Quesos Chela
Quesos Chela is a cheese store on the right side of the road leaving
Capira heading west. It is a 'must-stop' if you're going to the
interior. Their specialty is locally made pressed cheese, and there is
none better in Panama. While the cheese alone is reason enough to stop
there, they also offer fresh empanadas (meat, chicken, or my favorite,
cheese) and hands-down the tastiest, smoothest yogurt in the country. I
almost never pass Chela's without stopping for a few cheese empanadas
and some yogurt. Avoid the kids selling empanadas outside the store
unless you need a fast-acting laxative.
Buying a Computer - Roll your own
I've bought one assembled-and-operating new computer, my Averatec
notebook, since 1998, when I bought an IBM Aptiva with Windows 98
installed. Most of the computers I've used since buying that IBM Aptiva
have been assembled from a combination of new and used components, and
my latest one is no exception. John Mercier's new box, on the other
hand is all new. It has a 2.6 GHz Intel Pentium D processor, 1 GB of
memory, Intel motherboard, 200 GB hard drive, DVD Writer, NVidia PCIE
video, internal card reader, floppy, and fancy case with an external
temperature readout. We also picked up a copy of Windows XP Home.
Because my eyesight is not so good right now, and because I had an
unhappy experience with a damaged motherboard, I elected to let the
folks at Unlimited Solutions assemble everything. It's a good deal for
$10.00.
The Windows installation went as expected, requiring 7 reboots and just
over two hours. The motherboard and video driver installations were
less than smooth, as the installers seemed to be broken and I had to
install sound and video drivers manually. Keeping Windows firewall from
installing itself was a PITA, but once I got AVG and Zone Alarm
installed, it stopped nagging me about lack of protection. Only then,
after the latest virus and firewall was installed did I connect the
computer to the internet to download updates, another PITA process
involving reboots and time. I download new Windows install updates from
behind my Linux firewall, and so far haven't had one compromised.
The SUSE 10.0 install was, to say the least, less than satisfactory.
Without getting into any gory details, suffice to say that 32 bit Linux
does not work well with the Pentium D dual core processor. While it
took a while to get this fact through to my stubborn mind, I did
eventually try Kubuntu 6.06 and in less than 15 minutes, was up and
running and downloading updates from the internet. Unfortunately, I
discovered a fatal flaw in Kubuntu after I installed it on my new box.
Now I will have to retrieve John's computer and install the new SUSE
10.1 64 bit system on it. I downloaded all six CDs from SUSE and if
anyone wants to try 64 bit Linux, let me know and I can fix you up with
copies. You could download them, of course, but even with a 1 Mbit
connection it took about 12 hours.
My latest computer also has a 64 bit processor and motherboard (both
new), but mine is a 3.05 GHz Pentium 4, and I recycled an almost new
200 GB hard drive and internal card reader, older DVD/ CDW floppy, and
salvaged the NVidia video card and a 512 MB chip from John's broken
box. I chose not to pollute my computer with Microsoft, and installed
Kubuntu 6.06 because of the problems I had trying to install SUSE on
John's box. While the install went flawlessly, about 3 days later I
discovered the fly in the ointment. After downloading an update, Google
Earth told me that my NVidia drivers were no longer working, so I
attempted to reload them, and that's when I got bit, again. What I
thought had been a one-time isolated incident on John's computer
repeated on mine. Although I asked Adept (the Package Manager) just to
uninstall the Nvidia drivers, it uninstalled the X system, leaving me
with a system in need of rescue. In John's case, a similar request left
the computer unbootable. So, in desperation, I tried the 32 bit SUSE
10.00 and had it up and downloading updates in a tad over 15 minutes,
with no hitches whatever.
You can find components for building you own computer at a lot of shops
in Panama City. IBC in the lower corner of El Dorado mall is one, but
there are stores all over town. Don't waste your time at Multimax or
Panafoto. I buy my parts at Unlimited Solutions, which is just up the
street toward Multimax from where the road to Puente Centenario
intersects Tumba Muerto. This is primarily a wholesale store and they
will ask for a business license, but there are plenty of other stores
around that sell parts retail.
Dining Out
Nora and I have long been fans of Athens Pizza, which has three
locations in the City. The first is located in Obarrio, a second on
Calle 50 and the third on Tumba Muerto. As the name suggests Athens
specialize in Greek style pizza, pastas, breads, and salads. We have
takeout from there a few times a month.
They have now opened a fourth, Pano's Kretan House, located on Calle
49, Bellavista, just a few blocks from the Athens restaurant, on
Calle 50. We had dinner there last week and I prefer their pizza to the
other pizzerias because of the thicker, softer crust. Prices are
reasonable. Nora's favorite, Satziki is $4.50 and Pano's Kretan House
Pizza (smoked ham, mushrooms, onion, green peppers, and Parmesan
cheese) is $5.50.
All of the Athens/Pano's Kretan House Pizzerias are highly recommended.