Yes, I’m a little late this year with my list, which has become a Thanksgiving tradition since this Andiamo thing started. This last Thanksgiving, I was incarcerated in a Bocas del Toro hospital, getting treated for a nasty leg infection. With NO wireless internet!! For almost SIX DAYS!!! It’s a miracle I survived.
So on to the list of the people I want to thank for getting me through 2007 (as always, in no particular order):
The staff at Bocas del Toro Hospital – Ok, this is a public hospital. And in most places in Central America, you stayed away from public hospitals as much as possible. If you could crawl, limp or drag yourself to a private hospital, that’s where you would have to go. I’ve heard a couple of horror stories about the hospital here in Bocas, so I was enormously apprehensive about going there when my leg infection flared up a couple of weeks ago. I had no choice but to go to the emergency room one night, and the doctor on duty admitted me immediately. They kept me there for six days, administering antibiotics via IV, nursing my infected wound, and more.
Yes, the food was pretty ghastly (even though the ladies who served the food were very sweet and friendly), the water was off half the time, and you had to bring your own pillow and towel. But the hospital was kept clean. The nurses were professional, caring, and competent. The doctors, while rather aloof, were also attentive despite their overall lack of bedside manners. And in the end, my six-day stay cost me a whole $50.00. If I were poor, I would have paid nothing.
It’s disheartening to me that a country like Panama can provide this kind of care to its poorest people while a country like the US makes it almost impossible for their poor or uninsured to get decent, affordable medical care. I can only say that I’m glad I was here and nowhere else when I contracted this injury, and thank the Minsterio de Salud (Ministry of Health) for doing what they do.
Aaron and Lyla of “Blow Me Away” – These people are the best, they’ve helped me out countless times. Lucky for me they carry dozens of spare parts onboard, or I’d be screwed. But also thank them for all the fun rum-filled nights of conversation, company, and great food to boot. I’m sure I’ll run into them in Cartagena, at least I hope so. I have a bunch of parts of theirs that I owe them. So many thanks Aaron and Lyla!
Mietsie Truyers – Our relationship has been rather turbulent and difficult at times. But she has always been there for me any way she could be, and I appreciate it to no end. She was thankfully there for me during the loss of Aretha, and I couldn’t have imagined going through that alone. So thank you Mietsie, your friendship is important to me, always remember that.
Sarah Miles and Jenni Tuomiivara – These two girls, Sarah from UK and Jenni from Finland, crewed on Andiamo down from Honduras to Panama. We became a fun team despite some crew setbacks we experienced at the beginning of the trip. They handled themselves well during the crazy weather too. It was a very entertaining trip, and I’ll always remember the fun times in San Andres and the Albuquerques, eating lobster while anchored in a most incredible setting. They are also the very first Andiamo crew on record to swim naked off a bar dock, thus making history. They are welcome on Andiamo anytime.
Luigi and Luisa Bellotti – As always, they’ve been a big help to me and Andiamo. They particularly came through for Sjelle when I was dealing with getting her boat sold off earlier this year. And I so miss Luisa’s crostata!!!
As always, there are so many other people that have contributed to my experiences and helped me get through the crazy times and crises, and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart.
I barely made the flight out of Bocas to head to Guatemala City. The weather’s been iffy, and the flights in and out have been getting delayed and/or cancelled like crazy. Luckily, my flight was just delayed a couple of hours, and I got out in time. I had a few hours’ layover in Panama City. So I made arrangements to meet up with Liz and Margaux, 2 Belgian sisters I knew from Bocas. They were biding some time before flying off in different directions. Margaux was heading back home to Belgium and Liz, interestingly enough, was heading up to Antigua. So that means I’d probably see her there too.
We met up at their hostel and headed over to Via Espana for lunch. We ended up having Chinese at a busy place. The food was good, but took way too long to come out. We chatted and gossiped about Bocas stuff for awhile, it was nice. Unfortunately, I had to head out a bit early because it was raining massively, and I needed to make sure I made the airport in time for my next flight. We headed back to their hostel where my bags were, and I headed to the airport from there.
The flight to Guatemala was lengthy, because I had to make two stops from Panama City. First to San Jose, then to San Salvador. I finally arrived in Guatemala City. Thankfully Mitzy was waiting, because I was exhausted.
She set me up at the Westin Camino Real Hotel for the first night. Definitely a four-star joint. The room was absolutely incredible and the bed was, to date, the best bed I have ever slept on. I’m not kidding. It was like sleeping on a fluffy cloud. I didn’t think I moved the whole night. It was amazing.
