Valle Escondido Newsletter

Boquete gets a new medical center

I have been hearing rumors of this for a number of years and now I would say it is official. The doctor/owners of Hospital Chiriqui have committed to building a new medical center right here in Boquete on Main street. They bought property where the Vista Boquete sales office is located and will start building soon according to the sign. One of the principals in the new center told me they would be starting before the end of the year. This will bring a welcome and much needed addition to the many new businesses sprouting up in and around town.

Boquete Weather Watchers

Many of you are probably not aware that several expats have taken it upon themselves to provide weather information from various sites in the Boquete area. They have sophisticated instrumentation connected to the internet that provides up to the minute real time weather along with historic data. Here is a notice I received yesterday about their system.

Dear Boquete Weather Watchers:

Our internet service was down more than it was up last month, but today we got back online and the website is now functioning more normally.  Things should now be back to normal and the weather data from Palmira/Boquete is again uploading every few minutes.  I apologize for this interruption of weather data, but believe it or not, life in Paradise is not always perfect, especially when it comes to high tech stuff.   Fortunately, all other aspects of the web site continued to operate because the host server is in Arizona.

Regardless of the problems with the internet service, no data from the weather station was lost so we will not have any gaps in data for the year.

I have now summarized the weather data for the month of April 2008 and revised the climate data section of the web site.  You can now see all the weather data for 2007 and 2008 from the Palmira station on the same web page and more easily make month by month comparisons  http://www.boqueteweather.com/climate/data_annual.htm
You will note that we had significantly less rain in April 2008 (3.58 inches) compared with April of 2007 (11.65 inches).  In fact, 8 inches less rain.  It will be interesting to see what happens with rain during May as we now seem to be more solidly moving into the rainy season.  Get your umbrellas out!

Best,

Lloyd Cripe
www.boqueteweather.com

May 1st. Fuel Prices on the rise

As global fuel prices continue to increase we are seeing it here in our part of the world too. Propane, which most homes in the Valley rely on for hot water and cloths drying has increased another $3.57 for a 100 lb. tank and $2.11 for the 60 lb. tank. Gasoline and Diesel , which we all rely on for travel has increased as well.
95 octane ---------- UP $0.25ç p/gl

91 octane ---------- UP $0.23ç p/gl

Diesel --------------- UP $0.17ç p/gl

This is certainly not welcome news, but we can take comfort in the fact that we pay no heating or air conditioning bills.

Sabor new menu for May 2008

Our kitchen staff have come up with a fantastic menu for Sabor that I am sure you will enjoy. Be sure to ask for the  a la cart menu available to homeowners and guest if you don't feel like eating a complete four course meal. This week we have fresh Dorado as the special off menu item. You can click on the image to enlarge.

New VE videos available on Youtube

If you want to show your friends and family some videos about Valle Escondido you can just send them a link to this page and they can take a look at several videos now available on You Tube.

The first is a Video promoting the resort area and the second is a short video of a recent golf tournament. A third video is of the last Boquete fair. The beauty of the valley and the general area comes through in all of them. Enjoy!

El Bohio restaurant now open Saturdays

El Bohio Restaurant is open for lunch every Saturday from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This is an open grill next to the river behind the country club facilities.

Click on the menu image to enlarge!

On Sunday, you can enjoy our Breakfast Buffet in our Restaurant El Higueron from 7:00 am to 11:00 am.

Arcecio Hernández
Restaurant Manager

Valle Escondido newsletter update

I have been extremely negligent in keeping up posts in the newsletter for the valley and I sincerely apologize. My efforts on the Panama Investors blog has taken priority for the last 8 months, but it is time to bring this news letter back to life. It is a great way for me to keep homeowners and visitors up to date on the goings on in the valley.

Sam Taliaferro
Developer
Valle Escondido

Racquetball court now open!

The Quebrada grande country club racquetball court has opened and is already a big hit. Many of us over 50 crowd played the game when we were in our 20's and now 30+ years later we can get an incredible workout and have a great time doing it just like we used to. Be sure to make your court reservation as we have a lot of players alread!

Dog run now open!

It has taken some time but at last the new dog run is completed. Javier and his crew worked hard to remove all the boulders and small rocks to make it as smooth as possible. Now you can take your dog down by the stables next to the lake and let him run! Throw a ball or a Frisbee and get the cobwebs out of his bones. Let his swim in the pond and roll in the grass!

As a reminder,
Please keep your pet on a leash when not in the dog run. Do not let them get out and onto the golf course.
All pets must be under supervision. No pets may be left unattended.
Please use the pooper scooper near the trash can in the dog run to clean up after your pet.
If more than one pet owner is using the run at one time please use caution to prevent fights and injuries.
Please let us know of any suggestions or issues regarding the dog run.

This area is private property and belongs to the resort. They are allowing the Valle Escondido property owners and hotel guests to use the area for their pets exersize. The resort is providing this as a free service and is not repsonsible for injuries to your pets or yourselves while using the dog run.

Thanks

Sam

Mel Gibson visits the valley

The rumor is true that Mel Gibson visited Valle Escondido last week and stayed in our Tower suite for one night. Rates on this room just went up. Just kidding! Mr. Gibson even came to our regular poker night in the country club and mixed it up with the residents. You can read the complete story and see the photos here...