A lot more of Panamá

A lot of no hello’s

I didn’t fall in love with Panamá. And besides the littering behaviour of many people, there is another reason why. It seems to me that, compared to many other countries I’ve been to, Panamanians are not very into tourists and gringos. ‘They’, to continue generalising, might have issues with or hard feelings against ‘us’, because of historical, political or whatever kind of reason, but that’s not just the case in this country. And in most other places, I would at least be greeted back when giving someone a ‘hola’ and a smile. But even in (should be) service orientated places as super markets, there were many silences and unfriendly looks in return to my always friendly greetings. It got under my skin and felt kind of unhappy when stepping into supermarkets at the end, as I felt disappointed and sad, realising that I couldn’t continue being super friendly myself anymore.

A lot of love

Because of the complaining it might look I didn’t enjoy my time, but let me get things straight here. First of all, the many friends I made, from a ton of countries, have been amazing. Besides enjoying ourselves and exploring the country’s stunning nature, they help me grow and become a better version of myself. Sometimes by listening and speaking to them and having the most interesting chats, sometimes just by being around them and letting them be a mirror.

I’m very thankful for everyone I’ve spent a little or a lot of time with; from the ones with whom you share a deep understanding from the moment you introduce oneself, to the ones that you first need to figure out a bit more.

Tons of heartwarming moments

And let’s not forget the first times and magical moments, such as that lucky night that the rock steady Playa Venao crew saw a 70-year-old sea turtle laying her eggs under the full moon night. Someone mentioned a Hawaiian tradition, while we were hoping and waiting for eggs to hatch on a turtle project area, which says that we should draw what we really wanted. Clearly, a variety of turtles started to grow in the sand. Small and huge ones, flat ones and 3D ones, all created in moonlight only. And we played Pictionary too, to be honest.

On our way back, no babies seen, our shared wish became reality, when we saw a trail and found the hard working momma turtle. To be so close to this dinosaur, hearing her breathing heavily on laying her eggs whilst we sat with her, made everyone happy and silent.

And then there was the day that I woke up the first morning in a new place, getting ready to try the early morning waves, when I was yelled at to come quickly and see two adult whales and a little one flapping around in our bay.

So, there’s been lots of magic, but for what I know of it, it is not really ‘my’ country. Which I’m actually happy about, because what if you never want to leave every place you visit? So.. up to Costa Rica, a whole new country is awaiting me!

A lot of Panamá

And there goes Panamá. A 3-month adventure stuffed and packed with, well… a lot. A lot of new unforgettable people and moments, to start with. Tons of monkeys and sloths hanging about in hostel gardens. A true gem for animal watching, hiking and exploring natural wonders. Slightly less pleasant were the days of non-stop, fierce showers. The fact that I actually believed I didn’t need a rain coat or bag cover, as I would 'just avoid going outside' during the wet season, was a bit of a beginner’s mistake.

Lots of wildlife

The upside of that, in togetherness with Otto, the latest tropical November storm ever, waterfalls grew and colours exploded. An unreal kind of green took my breath away many times, making me having to stop, stare and sigh. A green so bright and vivid that made me feel like starring in a 3D computer game.

Healthy and blossoming conditions for animals of all sorts, so the little vampires that need human blood had me as their main piece of Christmas haute cuisine. Mosquitos, lice and mites feasted on me way before the holidays started. Newest member of the stinging, itching or burning kind are a mean type of algae and the ‘chitra’ (sand fly or flea).

Upsides are; many people love to hang out with the perfect bait, and in comparison to chitra horror, mosquito bites became peanuts. 

Lots of islands

Stubborn me almost missed out on the beautiful islands of Bocas del Toro, trying to stay away from crowded party heavens & expensive tourist traps. But the weeks spent there, moving between islands on little boats, enjoying jungle hikes and crazy bike rides to secluded beaches, tiny red frogs jumping around my legs, knee-high into the mud, turned out to be lovely in many ways.

Hearing Guari Guari, a mix of Spanish, English and maybe Jamaican-ish, makes for a true Caribbean feel. Bioluminescent water worms with a circular motion (don’t have any other way to describe them), fire flies, flying fish and friendly caimans probably make many foreigners decide to buy one of the many tropical islands that are for sale. The yummy coconut bread makes you (or at least me) forget about the numerous tourists that are being robbed on the desolated beaches. 

Lots of trash

‘A lot’ also relates to the amount of trash and plastic waste. It’s everywhere. It’s been a common sight: me in my bikinis, speeding after plastic cups that got picked up by the wind, carelessly dropped, thrown or left behind by ‘Sunday Funday’ locals on the beach. Carrying a bunch of empty beer cans that I picked up from the road while doing a little run to the beach and back, has raised an eyebrow here and there.