After getting checked in, we went to pick up Moni. She’s the GC Gang contingent who lives on Utila, now a very good friend. She was in Guatemala for a visit, and for the big wedding. Interestingly, Mitzy didn’t tell her I was coming. So when we picked her up at her house, it was a total surprise.
We dined on sushi and got caught up on all the Utila happenings, along with other related subjects. Then, they were in the mood for poker. I was just way too tired, but I told them I’d try to keep up. We hit a couple of poker rooms close by, but there were no good games. Then we went to another one, a newer casino. There was a good game brewing, but not enough room at the table for all three of us. Despite yielding my seat to go ahead and play, but they decided not to, and we headed out. I was really exhausted and looking forward to sleeping in my lovely bed at the Westin anyway. As I previously mentioned, I was not to be disappointed.
I slept so well that I totally missed my wake-up call. It was awesome, I never wanted to wake up. The shower was a beautiful thing too. It was one of those 2-headed massaging get-ups. It was a long, hot shower. Ohh.. yeah…
A bit later, we made arrangements to get some lunch, pick up Moni, and head to Antigua. This is where Rosi and Andres were getting married. It’s a town made for weddings, with something like 33 churches there and plenty of settings for receptions. Mitzy had set me up another very nice hotel there as well. A really nice place called Hotel de Casa Noble. Huge rooms, casually yet elegantly decorated. In the Spanish colonial style, surrounding an incredibly well-manicured courtyard with running fountain. It was spoiling, needless to say.
The wedding was the next day, but we had plans to meet up with a couple other GC gang’ers that night for dinner at an Indian place. Liza ended up being the only one other than us three. Dinner was very nice. It was sure to be a crazy day the next day, so we all opted to turn in early.
Now though I managed to dredge up some presentable dress clothes for this clambake on the boat, there was a slight problem. I didn’t have any dress shoes. Mitzy said not to worry. Campollo, one of the GC Gang who I’ve met several times, and was on the ill-fated Easter trip to Cayos Cochinos last April, would lend me a pair. So all was good.
The next morning I was ready, except for shoes. Campollo was to meet me at the hotel with the shoes, then I’d ride with him to the church for the ceremony, which started around noon. Eleven o’clock went by, and no sign of him. Then noon, still no sign. Mitzy came back to the hotel after the ceremony, which I now had missed, to tell me Campollo called. He was running late because of traffic. He showed up a short while later. After donning the shoes, we were on the way to the reception.
While I was sorry to have missed the ceremony, I kinda wasn’t. I’m not a fan of long, traditional catholic masses, much less catholic wedding ceremonies. My leg was still hurting after the spill I took back at Bocas earlier in the week, and I really didn’t feel like kneeling and standing, and so on. So in a way, I was glad Campollo was late.
The reception, now that was a whole other story. I didn’t want to miss a minute of this thing. They held it at an old coffee plantation house that had been converted to host events like weddings and large parties. There was a stage with a band, loads of food, drinks, and quite a lot of people! I believe it was over 200. I was definitely the sole gringo at this event, and yet, I didn’t feel uncomfortable, not once. Well, maybe once.
Each table had its own set of liquor and mixers, which were promptly refilled upon emptying. The food was quite nice, and there was plenty of it. It was a very elaborate affair. The band went on until about 8 or 9 pm. Despite my injury, I was able to hold my own with my fake salsa and merengue routine.
Then a DJ took over, that’s when the dancing kicked up in earnest. He played a bit of everything, keeping the dance floor going well into midnight. He also had a tendency to play “What’s Up?” by Four Non-Blondes about 10 times through the night. I think it was because everybody was singing along at the top of their lungs.
Things finally started winding down after midnight, and plans were being made for where the after-party was going to be. There was a lot of major inebriation by this point, naturally. One particular GC member who shall remain unnamed, swayed a bit too much, and took a spill. She ended up landing on the dance floor in a very alarming way. The rest of us thought she was seriously hurt. Luckily she wasn’t, just a small cut on her lip. That little incident, however, sort of set the tone for everyone to just head home and maybe play it safe.
The next day, I got an email from Elizabeth, who I had just seen in Panama before flying out. She had arrived and we arranged to meet at the park at 1pm for lunch. So while the rest of the gang met up and did the after-wedding thing. I met up with Liz, and we hung out the rest of that afternoon. She was planning on being there for 5 weeks to study more spanish. Knowing Antigua fairly well, I showed her around, and gave her some tips about the place.
