Paradise, sure... if you say so

[Rick L.]

I'm not in Boquete so maybe I should be looking for the Bocas del Toro. ning site... probably isn't one but there could be.

So this is Paradise... living on an island off the coast, in the Caribbean. Oh yea... palm trees, birds and monkeys waking me in the morning and the clean fresh air. Sure, that part of paradise is here. I see it out the windows.

But let's look at that other side of paradise. Roads that are in such poor condition that bicycle riders have to carry their bikes from place to place because of the huge mud holes and mini lakes that are where the road used to be. I used to own a vehicle, but at $500 a month for repairs I finally said "Why?" and gave it to my mechanic. I get to see my neighbors this way now. I've become a ride mooch but I do get to see my neighbors a bit more often. That's a good thing right? (a big thanks to Bill) The road to paradise is strewn with good intentions and a lot of garbage, oh yea.. the dump is right on the shoreline and spills into the Caribbean. But I think everyone knows that, the Bocas Breeze has been covering that issue. I've been here some 7 years and the garbage was an issue then and, following the Panamanian way, will be 7 years from now.

I've got internet or I wouldn't be able to post this. But let's just touch on that for a sec. I live in the jungle and about 3 miles from the cellular tower. Oh, by the way, I have Movistar's cellular modem internet access. So I figure since I have 4 to 5 bars on my Movistar cell phone that this would be a good way to get internet. But, another mistake there. See Movistar believes in cheap chinese equipment so I have this ZTE cellular modem that only gets 1 bar of signal on a good day. I've requested several better brands of modem from them for over a year now but it's mostly a "talk to the hand" issue. They are getting my money monthly why should they worry about providing the contracted service. Most of the time it's like having 300 baud dial up. I'll have to do a save of everything I'm trying to post here just because it will probably take 3 or 4 times for it to actually get uploaded. They made the mistake of giving me the tech's phone number in Panama City so I send him between 25 and 50 text messages a day complaining about the poor service. I feel sorry for the tech, he seems a nice enough guy, speaks english and does pretend to feel for my plight, but then again he's my only contact so I've got to vent on someone. I guess after a year of texting him he's pretty numb to my messages.

And speaking of phone service, not sure about the rest of you, but Movistar seems to be having some serious issues. About 1 out of 10 local calls I attempt to make actuallly make it through. Mostly I get "Network Busy" or "Call Failed" and that's with those 4 bars of service saying "I'm here use me" but it's not really. It's another Panamanian trick. Phone calls to the States... well, let's just say I try every day but usually about 3 to 5 days I actually make it through. My friends stateside, same issue.. can't get through to me.

Our water system, yes I'm one of the 'lucky" ones to be on the Idann water system, is mostly working. I mean, what it's on for about an hour a day and that's only been a problem for around 6 months now. The resevoir is overflowing with water but a pump failed and so we are on the one they took out of service a few years ago because it was too small to provide for the town. All these new pipes are going in all over the place to provide more water but with the tinker toy pump no one gets any pressure. But rumor is that Idann is going to get a new pump.... sometime. Let's not put any pressure on anyone and get a firm date.

But there are good things right off the bat I can think of one - we haven't lost power in almost a month now. And we have groceries, even goodies that I never thought we would get. Frozen foods, regular supplies of fresh veggies (hey, 7 years ago that was iffy), and a lot of other stuff that I thought we would never get.

Guess I better stop here, I think I hear my doorbell (my dogs are barking) and maybe the housekeeper showed up! She's supposed to be here every day (she lives about 100 yards away) but it's been 4 days since she last showed up. She must be getting hungry or needs money for her cell phone.

See ya in Paradise!

[Howling Success K9 Services]

That's great! I have the same service here and I am happy with it.

[Rick L.]

Mobil Net is in Bocas now. Line of sight is required for service and the tower is located near the Hospital/Cemetary. Not sure how it's working but I know several people who signed up so guess I'll ask. I don't have line of sight with Bocas so it's not going to happen for me. I get to keep sending off my rants to the techs at Movistar.

[Howling Success K9 Services]

If you are waiting for Mobil Net Rick, don't hold your breath. I contacted them when I lived in Bocas because I heard they were coming to the area. They came out and looked at my property, checked where their new tower was going, and told me I would be the first client in Bocas. That was oh...a year ago? No, longer. At that time they told me it would be two months? I can't remember. I waited and waited. Then I saw their tower going up near the hospital and though finally, it's going to happen. No way.
Once I moved here I went to their office to get internet for Alto Boquete. I asked them what the heck happened to internet in Bocas. They claimed at the time (this was five months ago?) that there was some disagreement or conflict or some sort but that it would be a while before they ever started service in Bocas.
It's too bad really, I rounded up several customers out by you and they could have had a screaming business considering who their competition was/is.
Next time I pay my bill I will ask the guy in charge of that whole matter where they stand.