Panamá is still a new country and economy and with that it seems to be slightly behind on how things have developed in Western countries and especially neighbouring Costa Rica. Trash, how much harm it does to our Pachamama ('Mother Earth') and the possibilities of recycling are not yet on the awareness and priority list of Panameños.
Luckily there are initiatives and places where good work is being started. Bocas del Toro in general is trying harder than most other places I've seen. And then there are things going on already for a while in projects such as ‘The Plastic Bottle Village’, where a small village is being formed by houses constructed by the use of empty and otherwise unusable, plastic drinking bottles, all collected from the Bocas islands.

A relief to come across this positive and hopeful project at the end of my stay in Panamá. It was not that long ago that packaging was all still organic here, so often people have no clue that plastic does not dissolve when you throw it into the ocean or the woods. Even worse: every piece of plastic ever produced, still exists..

To be continued! 

366 days of Gratitude

Exactly one leap year ago I left my sweet Amsterdam to go travel again, but without packing a return ticket this time. Doing my work online to fund for living while traveling had until then only been an idea buzzing around for long. I ‘just’ had to pick up my laptop and go. So I did. There’s no way I could have imagined what taking that leap of faith would bring me; 12 months and 1 lucky extra day of ongoing learnings, epiphanies and growth whilst enjoying the good life and getting to know some new parts of this amazing world I’m so curious about.

Within the 366 days I had the pleasure to spend more than a month on the Atlantic during 3 magic cruises, live 6 unforgettable months in my newest big love, Brazil, and have a brief but sweet catch-up with Cartagena (Colombia). I got to know Portugal much better (hurray!) for 2 months and spent summer in Amsterdam during a ‘working holiday’ seeing loved ones right there. And now, the latest cruise brought me to Panamá, where getting back to speaking and learning Spanish is fighting for my attention with continuing to study more Portuguese and where the coconut oil is liquid again.

Slowing down, pleasuring up
I know that to some I might sound like the typical happy traveller that got bitten by the spiritual bla bla bug, but living outside a money driven rat race system, changed a lot within me. I believe I’m still the same person, but then better. The world looks different to me. Stardust of golden glitter is drizzling around in a rainbow coloured world, like the tiniest and shiniest of raindrops. Love, care & positivity for everyone, even including myself. I never felt more real, awake, at peace and am finally thankful for all that I am and have.

Soul findings
Serious soul digging resulted in many new found ‘treasures’. Fears are faced with confidence and love. And love itself got a new, open, unconditional and unattached meaning to it. Keep buckets close now, because I indeed keep on ‘finding myself’ more and more; the number one cliché that some might puke on the hardest. I actually believe I know what I am supposed to be doing here now – how Zen can you go? Learn from everything and everyone around me, see what positive I can do with all that happens and, with that, create the best possible ‘me’ on earth. And then the best part: try to rub off some of that onto others and leave a positive footprint wherever I am. I consider it my new career.

To end this as cheesy and happy hippie as can get: it simply all feels right, this is what I should be doing right now.

To never forget: Cruise #3 | Portugal – Panamá

*Note: clearly, all the used nicknames are nothing but sweet, cute, little generalizations with not a pixel of bad intentions. Only L.O.V.E. for the Russians, the gays, our Jesus Guy and all other stereotyping!

                                                                               

What happens when you put a hot gay couple, three Russian-ish guys, a missionary of Jesus Christ and a bunch of colorful traveling birds on a cheap, all-inclusive cruise and let them set sail to Central America? A 24/7 playground full of love and laughter and new experiences. An unforgettable journey that, without a doubt, has left a trail of smiles and special memories on many, if not all, of the hearts involved.

Worlds apart

The differences between us, all with our own ideas, standards, dreams, pasts and purposes were sometimes gigantic. And already for that reason alone, the trip started off as a rollercoaster in Lisbon harbor and ended without anyone wanting to disembark at arrival in the locks of the Panamá canal.

It took a day or two to settle in, to find each other and connect either on the dance floor, the dining table or at the pool, getting introduced through the friends that we already had since yesterday. Not always like minded in every way possible, but more or less ‘like aged’, our gang grew and spread over the decks like a giant, happy and sticky oil slick.