Later on, we met back up with the gang at a local cafe, and I introduced her to everybody. She had to go back to where she was staying early because she didn’t have a key yet, so we arranged to meet up again later. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, because everyone else got vegetated, and we ended staying at Liza’s house and watching “Apocalypto” instead. Campollo and I went into town to get some dinner, but that was it.
I flew out the next day. Because of the flight schedule, I was going to be stuck in Panama City that night. Unfortunately, I got there too late to do anything fun. This actually worked out anyway, because I wanted to pick up a battery charger for Andiamo while I was in town. I had just enough time to do that before heading back to Bocas. I was rather hoping that my leg would start feeling a little better by now. But it was still swollen and a bit bruised around the injury. Maybe I should have danced on it so much.
Now that I’m back in Bocas, the plan is to get the prospective crew and passengers set on a departure date, get Andiamo ready, and head out within the week.
So things are coming together for the Cartagena trip. I’d rounded up a good group of people for passengers, and a new buddy Joe tells me he thinks he’s up for crewing. With all this coming together, I made a last-minute decision to fly up to Guatemala next weekend for a GC Gang wedding I’d been invited. Rosi, one of the esteemed GC Gang elite, is tying the knot on the 10th. Mitzy, and Moni (from Utila) will be there as well.
I figured I can put off the departure a few days to make the gig. So what the hell, I say. It helps that Mitzy used her major travel industry contacts, scoring me a cheap airfare, and a four-star hotel in Guatemala City (I dig the bathrobes). So after touching base with the potential passengers, I went ahead and made arrangements with Mitzy to make the trip.
It was a holiday weekend in Bocas, yet again. Seems like Panama likes to celebrate like three different kinds of independence days. There’s “National Day” on the 2nd, which incidentally means, there’s no alcohol served or sold until midnight. Then there’s Independence day from Colombia on the 5th, but there’s two more major holidays coming up later in the month as well.
Needless to say, there’s a festive spirit in town.
I’ve been doing my best to participate, but it hasn’t always gone well. I got thrown out of Barco Hundido, a local dance spot, because I raised a ruckus about being charged a bloated cover charge at something like 2:30 AM. One of the bouncers decided I was being disrespectful, and I was told to leave, and given my three dollars back. I was laughing in disbelief, I can’t remember the last time I was thrown out of a bar. I guess I was due.
Then, to add to the irony, I went back in to Barco Hundido with some friends a couple nights later. Follow me on this one. Apparently I wasn’t permanently banned from the place, because they let me right in this time. It was pretty crowded on account of the holiday weekend, even though it was a Sunday. I ran into Sabrina, a Cali chica I know, and decided we’d do some salsa.
Now, I’m not a trained dancer by any means, but I sure can fake it when it comes to salsa and merengue. I guess spending 3+ years in Mexico and Central America will do that to you. I’ve actually come to like it, and I get complemented on my fake salsa and merengue dancing all the time. So Sabrina and I were just dancing along on the crowded dance floor, doing pretty well, minding our business. I usually don’t take my flip flops off during dancing, but this time I did. The floor was a bit too damp, and they tended to stick a bit.
A few minutes into our third or so dance, I gave Sabrina another twirl (I find most of the faking can be done by just twirling the girl a lot, accentuated by dipping). When she snapped back, I felt a crack under my foot. That second, the whole floorboard, which was obviously rotted, gave way. Sending my left foot and shin right through it. I was now caught into the crack up to just below the knee. It happened so fast, Sabrina didn’t even notice. I looked up at her, now feeling the sudden jolt of pain from my knee being wedged into the hole. Everyone else just kept dancing around me, it was unbelievable.
Sabrina noticed a few seconds later, and helped pull me out. I limped off the floor, and checked out my leg. It hurt. I felt a bump below my knee, but I was otherwise ok. I went over to my friend Nathalie who tends bar there, and she hooked me up with some ice. I iced down the injury, and it started feeling better right away. But I was done dancing for the night.
I limped back to the boat shortly afterwards to nurse my knee back on Andiamo. The next day, it was a bit swollen, but otherwise ok, I took some ibuprofen and went about the rest of the day. I ran into Sabrina that afternoon and even laughed about the incident. I was just glad that she didn’t go through the floor too. I just hope my knee heals up ok, and fast. I really want to head out to Cartagena early next week.
So tomorrow, I head to Guatemala City for the big wedding gig, should be interesting, fun, and too put it mildly, festive.
