[News Boquete] Communicating with the locals

Since moving to Panama, have you found yourself desperately needing someone who knows Spanish and understands the Latino culture? Perhaps you're experiencing that right now! It may be a feud with a neighbor, an important business deal, a meeting with a government official, a parent/teacher conference, a medical consultation, or any of a host of other situations. If so, please allow me to introduce myself.

 

I'm Darrell Eash, a recent transplant from Colorado Springs. Now I realize that name sounds quite Anglo-Saxon. However, what you don't know about me is that I was born in Venezuela and grew up there until I moved to the U.S. for college. So yes, I'm quite fluent in Spanish, having learned both languages as a child. Additionally, my 27 years as a radio/TV producer have been spent entirely among Latinos. I've traveled to all but four Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, many of them multiple times, and lived in Costa Rica for a while. My move to Boquete a couple of months ago with my family was the culmination of five previous visits to this wonderful country.

 

Whether by chance or by choice, I've already had the opportunity to be the "go-between" in a number of encounters between Gringos and Panamanians. These situations have included a land purchase, a computer repair, a school visit, a wifi hotspot purchase, and even a potential arrest and vehicle impounding! So it got me thinking that maybe I should offer to help the wider expat community here in Boquete.

 

Here's what I'm willing to do. If you have a need to communicate with a local Spanish-speaker, just give me a call or send me a WhatsApp message at 6587-7167. Depending on the nature of the request, my assistance could be free of charge or might require a reasonable fee for my time and expertise. Either way, I think you'll be happy with how much easier things work out for you. Solutions will come quicker and misunderstandings will be minimized, simply because I can speak to each party not only in their native tongue, but in the language of their heart.

 

Good communication is the key to getting things done. Don't leave it to chance!

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