Michael: Storage

The breaking silence
Now and then by gliding wings
Carries away dreams.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Choosing a storage unit was easier than I wanted it to be.

For one, there are only two choices in the Chiriqui region; Chiriqui Storage in Dolega and Almecenes just outside David. Chiriqui Storage is run by an ex-pat couple and Almecenes is a chain with locations throughout Panama. I was hoping there would be a little competition for our business between the two, but that just didn’t happen.

 Without a car and with the storage units at least an hour and a half by bus away from Volcan, risking a walk in visit to gather information to either facility is impractical and shouldn’t be necessary. Whenever I made e-mail inquiries about units or pricing to Chiriqui storage I got a prompt response from either Hellmut or Linda, the owners. I e-mailed Almecenes 3 times and called twice and never received a response. That made the choice pretty easy.

Chiriqui storage is a bit further away from us than Amacenes but they do have a regular flea market where we could try to sell off any goods we no longer feel are worth storing. They don’t have any air conditioned units and I’m sure it gets pretty hot there, so I’ll probably ending up bringing some sensitive materials to Volcan.

The pricing isn’t much different than we were paying in the states. A 20’x8’x8’ rents for $175 a month and a 12’x8’x8’ goes for $100. I’m hoping we can use the smaller unit.

Next week we’ll head over there by bus to look the units over and hopefully sign a contract.