back in the u.s.a July 23, 2005
Posted by Administrator in : nomadika, from LA 2 Panama , add a commentstrange but true, what seemed like the neverending trip is over…we landed in los angeles after 21 hours in transit. we’re back where we started from but loaded with experiences from our american adventures.
it’s already been a couple of days since soheil’s mum is treating us like royalty: back to the comfort zone, mummys cooking, hot showers, movies all over the place and a lifestyle where you don’t really need a pair of legs. Everyone drives everywhere here, and in OC they all have fancy cars (could this be why there are wars in the world?) suddenly the nicaraguan image of whole families on an old bike seem like a dream, and its true that while i sleep i am still on bastimentos island having strange escapades.
domestimentos —II June 23, 2005
Posted by Administrator in : nomadika, from LA 2 Panama , add a commentThe natives love their Abuelo rum and milk, drinking til you drop is pretty common, therés always more cash for another Abuelo, not so much for the kids´schoolbooks though. There are plenty of children, and they start having them pretty young, “FOCKING THIS” and “FOCKING THAT” are favourite phrases, you hear them all the time…often directed at the kiddies, why not. Unlike the caribbean image we all have, there´s a lot of trash, thieving and aggression around- sure you can keep away from it all, you gotta keep your eyes wide open and not be too trusting. Small town fever means lotsa jealousy and a strictly short term view of things…Always so easy to criticize, isn´t it? So I´m doing small things to help here n there, will tell more when they´re actually done though.
domestimentos –I June 21, 2005
Posted by Administrator in : nomadika, from LA 2 Panama , add a commentso we´ve already been in old bank for a month, there´s even a routine to speAK OF…paradise is well-connected so i frequently visit my inbox, we´ve gone on a few boat trips, we´ve seen dolphins, psychedelic coral, and a few storms, of which a couple were bold enough to go from horizon spectacle to scare us to bits as they drenched us on our recently-extended veranda.
obviously we spend a lot of time in our hammocks which hang over the water, locals look at us with a those-guys-are-still-here? look on their faces, so i stare them right back cause i did take one of those “become an anthropologist” courses through the mail, after all. i write everything down in my field book and soon i´ll be ready to publish…it´s hard to get close to the natives though ´cause most of them pay no attention to foreigners, so many come and go that i am not surprised really. there are the ones who make a living out of taking tourists back and forth, making a commission from hotels and stuff…but they don´t see me as business, so they pay me little attention. it´s only after a while that you find the good people, and there always ARE good people where there are bad people. Its just that they are less obvious, that´s all.
In this category I would have ALDA and her daughter SolMaira, who hasn´t been to school in 5 weeks- there are big strikes here in Panama you see, all related to the cuts in Social Security…you can barely tell on the islands but there have been clashes in the city…not pretty. Also, her neighbour Olga, who makes the purest coconut oil I´ve ever seen: 6 litres of oil out of 50 coconuts…no joke. The lady who sells fresh bread at 3 pm is friendly too, the kids call her witch cause of her crazy hair, but I´m pretty sure she´s the good kind. As you can see, eating and cooking are high on our list of caribbean occupations and we´re getting good at it too. Breakfast with little bananas and freshly grated coconut, coffee made with the traditional chorreador, trees dripping with sweet mangoes, bread fruit and water pears- fresh and super crunchy. FAvourite fish are pargo and pati, if we´re lucky, Alda´s husband will get us a lobster one of these days…
So we´re pretty used to living over water at this stage, with the pipes in the sink and shower dropping directly into the sea, so you open the tap and hear the water drop into the ocean beneath you a second later..children are always swimming nearby though and I´m pretty sure the soap and other debris can´t be good for their skin.
What with the extension of our veranda we´ve witnessed how people build over the water here, a pretty straightforward sytem that works around a stick deep in the ground with cement and rebar inside a big PVC tube. When the waves are strong or someone treads really hard the whole structure shifts back and forth a little, you get used to living in a rocking chair, its pretty nice.
All in all we are pretty mellow, below the radar and making the most of living on a caribbean island, using the time to learn some new skills and make beautiful handcrafts. Today´s a perfect sunny caribbean day, maybe time to stroll to the beach?
on fo0t May 4, 2005
Posted by Administrator in : nomadika, from LA 2 Panama , add a commentour trusty steed pakita was sold at the last minute and with much excitement…eduardo and maFi arrived. we are amidsta frenzy of packing up, giving away, eating and drinking. tomorrow we leave early to the osa peninsula.