Carnaval
2003
Hanging In ~ By
Matthew Atlee
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was a Carnaval where I was always looking for a hammer and picking up a
screwdriver instead that on touch shattered in my hands. But all the little
problems never joined together to create one large problem, so I was happy.
On Thursday the 27th I picked up the Toyota Corolla that I had reserved
two-weeks before. Friday of Carnaval, we usually leave the city around
12:30 in the afternoon and head out to Isla Grande, an island located between
Portobelo - the old Spanish gold town - and Nombre Dios - the place where
Colombus on his fourth journey to the Americas called out: "In the name
of God, we stop here." But we had to go to a formal dinner at the City
Club on the top floor of the Edificio Intelligente. But I was sick and
Roger didn't want to drive if the Carnaval scene was going to be in its
panic mode. So at about 5:30 we had made the decision to go to Isla Grande
after all. We were 17% on our way to Isla Grande when I realized that we
had forgotten the radio/CD player. We went back to our house which was
about a 40 minute ride and picked up the radio, the cell-phones we had
forgotten, and more CDs. And, Gabi and Rosi saw our neighbor who was returning
from work at his beachfront bar on the Causeway.
We left and
then realized after three minutes that I had forgotten my Carnaval shirt
which was my Great-grandfathers and was given to me by my mother a few
years before but which now had banana grass stains on it due to an accidental
fall I had taken down a hill on Isla Grande. Anyway, we got back on the
road and made it to Las Sabinitas after an hour on the road. Gabi and Rosi
and I were in the car. They went into the Supermarket Rey in Las Sabinitas
and bought some rum and mixers. From Las Sabinitas to Isla Grande is a
short one-hour ride: the road takes you along the ocean and twists and
bends right above the water. You look out to sea and see waves breaking
against rocks and when you look inshore you see dark hills with rivers
breaking down them headed for the ocean. During the day it is even better.
I once saw two-rainbows cross each other above me while my friend Ceferino
drove under them in a small early 1980s Datsun pick-up. When Colombus'
men returned to Spain after the 1504 expedition, they were asked by the
royal family of Spain about the lay of the land in this part of the New
World. Colombus' men rolled up a piece of paper into a hard ball and then
untangled it and laid it flat on a table, they said, "It looks like that".
It was late
around 12:30 in the morning when we arrived to the island and there were
about three or four men waiting at the dock in La Guira to take us on a
small boat to Isla Grande. The hour was very late to cross the channel
and both the town on the landslide and on Isla Grande were both completely
still. The boat took us to a dock and as we pulled into the dock which
was placed on an isolated side of the island and which was dead still as
we approached, a man appeared from the shadows of a street-lamp which hung
high above the dock and had a powerful orangish light. He was working for
the nearby hotel and when he realized we were not customers of the hotel
he disappeared back onto the path which led from the dock to town or to
the old French lighthouse. Our house was near; that's why we had landed
in this place in the first place. The house was a short walk and then we
had to climb a steep hill, which at the top of was our friend Ron Keith's
house. |
| Great friend
and great photographer, Ron Keith's house on Isla Grande. Ron built the
house himself and carried all the concrete, wood and supplies from
car to boat to steep hillside. The breeze blows 24 hours a day and the
sunlight and moonlight are incredible. If you look at the above photo and
the second photo below, you will see some islands in the background.
Colombus, as well as Francis Drake later, sailed around those islands
and landed at Nombre de Dios in 1504. Further down the coast you come to
the San Blas Islands and the home of the Kuna Indians. You can also see
along this coastline the remains (just a stone wall) of the Scottish Colony
of 1699 at a place called Caledonia Bay. The colony was established by
William Patterson, the Scotsman who took a leading role in founding the
Bank of England. Patterson's idea was to have ships from Europe land on
the Atlantic side of Panama and ships from Asia land on the Pacific side
and then trade with each other across the Panamanian Isthmus. Scotland
in 1699 had not united with England - that would occur in 1707 - so this
was their one chance at establishing a colony. They really had no idea
where they were going. Patterson had lived for 10 years in Jamaica and
had made a fortune; during his years in Jamaica he had met Henry Morgan
and been told about how to reach Panama. There were 1200 men and each was
promised 50 acres in the countryside and 50 foot square of ground in the
town that would be established. |
| They arrived
at the beginning of the dry season, so they thought they had found paradise
though many people died of malaria. They also failed to realize that there
were lee shores for 300 or 400 miles. So they sailed in with the
wind at their back but there were no winds to take them offshore. In addition,
no one wanted to trade with the colony: the Spanish watched from Carthagena
and the English secretly plotted againist the colony. The rains came and
people died like flies from malaria. Help was sent for, but the situation
deteriorated. Eventually the Scots abandoned the colony. |
| That should
really have been the end, but nobody in Scotland knew what was happening
and so they sent more people out to the colony. The second expedition arrived
to an empty colony and while waiting in the Bay of Caledonia one of the
men set fire to some brandy onboard by accident and the second fleet left
without ever really landing. The third Scottish expedition arrived and
stayed, and then soon after arriving the Amerindians told the Scottish
that the Spanish were planning an attack from Potobelo, up the coast near
Isla Grande. The Scots marched through the jungle and killed many of the
men in the Spainsh force. But after intercepting the Spanish on ground,
a fleet of Spanish ships from Carthagena landed men on either side of Caledonia
Bay and encircled the colony, forcing it to surrender. The Spanish showed
mercy as they wanted to get the hell out of this cursed place. The return
back to Scotland from Panama was a disaster for the Scots: the ship Hope
of Bo'ness broke up and had to land in Carthagena; the other ships
were caught in a hurricane off South Carolina. One of the ships, Rising
Sun, broke apart in the hurricane: most of the men died except a Reverend
Stobo and his wife who six generations later would be the direct ancestors
of Theodore Roosevelt. By the way there is something hidden in the photo
above: can you see it? |
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The
power worked in the house and I found out very quickly after arrival that
we could get water into the elevated water-tank the next day. We drank
Glemmorange Scotch; it was 1:00 in the morning with the breezes blowing
hard through the house. There was no moon so that made the darkness close.
