rica and Panama get little attention outside of their respective countries.  I had assumed it was just marketing. Well, nay, nay.  Turns out that mass production is only viable for varietal coffees- coffees made from a wide variety of different beans combined in such a way in each cycle to produce a consistent result.  Varietal coffees are Colombia's specialty.  Needless to say, the specialty producers consider consistency from one batch to the next as a failure.

But the surprise for me?  I had been attracted for years to the 'dark roast' Colombian coffees on the super market shelves.  Well, guess what.  Even the specialty makers occasionally have a batch or two of defective beans spoiled by bad drying, dirty pulping machines, late depulping or over-fermentation.  What do they do with these beans.  They sell them to other manufacturers who specialize in 'dark roasts'.  When these manufacturers combine the purchased unwanted beans with 'inferior' beans, that they intentionally over-roast (which then turn dark), the strong flavor of the over-roasting covers up deficiencies in the beans.

Now, don't you wish I had just stayed at home that day.  Go have another $5 cup of the extra dark stuff at Starbucks.

More Panamanian Politics

The newly elected mayor of Panama City may not take office on 1 July as scheduled. Newly elected Bocso Vallarino has been challenged because he has dual nationality with the United States.  Under Panamanian law, people who obtain dual nationality for reasons other than birth, lose some of their rights, one of which is that they can not hold public office. The Tribunal Electoral is attempting to resolve the issue.

The irony of all this is that this challenge was filed about four months before the elections.  And to further complicate things, the Tribunal's only ruling so far is that, unless it gets resolved before 1 July, the existing mayor will have to remain in office.  The existing mayor, Juan Carlos Navarro, is from the opposition political party, and was the unsuccessful Vice-Presidential candidate in the recent national elections.

I think this goes way past lame duck.

Till next time.  Pura Vida

Click on the thumbnail for the full-size photo.

 

Looks OK From Here?

You Can't Make Such Stuff Up

The following is a collection of things I run across that prove beyond a doubt that truth is in fact stranger than fiction. 

No Wonder These People Think Gringos Are Crazy!

This jewel comes from Colombia.  A small weekly publication, oriented towards news for American expatriates living or visiting Colombia, added an 'Advice Column' - kind of a Dear Abby column.  The author of the new column was an American lady who had moved to Cartagena, Colombia a few months earlier, after living for several years in Costa Rica.

There are two versions about what motivated her LAST column.  One story says that she had been drinking when she wrote it.  The other suggests that she had made up her mind she was leaving and going back to Costa Rica.  Either way, what happened to the editors?  But, here is the rest of the story.

A  woman wrote in complaining that she and her husband had attended several Colombian weddings recently, and waited for an hour and a half to two hours at the reception for the bride and groom to arrive.  She ended with, "Can you enlighten me because, frankly, I am ..."

The columnist responded with "Rather than be confused, use your imagination.  There could be several reasons for such delays - the couple could have discovered they didn't have the taxi fare to get there and had to hitch a ride on an ox cart, or possibly the groom's zipper got stuck, or maybe the bride went into labor."

End of answer, end of column.  Can't make this s... up!

The Skoll Awards

The Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship was founded by Jeff Skoll, the first president of eBay in 1999.  The organizations goal is to encourage innovative solutions to the world's most complex challenges -  climate change, water scarcity, poverty, public health, etc.  The Skoll Center recently awarded honored, which included grants, to several organizations for their accomplishments. 

A Panamanian company won an award for their initiatives to harness the energy of waterfalls in the mountainous regions of Panama to provide electrical power for the indigenous people in the vicinity.  Their procedures are not only ecologically friendly, but protect the aesthetic appearance of the waterfall, e.g. they are invisible to a sightseer.

But, the award that caught my attention was the award given to a company called Apopo for their HeroRATS program.  Apopo is training giant African pouched rats for a variety of tasks which capitalize on the rat's extraordinary sense of smell.  There are some areas that the rats are already being used with great success, the most notable is in detecting landmines in some of Africa's historically war torn areas.  However, the one that caught my attention is that the rats are being used to detect tuberculosis in humans.

I am having a hard time trying to visualize the 'bed-side manner' protocols the doctor uses when he gets ready to roll out Reggie the Rat to 'sniff-up' the patient for the TB test.

Too Good To Pass Up

My friend, Sally Johns, in Golfito, Costa Rica sent me these gems.  I have to share classics. These pics answered unequivocally the age-old question, ¨Why do women live longer than men?¨

Click on the thumbnail to view the full-size picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Panama Politicians

Only in Panamanian politics.  You have to live here for a while to understand what constitutes normal here.  I was only gone for six weeks, so maybe I need to be re-programmed. Pinch me, do I understand these things? 

 - President-elect Martinelli is already facing a crises 30 days before he is even inaugurated.  In 2004, various reforms to the Panamanian constitution were enacted.  One of the provisions rolled back the government transition date from the first of September to the first of July.  So, this is the first government transition, (Presidential inauguration and swearing-in of the new Assembly, governors, mayors and local representatives) that will take place on the 1st of July.  However, a separate law covers the pay of all those people mentioned above, and it has never been changed - that law specifies pay to September 1.  So legislators approved an article that would pay all of these people, including themselves per the existing law - pay them for July and August even though they leave office on July 1st.

The national Comptroller announced that he 'does not endorse" such payments (whatever that means).  Legislators responded that they would take the issue to the Supreme Court.  And Martinelli, who said previously that he would remain reticent on national issues until after he was inaugurated, came roaring out of the chute because these payments were going to be made "on his watch."  His exact words, roughly from the Spanish translation, was "..over my dead body!"  Oh boy.  Put on your hard hats muchachos, the inauguration is coming!

