Panama!

Well, I never heard this good music when I was actually in Panama.. But I guess the Golden Era of Latin Music was in the 60's and 70's, now it's all high-rise buildings and plastic dreams.

Soundway records presents Panama! 2 - Latin Sounds, Cumbia Tropical & Calypso Funk on the Isthmus, 1967-77 - showcasing the unique tropical music created in Panama during the fertile decades of the 1960s and '70s. (Thank you Parisdjs.com & SoundwayRecords.com)

Beto's Panama! 2 DJ Mix | Download MP3

You better work

Reminisce

Some classics to get in the right frame of mind..
Push it along, trails we blaze..

Pete Rock & CL Smooth on YO! MTV Raps


Pete Rock & CL Smooth - They Reminisce Over You


Gang Starr - Manifest


A Tribe Called Quest - Jazz


Slick Rick - Mistakes


Showbiz & AG - Next level (DJ Premier remix)


Some Japanese beats to ease out..

DJ Mitsu The Beats - Mine Lady


DJ Mitsu The Beats - After midnight

“Skindata” by Doz1jeE

Skindata is the second album by eclectic French producer Doz1jeE. It blends the cold rawness of electro with the soulful warmth of hip hop.

I had the pleasure of working with him and Baby M on the trippy track "Sugar".

Other featured international artists are : Wun Spirit (UK), Monsieur Saï (FR), Mental Telep (USA), Pandra (FR), BabyM (UK).

The album is out on Good Citizen Factory.
Listen on Deezer.

Get it !

Music has no rules..

72 Soul

Antigua

"Your true traveler finds boredom agreeable rather than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty, his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically but almost with pleasure." -Aldous Huxley

Maybe Antigua, Guatemala was the first place I should've visited: very touristy but not in a pushy way. Surrounded by mountains, sunny but not too hot, relaxed atmosphere, super friendly people, and Spanish teachers everywhere. People correcting my Spanish on the street!

On a consumer's note, I'm spending big bucks right now buying souvenirs for everybody..

-Whose world is this ?

Lazy Rebel Kid 72

The Traveler

"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign."

Well, it's been quite a journey.. I probably alienated some people with my lazy rebel behaviour, touched other peoples' souls with my mysterious charm and left behind a trail of broken hearts (as you do).. but it's been a pleasure to meet you all! Even the ones that got on my nerves now and then, when I was filled with a little bit too much big city anxiety and naive hope. Or the ones I just ignored because I was so completely Pura Vida and relaxed, dude.

"When the traveler goes alone he gets acquainted with himself."

It wasn't an Extraordinary Journey. Let's face it : the days of Real Adventure Travel are pretty much over. I didn't risk my life struggling through the jungle fighting leopards or crocodiles. But it wasn't your typical Stupid Planet Backpacker's journey either. I did survive a car crash and an attack by three boys with cuchillos, remember? Anyway, I feel I've witnessed what it is like to actually LIVE in these countries, with the pro's and the cons, and that was exactly what I was going for. I saw real people living real lives.

"The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see."

Staying with Sandrita and her daughter and father in Caracas, dancing salsa (badly), getting drunk every night (and day) with rapido y furioso Erickson in San Cristobal, crashing his place (after he crashed his car, with me in it) and attending his sister's wedding in the mountains, visiting the most bizarre places in Bogota with Lili and the gang, losing myself in the jungle of natural park Tayrona, sleeping in hammocks and taking shaky buses, visiting stripclubs and whorehouses without touching any-thong (pay for sex, Moi? Tu m'as vu?), running away from clumsy young thugs in Taganga, being hassled by junkies and experiencing the nightlife in Cartagena, sailing to San Blas and Panama with an alcoholic captain, visiting Panama City with a horny American, chilling out in Bocas del Toro, crossing the country to Boca Chica, wandering around in dusty Puerto Jimenez and soaking up the sun in paradise Cabo Matapalo, ending up at Mia and Violeta's place to experience Pura Vida (do you wanna smoke a joint?), taking the Tica Bus and cross-border Nicaragua, El Salvador to reach beautiful Antigua, Guatemala ....

There you go, three months in one paragraph. We have time to live, if we don't live the time.

"Hay mas tiempo que vida."

I was surprised to find such generosity and friendship overseas, from Venezuela, Columbia through Panama and Costa Rica.. I've come to meet so many different South-and Central-American boys and girls who just offered me a sleeping place, who took me into their home as a part of the family. I'm getting kind of used to that treatment now, so I wonder what my confrontation with Ye Olde Westerne Europe will have in store for me. Will I be shouting "Smile motherfuckers!" the next time I take the Brussels metro? Duh, think not.

What have I learned ?

That I'm a free spirit who needs sensible, stimulating and slightly crazy people around him to feel good and CREATE. That I missed my family, friends, and music, but not my country. That there are alternatives out there if you wanna drop out of the western way of living the rat race. That wherever you travel, you always take yourself with you. That sometimes it's better to run than to hide. That you have to be grateful always, and patient sometimes. That, when Facebook is on, all bets are off.. That there is absolutely nothing to worry about if you believe in yourself. That Israelian people are real fucking obnoxious assholes when abroad (like the girl SHOUTING into her Skype sitting next to me right now). And last but not least.. that Costa Rica probably has the most beautiful women in South and Central America. Trust me, I have very good taste.

"The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are."

Another goal of this trip was to get inspired musically and creatively, recharge the batteries and come back with a wild bunch of new ideas and melodies. Well, it's bubbling. Just as the medium is the message, the journey WAS the experience. It's upon my return to the holy land of right-wing politics that I shall explode or implode with Freshness. Everything will fall into place.

Entonces.. as I enjoy these last days in Antigua..

MUCHAS GRACIAS to everybody for having a free spirit over for dinner*

xXx

Pete*

AKA Pedro / The Lazy Rebel / 72 Soul

Vote For Pedro

Hay mas tiempo que vida

I.

Travelling is avoiding the touristy places, and submerging yourself in the local life and attitudes. Pretty much what I've been trying to do for these last three months, with mixed results. Carcrashes, people trying to stab me, staying with locals who've become friends, checking into weird Backpackers Hostels, getting lost in the jungle.. It's all part of the journey.

Life in Costa Rica is peaceful.. this country has no armed forces, aka no army! There's no real poverty, a big group of middleclass people, a friendly relaxed atmosphere, beautiful nature and the warmth of the Sun.

How am I ever gonna get used again to rainy Belgium?

I changed my ticket to fly back to Belgica, leaving Guatemala City on the 14th of June. I was supposed to fly back from Caracas, Venezuela but since the flight connection was so expensive.. I have some more borders to cross.. Nicaragua.. San Salvador.. Guatemala.

I've been slacking it here in Alajuela (near San Jose) for a few lazy days now, gathering strength for the last stretch of the journey, doing nothing .. watching dvd's, smoking pot, going out for a drink at night, drinking a cold Stella Artois from the local Supermercado.. A shout-out goes to Elle Gabor for being my generous hostess with the mostest!

II.

-Are you a happy person?


You're funny.


-Life is so hard..

III.

Talking and sleeping and walking and creeping
on the side of your unmade bed
Thinking and drinking and smoking and coping
with all the things you've never said

Spinning and turning and grinning and burning
the soul out of your starry eyes
Waiting debating, growling and howling
for real love to come by on time

Playing and biting and saying and writing
all that you can't say out loud
Coming and going and sowing and growing
older on the road down south

Giving and taking and living and breaking
young hearts with cold looks of ice
Buying and selling and screaming and yelling
you don't have to feel to think twice

The Tree

Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica May 2009

"Love your life, live your dreams*"