Property Tax Exoneration Extended
Here's
some good news if you are planning to buy or build a home in Panama. An
extension of the 20-year property tax exemption for apartments and
houses has been approved. The property tax exemption had expired in
August. I doubt that the stories on the newsgroups claiming that anyone
with a building permit issued before December 31, 2009 will be eligible
are true. The proposed legislation was for those with occupancy permits
before December 31, 2009. Clarification on this as soon as I have it.
Geezer's PRT
The
scheduled January Geezer's Physical Readiness Test (Newsletter #92) has
been rescheduled for the last Sunday in February because of a family
conflict.
At Last! A Hummingbird
At
higher altitudes, Hummingbirds are thick. Here in the city at sea
level, they are much less common, and over the years we've had only an
occasional glimpse of them. We've tried many times to attract them with
feeders, without success. Finally, more than two months ago, I got
tired of changing the unsipped nectar and just left the feeder in
place. To my surprise about a week before my birthday, the level in the
feeder started dropping, and as a wonderful birthday gift, I finally
spotted a Hummingbird at the feeder. He's now a daily visitor and,
being very territorial, he sits on the fence jealously guarding his
private restaurant. Once I saw two of them, one aggressively chasing
the other. I love these little guys and plan to put in a second feeder.
Maybe my little tyrant won't be able to guard two of them at the same
time.
Tourist Cards
Proving
once again that change is the only constant, Panama has returned to the
90 days, extendable to 180 days, standard tourist card for US and
Canadian citizens.
Fishing Gamboa
Here
I am, all tuckered out again. I planned to write about my Sunday
fishing trip on Monday, but getting up at 5:00 AM and spending a large
part of the day on Gatun Lake took a lot more out of me than it used
to, so I'm writing this on Thursday.
I met John and David at the
Gamboa boat ramp at 7:30 and was pleasantly surprised to find that ACP
is doing a nice job of keeping the launch facilities in good shape.
It’s been several years since I last fished out of Gamboa and I was
expecting deterioration, not the well maintained and clean area we
found. Kudos to ACP.
We were soon underway in David’s new 21 ft
center console with twin Suzuki 4-stroke outboards.. The boat is very
nicely done and outfitted with VHF radio, GPS, and color depth sounder,
but I didn’t recognize the manufacturer’s brand name. David told me it
was built in Veracruz, which was also a pleasant surprise.
We
had to lower the top to get under the Gamboa bridge, because the lake
is at its maximum level, but were soon moving at a good clip down the
channel. We first visited one of my favorite fishing spots, but there
was just no activity there. Then we went behind Barro Colorado Island
and despite trying many promising looking spots, had very little luck,
and most of what we caught was quite small. I've noticed a trend to
ever smaller sized fish since the canal turnover. I blame this on the
very light fishing pressure since the Zonians and soldiers left. In the
old days, it was no great trick to fill a cooler with 1 to 3 pound
fish. Today, the average size is under a pound.
Nevertheless, it
was a good day on the water, marred only by John losing his fishing hat
on the way back. Fortunately his head wasn’t in it when it sank.