Paradise, part two

Where was I? What was I doing?

I spent 10 days in Panama, couple days in Panama City, couple days on the Carribean Coast, couple days on the Pacific Coast.. Get on the bus! Ended up staying in the Waterfall Hostel, where they give you mushrooms for breakfast (magic..). Well, I didn't try and the American dude that did was sick all day the next day, so much for magic. Decided to avoid the hassle and cross the border in Rio Sereno (aka middle of nowhere), and then went on to San Vito, a little mountain village (founded by Italians in the 1950's) in Costa Rica with beautiful botanical gardens.. No tourists, just walking the woods and breathing the fresh air.

Then it was on to Puerto Jiminez, a dusty little Tico town.. from where people mostly do tours to Park Corcovado etc.. I walked around on my own and saw all the animals, parrots and iguana's I was supposed to see in the Park. Funny how the Lonely Planet Guide fails to mention it's perfectly possible to see Beautiful Things without spending much money or going to the pre-described Hotels and fancy Lodges.. why should I spend 85 dollars for one night in Cabo Matapalo when you can just take the bus and survive with 20 dollars, AND see the same things. Let's just call it the Stupid Planet Guide from now on.

One thing that changes in Central America.. as opposed to South-America.. The nature surroundings are stunningly beautiful, but somehow something's missing: it's like in South-America you never know what's gonna happen, good or bad.. creating some kind of exciting atmosphere. In Panama.. a bit less. In Costa Rica.. Nada! I mean I'm walking through the most Beautiful Jungle & Beach Paradise in Caba Matapalo and of the few people I meet on the road.. 9 out of 10 people go "Hi! How ya doin'!?".. Aaargh, Spanish please! One thing about Costa Rica (and more and more in Panama..): Gringos! Americans are everywhere! It's gonna turn into Florida or Miami here, all the hippies from the seventies with money investing their dollars into "Dreams becoming.. Realty". No, I didn't forget an "i" there.

Anyway, Costa Rica is Beautiful.

Check out the pics here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024864&id=1031432646&l=7016b0a470

Cabo Matapalo: I observe, I see, I breathe, I swim, I read, I listen.. And what I see here is Amazing: a true Jungle and Beach Paradise, wild animals all around, monkeys, tropical birds, parrots, lizzards, iguana's, blue sky, turquoise waters, strong waves.. I could live here.

Next stop: Taking the scenic route by bus to Alajuela, San Jose.. to visit Mia. Should be fun !

Meanwhile I'm worrying about my home situation (Will the government still send me money, will they find out I am here?) and how to get back to Belgium from CR, since the plane tickets to Venezuela are quite expensive.. Ah well, Positive Attitude Changes Everything.

PACE

Lazy Rebel

Sailing..

After waiting for a week in Cartagena, Columbia, I finally got on a sailboat to Panama, via San Blas Islands. This is a very popular sailing trip, with loads of tourist boats doing this 5 day trip regularly. Of course, I didn't really wanna do the typical safe tourist thing.. so after going to Cartagena's Club Nautico I hooked up with Captain Doug, an American, 60 years old, ancient hippy, Harley Davidson Biker and full-time alcoholic, whose boat hadn't sailed for 5 months. Mind you, some of the other captains hanging around in the club were even worse. Also on the boat: Tim, an American making a trip through South America on his motorbike, and the Frenchies (Marie et Cedric).

After getting the motorbike on the boat, hitting a sandbank after ten minutes .. almost colliding with a buoy (guess Doug is a little rusty and strung-out..) and drinking a few more beers, we eventually leave at about 19 PM.. In the dark, we hit the open sea, and get going. Then Doug tells us that we all gotta take shifts steering the boat! With only the moon to guide us, everybody sea-sick except me and the captain, and with no sailing experience whatsoever.. We get the job done. Captain Doug yelling : "yield the line! .. Do this or that on starboard! .. Fuck!.. Shit!" and no one really understanding what the hell all this yibberish means.. Needless to say we make a great team. Especially comforting is the fact that Dougie sometimes starts to scream at himself because he bumped his head or dropped something in the water. The Frenchies are in a slight state of shock.. Ever tried cooking on a sailboat that wiggles from left to right and up and down? Or making coffee and burning your hand? Waves of about 2 metres and.. this is a calm sea. Ouch. During the night and the next day, the sea-sick crew only manages to crawl around on the boat.. untill eventually everybody kind of get used to no comfort, no hygiene, no privacy and no land.