-  Anti-corruption prosecutors have charged 34 people with embezzlement and forgery in a scheme that involved distribution of checks to suppliers for items that were never ordered or delivered. The scam totaled over $1.5.million and involved several government agency  regional directors, assistant directors and program accountants.  The ministry involved was the Fund for Fairness and Quality in Education.

-  A commission appointed by the Supreme Court has recommended changes to the current jury selection procedures, and that those changes be included in the new Criminal Procedure Code scheduled to go into force on September 2.  According to the report, one of the system's crucial faults centers around the practice of leaving the jury selection to officials "who are tasked to go out in search of hundreds of people, chosen at random, to participate in the final selection process."  However, the report notes that, in practice, these officials usually "return to the court with the first eight people who haven't declined to participate in the process."

A Quick Peek At Columbia

I am putting together a video with pictures taken on my recent cruise stops in Colombia - both in Cartagena and Santa Marta.  Here are some advance 'teaser' samples.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Till Next Time.  Pura Vida.

The View From Here

In Case You Didn't See This

The Central American version of the Miami Herald reported on the following situation.  They may have reported it because it occurred in Florida, so you may not have seen it.

Marie Elliot sued the Florida DMV on freedom of speech issues for rejecting her requested personalized license plates, terming the the personalization "too suggestive, bordering on obscene."

Ms. Elliot is a fitness instructor who owns her own spa.  Her brand of weight loss magic focuses on the "almost magical properties of tofu."  According to her, the license plates mission was to "preach to the world about the wonders of tofu."

According to the Herald, it was obvious throughout the trial, due to the judge's demeanor and the questions he directed to the DMV, that he was sympathetic to Elliot's cause.  That changed abruptly when the DMV presented the judge a sample of her requested plate.  It read:

ILUVTOFU

Case dismissed!

The Law Profession In Panama

A bill that seeks to regulate the legal profession suffered a setback in a committee of the National Assembly.  The bill proposes establishing ethical standards, a minimum period of university study, a board responsible for monitoring the profession and implementation of a proficiency exam. Under the current system, graduates present their diploma to a Supreme Court panel for credential verification.  (The panel meets twice a year and usually acts on several hundred requests at a time.)

Critics of the legislation note that the Supreme Court has already ruled on the unconstitutionality of a "watchdog entity", and objected to a bar exam.  The president of the Center for Law Studies went even further calling "the bar exam an outdated and impractical ritual mandated by the United States."  She regards the bar exam as a "practice that perpetuates elitism and commercialism."  Well!  Do you wonder why expatriates moving here are cautioned to pick their attorney very carefully?

By the way, in Panama a notary is a lawyer who has post-licensing training in notary duties. The notary's signature and stamp is not merely verifying your signature, it is certifying the legality and correctness of the legal document involved, and the underlying legal process.  Most notaries, therefore, specialize in certain types of legal processes and documents.  So, the sign on the front of the office that says "Abogado and Notaria" does not mean there is a clerk in the lawyers office with a pen and a seal.

Video Tribute to The Beautiful Village of Boquete

Economic Downturn In The U.S.

To say that I am isolated from the present economic while living in Panama is pretty much fact.  So what I read and see on TV is sorted through that "disconnected filter" that I have discussed before - the news reflects facts and statistics, not people, places and faces.  Well I got to see the effects up close and personal while I was back in the States.  I hadn't been back to Wilmington for about a year.  But now, basically sitting around for 2+ weeks in Wilmington just waiting for my daily trip to the hospital, gave me lots of observation time.

For starters, my friend John, who owns the Boar's Breath Saloon, told me that over 50 bars and restaurants have closed their doors in Wilmington in the last year.  And it is easy to see in the Monkey Junction area on the south side of town where I used to live, which was previously the 'hottest' area in the area.  The bars and restaurants at Happy Hour time are practically deserted - the construction worker customer base is MIA.  And, you can see why when you drive by the previously bustling new housing developments.  Ghost towns!  Additional building lots have been prepped, but nothing happening - no workers or equipment in sight.  Sales offices with one car in the parking lot - the salesperson's car undoubtedly.  The new Home Depot is completed and opened - but, the new buildings making up various little strip malls around the perimeter of the huge Home Depot parking lot sit mostly vacant.  I was always sort of amused, in the past, by the fact that it seemed like every business in the Monkey Junction area had a sign in the front window, "Help Wanted".  No more!

I also had occasions to go over on the other side of town, to the Wrightsville Beach area.  I used to work in that area and had a loosely knit lunch group that I wanted to go visit with.   This is the high dollar area of Wilmington - gated and walled communities, golf courses, up-scale restaurants and high-end shopping malls (think, Neiman's).  Mid-day traffic in that area was something to be dreaded if not avoided.  Not this year!  Practically deserted.

Think I'll just go back and hide behind my Panama prism.

Panama Elections

I don't know how, but the nation of Panama somehow managed to hold national elections in my absence and without any assistance on my part.  The President-elect, Senor Ricardo Martinelli, is a well-known businessman who is the owner, of among several other businesses, one of the country's biggest supermarket chains.  He has also held a number of elected offices over the years. According to the experts, Martinelli's grizzly bear appearance and no nonsense aura is not a facade.  One of his long-time managers described him (off the record, not for attribution, I might add) as ".. a big teddy bear.  But, if you poke him with a stick the teddy bear becomes a grizzly."  He is also purported to be a champion of human rights, children's protection rights, and minority rights.

Unlike his opponent in the election, Martinelli has no lingering ties with the Noriega regime of years past.  And, more importantly, he has no interest in improving relations with Venezuela's Chavez, nor the ner-do-well collection of member countries in Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution movement.

Till Next Time.  Pura Vida

Click on the thumbnail to view the picture full-size.