[Rick L.]

Just wanted to make sure that all of you avid internet users avoid signing up for Movistar's 3G package of lies. It might work in Panama City but the rest of are not on Movistar's big bandwidth access. I have to laugh (and cry)... they sell terabytes of access to Companies and banks but can't even provide 100 kilobytes a second to regular customers who are paying for 256 kbps. 3G is supposed to be 2.4 Megabytes per second access. It's not going to happen. They don't have the bandwidth available for use by regular customers. Panama City maybe, but then again the main fiber feed is in Panama City. Best as I can determine, the interior of Panama Movistar gets it's access via Cable & Wireless's microwave feed from Panama City. That's why the Busy Network signals when you try to make phone calls. Internet access is even worse. I'm on their GSM internet access and I'm constantly shut down because their system is not working. Movil Net looks to be a good option. I wish I had line of sight to receive their signal.
The real trouble is that Movistar doesn't have real technicians. I used to try and talk to them. I've got a bit of experience with networks but I think I scared them. So they don't talk to me anymore. Movistar would do real good to look at importing some techs from China or India. Pay rates have to be similar and I figure those techs would love to try out another country. Heck, with all the tech companies in the US abandoning the US for India and China I would suspect there are some out of work techs that might like to work here.... maybe. They would have to get used to using some pretty low dollar equipment.
Oh.. .enough of my rant about Movistar... I'll go Twittter about them some more.

[Howling Success K9 Services]

I can't take the credit. I have always used it on dogs but it was not until Dr. Darrell introduced it to me for human consumption. I forget that many of these drugs are tried on dogs first-I sometimes overlook the human factor.

[Rick L.]

Miracle drug - Metronitazole - if you get Montezuma's Revenge this is the stuff. It worked on me so I owe Kristen dinner when I make it to Boquete!

[Howling Success K9 Services]

No wonder that little bug is still living inside of you. It's a great antibiotic. I have been giving it to dogs for years but Bocas was where I learned people take it too. I think you can buy it at Rosa Blanca.

[Rick L.]

Metronitazole.... ok... better look that one up. And no, "I" haven't put myself on anything except Gatoraid and Yogurt (and some Imodium). I'm eating real food .. my appetite it back. But thanks for the name of a medicine, I'll check to see if they have it here.

[Howling Success K9 Services]

Oh my, I too have suffered from dysenteri. Did they put you on Metronitazole? Great stuff for dogs and humans.

I got it one morning of our spay clinics and by the end of the day Dr. Darrell pretty much had to carry me out. It comes on fast and knocks you for a loop. I feel for you, buddy.

I hope you will call or email if you are ever in need of help. I am far from you now but still know enough people that I can have the coconut grapevine active on a moments notice. Take care.

[Rick L.]

I mentioned I was a technojunkie but I should also confess to being a retired sewer "specialist". Yep, I know my shit and lots of other shit. Sorry... but that's what it's called in the business. I spent almost 30 years working with the wastewater that everyone flushes down their toilets and runs through their drains. I learned a heck of a lot about what people will flush (I worked in Hoboken, NJ for several years) and became very good at my job. Hence the specialist title. Being able to make sure that sewage is treated properly and finally discharged back in to the water ways so that there is minimal harm to the environment can be a very rewarding, but smelly, job.

Many of my friends would make me go home to bathe before I could go out to dinner or stop off for a beer on the way home. Sigh.... essence de poo concentrate does stick with ya.

I spent 15 years of my sewer experiences working with unusual waste discharges and helping communities get their treatment facilities back into meeting their permitted discharge. The EPA sets the limits... and I proved that either it could be done with the current system or it couldn't. I learned a heck of a lot about water in the process.

Did you know that fresh water treatment standards are lower for humans than what sewer plants have to meet for discharge in to the environment? It's true... humans can handle a few more impurities that the little bugs and fishes can't.

But with all the knowledge I recently ended up with dysenteri. I think it is (or still is) amoebic dysenteri and it's a rough thing to shake once you get it. Now if I had kept my mind on what I was ingesting I might have been able to keep this from happening to me. Then again, I do have a tendency to let things be a bit too tranquilo now. I've fallen into the "Manana" trap.

So here I am suffering still (3 weeks now) and I could have avoided all this if I had kept my water tanks cleaned out. Yea, yea.. I know... but it's being done now and I'm seriously adding chlorox to the system just to help kill off anything extra that might want to lurk in my pipes. I may have to look into buying filters and maybe even going with a reverse osmosis system (see I know those technical names). For some reason everything is double the price here so I keep "forgetting" to purchase the new equipment. It's on the list.

So learn from my mistakes... keep your water tanks clean and add some chlorox every now and then. A half cup to a 600 gallon tank is barely enough to make a difference but it can kill a few more of the bugs that might want to lurk. The real difference is in keeping the sludge from building up in the bottom of the tanks. Bugs love that stuff.