After one night and one full day sailing in the scorching sun (this time I get a headache, with sun-fever) and another night with the boat on auto-pilot, we arrive in the morning at the San Blas Islands. About 340 beautiful deserted islands inhabited by the Kuna's ("les kunasses", à la francaise..) - indigenous people who live from fishing and coconuts and who have little to no contact with the outside world.. No TV, no internet, just a kanoo and tribe traditions. I say "we arrive" but of course, it's more like stumbling clumsily into the waters with the captain never really knowing where to lead the boat through the shallow waters, almost hitting coral reefs, backing up the boat, and the other sailers all watching in agony and comic relief, how we anker the sucker near the islands.

Pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023753&id=1031432646&l=e1167719b9

At night, the Captain (Good Karma Doug when he's drinking, Bad Karma Doug when not) drinks his private stock of rum and mango and starts talking about the conspiracies of the American government, how aliens are taking over our world ("We are at war with the aliens!"), boring us all to sleep whilst watching the movie Zeitgeist (which somehow links Jesus and religion with the 9/11 attacks..), and telling us the basics of Buddhism ("Like, we are all One, you know.. Do you know what Karma is?"). How American and entertaining, dude. The next morning, when a Kuna asks us if we want to get rid of our garbage and takes it into his boat, Bad Karma Doug does not feel this merits 2 dollars. We are after all, all one, asshole? Furthermore, Bad Karma Doug informs us that we owe him more money for the immigration fees, a fact which the Frenchies (being broke) are not so happy with.. Thus brakes out a cold war, ending with an animated American-Franco discussion.

Anyway, we move on to the next islands, visit a Kuna village and arrange a boat and a jeep which will take us and the motorbike to Panama City. After spending a groovy last night on the boat drinking Aguardiente, we leave early next morning and get to Panama City around 11AM.

Another Lazy Adventure !

Lazy Rebel*

Cartagena Centro

Took an organised tourish Volcano mud bath yesterday. Yuk. But the mud contains a lot of minerals. Good for my skin.

Well, I'm beginning to feel at ease here. Cartagena's Old Town is quite nice, actually... Been strolling through the city all day, then at five a trip to the Club Nautico to find a sailboat to Panama. Might have one with American captain Doug on his Samsara, leaving on thursday. Cross my fingers and hope not to get seasick. Talking with a Norwegain sailer, who made his fortune selling pornographic material and editing a contact magazine, and has been sailing and drinking for 12 years. At the Club, over a few beers, he tells me that Doug's boat is very safe, "it's made of steel, 40 feet, two masts.. you probably won't die."

;)

Cartagena Coca

Left Taganga on the 1st of May.. on a lousy bus to Cartagena. Arrived in Cartagena and got hassled by a dopehead with false teeth who directed me to a hostel I didn't wanna go to, in the meanhile offering to sell me marijuana or cocaina. Finally the people at the hostel were quite nice, very talkative and super friendly. Shortly after arrival, I see the owner of the hostel slipping some cocaine to one of the guys- now I understand why everybody's so happy here!
A young Canadian guy, sweet as a kitten, has been travelling a while and can't understand why his money keeps running out, and he eats so bad.. "ah maybe it's because I buy some drugs too much, yes..". You gotta laugh. A Swiss guy, about 47 years old, came mainly to Columbia to smoke weed and get coked up. "I was married", he says, "for 17 years I did not sniff one gram! Can you imagine such a thing..? Now, a year ago my wife left me.. I have two kids.. well since a year I'm sniffing coke again, but it's so damn expensive in Switzerland, you know.."

¡Viva Columbia!

I changed hostels. If I wanna see people get fucked up on drugs I might as well have stayed in Brussels, chamo. Even though the other hostel is, well.. a bit boring and too small. And you can't take a step outside or somebody's hastling you! Fuckers. Anyway, I scored a boat to Panama here, but it only leaves next weekend.. Hopefully I can get away from this city during next week, 'cos pretty it ain't. At least not in my eyes.. Maybe the whole Taganga experience is backfiring on me now. I see hostile people everywhere. Then a friend from Belgium tells me Panama is Dangerous. Damn man.... I jus' wanna chill!

So, Cartagena is supposed to be this beautiful colonial town with fancy architecture, but when I walk through the streets all I see are people in ragged clothes, clochards, dealers, constantly someone hissing "Taxi!.. Psssst.. Ganja.. Coca..". Now, I wouldn't mind being on a deserted beach with a fat Jay in my hand, but this dusty broken-down overcrowded tourist town does NOT define Beauty to me. Why even go out? Quite frankly, as many Latino cities, it's ugly as dust. But hey, I'm grumpy today.. maybe I should sniff something to change my view of thangs.

Anyway, what a difference with peaceful Casa Felipe in Taganga, where my biggest worry was which hammock to chill in, sunshine or shade, what delicious meal the excellent Dutch cook was gonna make..

It's all about Free Will. You do what you gotta do. Keep the boat afloat.

Lazy Rebel.