Take me Down to Panama City, Where the Coffee's Good and the Streets are Pretty

Location: Montreal, Canada

It's been a good couple of days! I saw some nice places, I ate some good food, I heard some great stories, and I bought a frog knife.

Richard has led a Very Cool life. He left home at 19 and traveled the world, mostly by motorcycle. He started by moving to Montreal in time for the Expo '67, but then when the weather got colder, he decided that he didn't want to live in a place where frost develops on the inside of a car, and moved further south. He lived in a few places in the US and in the Bahamas, crewed on a Pacific ocean crossing without knowing how to sail beforehand, lived in Yemen for a bit, and went to various other places in Europe and Asia. He reminisced with Jem about delicious, crying-level spicy tom yum soup. He's currently building a house in Portugal but with Australian architecture.

Richard has had several near-death experiences, including nearly falling off a cliff while motorcycling in Pakistan, almost being eaten by a shark in the Bahamas, and climbing a mast in blowing winds in the middle of the Pacific after a halyard had broken. He also told me some important life advice, such as when motorcycling, always carry extra cash in case you run out of fuel and have to buy some from a passive-aggressive Québécoise farm lady.

 These are the crates that traveled around the world with him.

To be able to work wherever he traveled, Richard trained at the restaurant of the Savoy Hotel. It was tough work, but it paid off, and not only did he travel the world, but also I got to eat a lot of good food while staying at his apartment. We had roasted mahimahi, grilled pork chops, chicken with tagliatelle pesto, and tamales. Tuesday, Richard's partner Alicia and I attempted to make a Spanish-style potato omelette. It tasted great, even if it fell on the stove mid-flip. In conclusion, we're all chefs here.

Still on the topic of food, Richard has a great kitchen. Included in it are a complicated but excellent espresso maker, a decorative metal pineapple, a touch-actived automatic brass faucet, enormous goblet-like glasses that gave my iced coffee a New Aesthetic, and corner bottom drawers that swing outwards in a really cool way. I fangirled a little too much about that last one. I felt like my friends who can talk for hours about different Le Creuset pots.

Saturday, Richard's friend and neighbour Margaret came over for dinner. Margaret was born in Panama, but lived in several parts of the US and was an Alaskan fisherman for twenty years. Also, her shirt and shoes matched. She was a Very Cool Lady. Margaret invited us to attend an exhibition of the Casco Door Project (which she runs), where old doors of Casco (the old part of the city) are donated, decorated by artists, and are then sold in an auction. We went there on Sunday. The doors were very pretty. I'll be sprinkling them throughout this post because I didn't take any airport-related pictures, which would have been more relevant but also more boring.

There was also a clarinet concert.

Monday I was ready to leave, as I thought that my flight was that day. It was, in fact, Tuesday, and I had to ask Richard to stay for another night. It's slightly embarrassing to not know how date and time works at this age. Luckily, he took it in stride. Jem still left Monday, though; he gets antsy when he's away from his boat for too long. 

Although I missed Jem's anecdotes, I had a lot of fun with Richard and Alicia. Bopping to Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You" while cooking dinner with a couple of retirees is truly A Vibe. Also in the Christmas spirit, I had the honour of decorating Richard's Christmas tree. It has built-in lights!

As the air conditioning in my room didn't work, I slept with the balcony doors and windows open. This results in seeing the occasional bug, but it's usually not very interesting. Tuesday morning, however, I reached towards my bag which was stowed in a dark corner and a giant moth flew up, slapped my arm with its wing, and rudely landed on the door frame. I was too shocked to react; never had I been assaulted by an insect in such an abrupt and crass manner. It was a cool-looking moth, but that didn't excuse its behaviour.

Tuesday afternoon was amusing because I watched a Colombian movie where I didn't understand much but  90% of the men had enormous moustaches. The fact that I was watching this movie in an Uber and the driver was also watching it on the center console while also not using any turn signals was slightly less amusing, but I made it to the airport alive and that's what counts. 

The airport experience was also slightly strange. While checking in my baggage, the lady at the counter, when verifying what I was doing in Panama, said, "You are a seaman?" This is how I will be referring to myself from this point onward. Then, at the security check, I was addressed to as "Hey, Lady" and the rest was in very fast, angry Spanish. (I thought that I might be able to get by with my week's worth of Duolingo due to the fact that Panama has an international, world-famous canal and canals tend to operate in English, but I was very wrong.) 

Finally, due to covid, my gate was closed until right before the flight, and I sat at an overpriced coffee shop that had extremely yellow walls. Interestingly enough, I met there two people from Lachute, Quebec who were going to Costa Rica and referred to it dreamily as "le paradis." They were very nice
and I wish them well.

My flight was from 6:30 pm to 12:30 am. The airplane had good parts and bad parts. The bad part was that there were no personal entertainment screens and their supposed in-flight entertainment app did not work. The in-flight entertainment consisted of overhead screens that played an hour of Panama tourism ads and Friends in Spanish. Also, the advertised "hot meal" consisted of a Very Cold ham sandwich and an interestingly sweet cake. However, these bad parts were trumped by the fact that the back of the plane where I was sitting was almost entirely empty and not only was I socially distanced on all sides, but also I could lie down across the seats in my row and sleep. It was truly a good experience.

And now I'm home! It smells of newly-hung garlands, winter air, and scented candles. I love the December sky whose lavender colour hangs in the air an hour after the sun sets. I had missed the snow and the Christmas lights and the ability to wear three layers of clothing without dying of heat. Also, my succulent grew! Look at her. An iconic queen; a symbol of verdure in a world of empty branches; truly a plant like no other. Thanks for taking care of her, MOM.

I'll be quarantining in my room for the next two weeks. I have Netflix and a few books so I should be fine, but I'll probably be banging my head against the walls in a few days. Oh well, it happens. Yesterday, to put out my scented candle, I used the classic "lick the fingers and pinch the wick" method, but I paused a bit too long between steps 1 and 2 and managed to burn my index finger. You'd think that due to the confines of this space (that I've lived in for quite a few years now) I wouldn't be able to hurt myself, but I like to make it a habit of defying expectations.

I get back on Heaven's Door towards the end of January. In two months, we did 2 460 km by boat, and boy, was it one hell of a ride. I saw some awesome things and met some awesome people. To Allan, Carl, Jake, Damian, Harry, Kath, Carl-Peter, Kelly, Jesse, Richard, Alicia, and many others, happy holidays, and I hope to that our paths cross once again. To the various other people who read these posts, thank you, your number of views gives me my weekly serotonin boost. My posting will probably slow down these next couple of weeks as I won't actually be traveling, but I still have some ideas for filler episodes. (I haven't written about the St. Vincent kangaroo balls yet.) Until then, feliz Navidad!