true life planet

I was camped out in the diningroom of the tiny hospital here when I last blogged…and although everyone was quite nice, it WAS the diningroom. It was hardly private or comfortable!
I was looking for alternative accomodation in the town, but had been as yet unable to find any, as people here are unaccustomed to visitors. There are no hostels, no hotels, no rooms for rent. Most people live in lean-to shacks, made of sticks.

As I was trying to figure out where I would live for the next few months, I got an email from a woman who had read my blog, Leyla, and her friend, Anne. They were in Panama, and they were coming to visit me!

This is one of the best parts about having a blog-that complete stangers read it, and you make friends with people that you would never normally have the chance to meet. I had been talking to Leyla thru Bootsnall, and she seemed like such a wonderful person, and a woman who had had her share of adventures around the world. The fact that she knew who Dervla Murphy was was definitely in her favor…

But know I had to come up with some accomodations for them, too! The diningroom was noisy and crowded, and there certainly was not the room for two more people. I asked around where they could stay, and the only option seemed to be with him, in the dormitory for the kids at the school. Problem: the coordinator of Medo, Adan, was living there. Second problem: In the NGobe cultue, women do not sleep in the same room with men who are not hteir significant other, or their family. If Leyla and Anne slept in the same room as Adan, it could have a lasting negative affect on Adan´s reputation in the community!

I still had no solution when they arrived, and then one of the nurses offered a private room in the healthe center. Perfect. Of course, it was dirty, with cockroaches and so on, but it had four walls and a door that actually shut.

After friendly hello hugs all around, the three of us walked to Adans house-easier siad than done, as it takes over an hour to get there, on a dirt road. At one point you have to cross a rather scary bridge, at another navigate thru barbed wire..but we made it! Along the way, Adan talked to them about Soloy and his dream of making it an ecotourism destination for people who want to understand more about the Ngobe people.

When we finally got to his families house, we were exhausted-they had been traveling all day, and I was tired from-well, just from the day to day rigors of living here! We sat on a bench by the fire and they gave us very hot boiled coffee in bowls made of hollowed out squashes. It was a beautiful night, made all the more beautiful by being in the middle of nowhere, drinking hot coffee out of a dried squash…looking up a breathtaking night sky. As Anne commented, the sky here is one of the best things about the place-it´s crystal clear and perfect, with more stars than I´ve ever seen in my life at once.

We started the long walk home, trudging along in the pitch black darkness, talking amongst ourselves. When we finally got to the hospital, we were really tired – and really hungry. While Anne and Leyla made up their beds, including the high tech mosquito nets they had brought, I whipped up dinner. They had brought carrots-vegetables? What are those? and I made spaghetti, which we promptly consumed vast quantities of. The resident dog at the hospital, Captain Jack Sparrow, also had several generous helpings.

We all went to bed, full, happy, and exhausted.

What an honor to have these two very special, fascinating women visit me here. Such a good start to my stay here. Thanks Leyla and Anne. Keep a room for me in France ready!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pm and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.