Drinking life like a Piña Colada

The 13 days on the ocean were pure magic. Cruising has that effect, I know by now, but this one was something else again. Most of us would probably never have met each other back home; no mutual backgrounds, religions or cultures in many cases. The boat put us all on the same spot and we couldn’t get away – even if we had wanted too. That, plus all the time in the world, made us open up, really listen and empathize with each other. Slurping up the exciting stuff to be found in all those exotic creatures, like we did the free piña coladas.

It wasn’t rare to see one of the Russians meditating with a Buddhist guy, sometimes opening an eye to check out the Latin babe working her ‘small tits, big booty’ in the gym in the background. The gays were sometimes found praying around with Jesus if not drinking gin-tonics, sunbathing, fumigating the room with kilos of deodorant, smoking the e-cigarette or doing an almost daily session of staying pretty in the gym.

The Jesus movie: new and improved

Our personal Jesus Guy turned out to be a sublime director, leading a serious production of the new and slightly more explicit version of the movie he uses to spread the word during his mission. Under the influence of the free bar (with a lot of Coca Cola for the director), we made our own Jesus movie, starring some of us on a wet and stormy pool deck.

There was the cripple, who actually had some trouble walking, because of some miraculous injury he got earlier on. Then the evil devil bullied him for limping, laughing like a maniac, doing back flips on the piled up sun chairs. But luckily there was Jesus, or his stand-in if #1 was too busy drinking beer, to exorcise this child of Satan.

The whore, because of her many sins, committed suicide by jumping off the boat after chugging another glass of cava. Strangely enough, she was alive again in the next scene, but who cares, really? What mattered, was that we were all healed in Jesus’ name in the end. So we ordered another round of free cocktails and told the miracles that Jesus made happen to our new friends; happy cruise people, printed life-size with a drink in their hands on the wall paper. The last detail needed for before the release date is the soundtrack, recorded on a drum computer.

Today

Months later, while most of us are not in the same place anymore, there is still quite a bit of contact between many of us. Sometimes the same cruise next year pops up as a reunion idea. But even when it’s quiet on WhatsApp or Facebook, there’s an invisible line of inerasable connection. I know for sure we’re all smiling this special grin thinking back of the many crazy, intense moments, of which I only know the part that I was attending. So many stories..!

The cuddling pile of people for example; lying across each other, hand in hand under the shooting stars on the runner’s deck, me as some sort of center pillar in the middle. Or the midnight basketball games, where no one knew who was with whom and therefore had more similarities to wrestling. The rumours about a possible orgy whispering in different corners on the ship, the epic wake up session, running through the corridors to wake up the birthday boy and take him to the bar. And the 5.00AM plan of how to take over the ship and live there forever on our drifting and self sustainable dream world.

Me might or we might not meet again, in this or another formation. Either way, I’m sure it has been a life enhancing experience for some of us. It sure has been for me and I’m truly happy to have had the chance to live this insane trip.

This blog is dedicated to never forget this crazy and loving happening, to all your faces, to friendship and of course to Dr. Bob; who will hopefully find love soon after spreading so much of it himself.

Amen.

A Dutch break

As if I’ve never left; that’s how it felt, sitting in one of the comfy seats in the Fragata piano bar of the Monarch cruiser again. Some of the crew members recognize me from a few months ago and make me feel extra at home, which puts me even more in a cheesy, slightly melancholic mood. Especially today, as I realize that the next part of my unbelievably fortunate travel (and a little bit of work) lifestyle is actually happening again!

Old-school full agenda

To say that my Dutch summer break was slightly packed, is somewhat of an understatement. Catching up with mi familia and home boys and girls was unbelievably good. Them going out of their way to see me regardless of their busy work and family schedules was so sweet. Getting so much love and acceptance for my choice to live slightly different and far away from all of them, leaves me with nothing but an extremely thankful glow for my friends being such loyal friends. No matter how far or how long I’m gone, they prove to be there no matter what. And regardless of how many months it has been, it always feels like yesterday.

Indian Summer in Portugal

The break was also a bit of a work trip. I almost forgot what it was like to work more than 40 hours in an office and trying to keep an intensive social calendar ‘on the side’. Even though it was good fun with cool colleagues, it wasn’t hard to say goodbye to that rhythm after a few weeks. I stepped out of the office as if I had wings and flew back into the great, wide open of Portugal, spending Indian summer with existing friends and new additions to the book of Wonderful People I know, before setting sail to Latin America again.

So while Lisbon gets smaller and smaller, a ‘see you later’ whispered into the air and taken by the wind, the butterflies inside my belly are getting outrageously excited. But first I’m happy to glide into me-time mode and cherishing the silence of the seemingly never ending ocean. For as long as it will last. Experience tells me that interesting people and experiences never wait too long to show themselves to me.