Mano a Mano

San Blas, how long could you stay living there?

mtlasa — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:09:29 +0000

If I had discovered this little piece of paradise in Panama before, I would have definetively repeated the experience…

Clear water,quite some corals and therefore all the fauna that goes with it, sun, breeze, no running water, no electricity, sky full of stars and some tourists coming from time to time to enjoy it. What else? As G. Clooney says…

Nigth views from my second appartment

mtlasa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:20:30 +0000

Living in the 12th floor now, here you have the night perspective from the appartment.

Week-end in Oku

mtlasa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:39:03 +0000

Invited by a collegue from work, I went to visit a cute little village in the inside land of Panama: “Oku”. It was a gastronomic week-end, tasting freshly baked corn fritters, ovenly cooked marinated pork meat and of course everything doused with all kind of wines.

At least on saturday evening we went for a swim in the local river and could move a little before falling asleep like bears for a good siesta under Panama´s heat.

Alfonso, a very funny character, great cook, and very chatty guested us amazingly and surprised me with some beatifull pictures of a Paella´s he made. After those images I´m nearly ashamed about the one I promised to cook for my work collegue´s, I will need to find a trick to decorate it and make it look better.

We also had the honor to meet the village´s major and some of his rich and cousy friends.

Being spanish, not married and no kids at my age, working on my own and so far from my birth country they were a little astonished with my life-style. Specially for the kind of life most of the people have here, where between religion, tabous and lack of sexual education so many girls fall pregnant before 20. Of course feigned by one of them, as for men here, it is a sport.

Going to San Blas for the week-end

mtlasa — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:54:30 +0000

Before ending these 5 months experience I wanted to offer to myself an adventure week-end in the Atlantic side of Panama.
Going through the jungle to some islands where Cuna indigenous people, still living under their beliefs and rules, do accept tourism. Hey! but only under their laws, and of course after paying the regional tax that allows foreigners and locals to enter their territory.

Very much looking forward for these experience! Hopefully will have some good pictures to share.

It´s raining again…

mtlasa — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:48:58 +0000

Living in belgium I thought I have lived in a rainy country….Well living in Panama, and going through the month of october, where the degreee of humidity is above 70% and the amount of water that can fall every day is quite impressive I think I can definitelly say now I have lived in a rainy country.

For those who need to see numbers and facts you can go to the following website and check
Información climatológica:

http://wwis.inm.es/076/c01221.htm

You will directly fall into Panama´s fact sheet.

For those who prefer a more visual image, you go into your shower (only if you live in a western country have a powerfull waterjet of course), you then turn the faucet fully and you stay there for 30 minutes. This feeling is the closest I can imagine to being under the rain in Panama.

The good side of these rainy days, specially if it is sunday, is that you feel like hiding under your blanket, drink a hot tea or chocolate and just be lazy and do nothing. For those being a little hyperactive having some problems to do nothing, you can start organising your weekly administrative paper work, clothes, pans and casseroles and feel like if you have done something usefull putting some order in your cahotic mind and world.

The plan was going to be, going to a beer festival in the old part of the town, but looking through the window and seeing this misty, cloudy landscape i wonder if someone is going to dear to put his toe outside of the house.

Still in a philosophical mood…

mtlasa — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:10:33 +0000

Your beliefs become your thoughts
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your habits
Your habits become your values
Your values become your destiny
Mahatma Gandhi

Insomnia

mtlasa — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:50:41 +0000

Probably because being emotionally shaken by a lot of feelings that are showing up in my body and mind and that are making me experience a hole array of different sensations, here I am again being insomniac….I hate it! But worse of it, I hate to stay in bed rolling and rolling around and having a full set of ideas, images and things going over my mind.

Willing to hold “morpheus”, but I cannot find him. Is like if I was shouting in the middle of a dark wood, keep on searching, walking and sweating, desperetaly looking for him, but I cannot find him.

No in fact is not as bad as I am describing it, is just thinking about good things that happened during the trip and new changes that are soon happening….Going back to Europe in a month, looking forward to it!!

Probably if I stop searching, and looking for it, Iwill let my energies go and he will approach me. Hopefully he will take a big pan and will hit me hard in the head, so I am completely knocked out directly fall into a deep sleep….

Anyway probably I will be able to find him in several hours, just before my alarm starts ringing. Morpheus…..where are you?

Orlando for a weekend

mtlasa — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:47:53 +0000

Actually I´m eating “Kasugai Roasted hot green peas” that I happened to buy in Orlando´s Epcot center´s Japanese. These are green peas mixed with some Wasabi, and if you eat too many of them in a row you end up crying, because of the spicy and hot taste. But they are goood!!!

In order to be able to stay for the last 2 months in this country I was obliged to get my 3 months turist visa renewed, so I was sent for a long weekend to Orlando. I only spent 2 days there but it was good enough to change air, do something different, rest a little and read a lot, going out from hot Panama and seeing one of the Dysney Parks in Orlando “Epcot Center”. It was funny but definitivelly a desination to go with kids, I wouldn´t have chosen it for such a short period. It seemed to me that the city was the kingdom of consumption, everything done to help you spend all your money in case you weren´t sure about what to do with it. And compared to Panama, everything was expensive.

This weekend I practiced some spanish cuisine. Some friends came over, so I cooked the two most typical spanish recipees you can find: “Paella” and “Tortilla de Patatas”. For the wine I went for an Argentinian one, they have definetively good wines over there.

Mamones Chinos

mtlasa — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:37:14 +0000

Half way through Panama

mtlasa — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:18:13 +0000

It has been allready 2 months and a half that I have been living and working in Panama city. It is maybe a friday evening syndrom, but I do regret having stopped travelling. It was a lot more funnier and interesting, having the hole day for doing whatever you feel like and discovering new things everyday…Who the hell on earth decided that we have to work and earn money for living??? They could have invented something more creative….In fact one of the things I used to tell to myself during the travelling is that I was really privileged for being able not to work for a while and go travelling, a lot of people cannot afford to do so. And in fact it is true, so I should stop thinking as a spoiled person and think that regarding the actual economic situation, I am lucky, because I do happen to have a job!!!

In addition of that I really enjoy the feeling that the week has finished and I can relax for the week-end.
My rational side tells me, it is good for your CV and experience…But my deepest, inner me, is a little sad I stopped the travelling. I sometimes hate being rational!!!

On the other side, life in Panama is ok, I started getting my marks and I do have my little weekly habits, such as getting a massage every saturday. I´m dreaming about tomorrow only for that…

Have met some nice people that have been taking me out for some excursions and have been going around Panama city, visiting some very very green areas. Nature here is AMAZING, with the amount of daily rain the earth receives, the sun and the heat, nature here is in it´s most intense expression, you see all sort of plants, trees, flowers, fruits and vegetation. Walking in one of the National Parks last weekend I had the impression of being in a science fiction scenary…

In addition to the wonderfull nature, after walking 5 minutes in the national park, I felt a little hot, I then looked to my T-shirt and realised it was like I was coming out from the shower….Where did all that water came from? It my sweat, perspiration, only after 5 minutes…

A part of that I´m spending my evenings watching DVD´s and reading a little. Have watched “La vie en Rose”, about Edith Piaf´s life, “El Sustituto” with Angelina Jolie about his son that disappears and “Lujuria y Traición” about the Japanese occupation of Shangai and part of China during the Second World War and I have enjoyed them a lot.