When the moon is out, and you can see at night even better than you can
during the day, it is much easier to wander out into the night and roll
around in the moonlight on the moss-like grass. Some people on Isla Grande
say the moon is without a doubt stronger than the sun. But bad to sleep
under.
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Gabi
crashed first and then me and then Rosi. The next day we went to the beach
near the Hotel Isla Grande, there, I ran into an old friend from Isla Grande
who was running a restaurant/beach -umbrella business. And
then after speaking with my friend, I sat on the hot beach in the early
morning sun as people kicked soccer balls near my head and I thought that
my Italian sunglasses which cost me $25 would soon become one of those
good-bye Carnaval moments, a subtraction moment. Gabi as always rescued
me and we went back to the roof on the house. We drank beer with a little
whiskey and to freshen up some Bailey's Creamo. All throughout the day
people arrived from Panama City to Isla Grande.
During the
night we headed into town and had a mixed drink at Pupe's place or in Spanish
Pupi. He makes a nice drink. Then food and then the disco and then we headed
back to the house to relax with the breezes. Rosi returned later and crashed.
Next day we
went to the beach early and left Rosi to enjoy the beach alone. Gabi and
I headed back to the house to take a nap and take some sun on the roof
of the house. Alberto and a friend showed up after a short time. The hour
was somewhere between 12:15 and 12:30. Alberto is 25 and a good friend
and He, Gabi and I have always done well together, though this is a man
who can have terrible strokes of luck. He once went to visit a friend in
order to show off his pet monkey and the friend's dog upon seeing the monkey
on Alberto's shoulder attacked, at the same time a horde of bees were excited
by the screaming from the dog attack and came to the rescue. Soon after,
an American soldier gave Alberto his 4x4 to drive as a goodwill gesture,
and Alberto, not knowing how to drive, accidentally threw the truck into
reverse and drove very quickly and wildly down into a small, steep river
valley. Alberto went from road forward to sky upwards. This is a story
he loves to tell with full adrenalin. |
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Alberto's
friend was aggressive and quickly announced that alcohol was not going
to work and that he wanted COKE as in Yap-A_Dapp_A_DOOOOO. The word, just
hearing it, made me think of the 80s and ugly apartment complexes where
people only spoke in hushed tones and were constantly waiting for the police
to arrive over the wire. We steered off that and he announced that he wanted
to be the godfather of my child; this demand was directed to Gabi - I was
gone during the early part - and he wanted a truthful answer. Gabi with
her sobering Costa Rican mind didn't answer, and hoped I would return to
take care of this entanglement. I did; I said of course you can. And I
made some Coconut Rum and Coca-Cola drinks and Alberto's friend thought
the combination was like vanilla and then he suddenly announced in quasi-Noriega-esq
military formalism that he had to work the next day, but before leaving
he drank almost a half-a-bottle of Tequila. And I was on my first-drink,
fourth-beer of enjoyment. .
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| Alberto
on the other hand stayed and drank and then passed out not without stumbling
over the beer and snack things.
We left later
in the afternoon after Alberto had slept. We left the island at about 5:30.
I was worried about driving back the three hours to the city. I had stopped
drinking and was sober. But didn't want police problems. Two years before
about ten days after 9/11, we had been attacked and robbed at gunpoint.
Gabi saved me because she told the killers that she needed her Id's because
she had worked for years getting them. And they obliged her. They wanted
to kill me. But didn't: I made like a dervish and escaped. They took the
rental car. The next day, a Sunday, we went to see the police: We met a
Detective Slush who couldn't help us: he was the only one in the office
and the other detectives were gone. We went to the Hertz office and the
representative got on the phone with Detective Slush and talked in a cartoonish
rapid-fire. Monday I went back to the police station with the Hertz representative
and we filled out forms and talked with people; and I realized the office
I had been in the day before was now packed with detectives and people
and forms going all around. It took a very long time to fill out the forms
and help the police, and the police were very nice. But as I was leaving
I asked the detective who was taking my statement about Detective Slush.
What was Dt. Slush about and where had that name come from? The Detective,
to whom my question was directed to, told me he had never heard of anyone
with that name and he acted as if I didn't know the correct pronunciation
of the word I was trying to say.
We arrived
in the city on Sunday night and slept. The next day, Monday, we headed
out to the beaches on the Pacific Coast. We went to Pal Mar Beach first.
Very nice place. There is a wonderful little town set back from the beach.
There is also a surf shop run by an Argentinean and the waves are big and
the water is nice. We also went to Rio Mar. Nice place, also: a fresh water
river meets the sea and there are low-cliffs from which you can jump: the
nature here is more desert than tropical. Went out to dinner that night
at a nice Thai restaurant that served vegetarian shrimp: for Gabi, not
me. We liked the place; the music was Michael Bolton and Yanni, I think. |
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Today went
to see Roger and worked. Gabi is asleep as I write now. It is about 2:00
in the morning on Tuesday the 4th. Carnaval has about four more hours in
it - which I will enjoy - in Las Tablas the fireworks go straight to the
sky and then the sardine and the stupid Carnaval hangover. In Panama they
have what they call Carnavalitos - Small Carnavals - these occur after
Carnaval in the distant countryside and in the most unexpected places:
but can't say where: And you'll never know where to look. Bullshit. Panama
is 100 this year: November 3rd.
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