Carnaval: Proof that Americans are Wimps

on 2-16-2009 in Around The World

There is a certain hand gesture used in Latin American countries, when someone finds something funny.   If you held out two fingers, diagonally and then made a motion like you were trying to whip something off your hand, you´d have it.  Well, almost, no one does it quite like they do.

So I´m laughing, doing the hand snap, surrounded by a dozen kids from Panama and they are teaching me every bad word they can think of in Spanish.  Someone whispers a word in my ear and points at their friend.  I repeat the word, and ask, ¨Him?  Is he one?¨  Finger snapping ensues.  I have no idea what I just said, there is only one person in the group who speaks passable English, but that´s okay, it´s Carnaval.

If you´ve never been to Las Tablas, here is a brief run down of the itinerary.

Wake at 8 AM, shower, pop some advil, eat breakfast, slather on sunblock.

At 10 AM take your cooler down to the park, to stand on the street with 100,000 of your closest friends.  There will be the coleco, a water truck that sprays the crowd all day.  There will be floats that pass through the crowd.  There will be constant loud music.  You´ll start to learn the songs and sing along.  Da da, da da, Carnaval (ok maybe you don´t learn all the words).  There will be live bands.  For the next 5 hours you will get soaking wet, dance, jump around, scream at the floats, drink and get massively burned.

At 3 PM wander down to the local bar, where they play music and pass around the microphone.   Since you´re the only American, they will make a big production out of calling you out and making you dance with a drag queen.  This will happen everyday, get used to it, you´re a celebrity now.  That mostly means that you are never allowed to stop dancing, even to adjust your sunglasses.  Move chica, move!

At 7 PM go back to the house, for a quick shower (there are 19 other people waiting, literally) and a quicker nap.

At 10 PM donning your best evening wear (for me, black pants and a tank top), you head back out for the night.  It´s back to the park to meet up with everyone, either on the Calle Arriba or Calle Abajo side.  Now, this is important.  You can´t be both.  You have to pick.  For me it´s Calle Abajo, por siempre.  Everything is a competition between these groups, from games to beauty pageants.  It´s best to get your loyalties straight early on.

At midnight head to the PH.  Live music, huge stage, dancing all night.   The weaker ones will go to a bar instead, but this is Carnaval, there is no room for slowing down.

At 5AM head home and collapse.

At 8:30 AM wake up to 5 people standing outside your tent, looking at you like you´re an exhibit in a zoo.  Como estas?  They are very curious about this strange gringa who likes to sleep more than 3 hours.  How odd.

Now, got that?  Do that for 5 days in a row.  Don´t worry, I couldn´t either.  I faded every night, like the soft American that I am, and got curious looks when I announced at 2 AM that I was planning on going to bed.  Some days, I slept in until 9 AM and people would literally climb into my tent with me and talk to me until I got up.  Even then, I was running on fumes.

The energy of the event keeps you going.  There are people pressing into you on all sides, and you´re all jumping up and down in unison and singing.  The music is so loud that your chest plate vibrates with the bass.  I made friends with this group of locals so quickly, I´ve never done anything like that before.  Julio would sling his arm over me and put his head on my shoulder and sigh.  Carlos would borrow beers from me and repay me with sandwiches he picked up in town.  Mani and Chewie would pull me physically away if a man they didn´t like tried to talk to me.  Jose and Arturo would come looking for me every morning to make sure I came to breakfast with them.  Alexis would sit in my tent with me and ask me about all the books I was reading.  We would all be in the coleco, dancing and smiling.  Everyone was so happy, it was infectious.  It was such an expression of joy, you couldn´t help but want more.

If only if the body was willing.

Here are some photos from the event:
Carnaval, Panama, Central America, travels

Carnaval, Panama, Central America, travels

Carnaval, Panama, Central America, travels

Carnaval, Panama, Central America, travels

Carnaval, Panama, Central America, travels

You Can´t Fight Carnaval, It Just Happens

on 2-16-2009 in Around The World

Panama, Carnaval, Central america, Panama Canal, trip around the world

I didn´t want to go to Carnaval, honest.  I had the idea to skip the crowds, the noise, the heavy drinking, the late nights, the excess– all of it, and just head to this one coastal town in northern Panama.  In fact the entire trip was spur of the moment: a quick decision to skip the 30 hour bus ride from Cancun back to Guatemala and instead work my way back up from the south.  When I arrived in Panama City, I wondered what everyone was getting ready for.  ¨You must be here for Carnaval,¨ someone smirked at me.  Actually no, I´m here for the Canal.  You?

The Canal was actually pretty boring, but I did spend a good part of the day hanging out with my cab driver, who insisted that he didn´t have anything else to do, so he wanted to come see the Canal with me. Seriously, people are this friendly and nice in Panama, there is something in the water.  He thought I should go to Las Tablas, the small town people flood from all over Panama during the 5 day pre-Ash Wednesday bash.  Five days, of nearly 24-7 dancing, music, drinking, eating, parades, performances, pagentry, thick crowds, and chaos.

There was only one problem, the once a day bus to Bocas del Toro, the beach town I wanted to see in the north, was sold out.  I faced another day at the slow as molasses Canal or to take my chances and buy a $8 ticket to Tabla.  I plunked down the money, got my ticket and went to look for the bus.  Ah, there´s a line, I realized.  A line that runs… all the way… to the end of the terminal.  Oh, someone else had this idea too.

No problem. Four hours in line, two diet cokes, a few hundred pages into my novel, and a seven hour bus ride later, I arrive, in the most famous town for Panama´s Carnaval.  There are throngs of people hauling in camping gear, inflatable mattresses, coolers, and bags of provisions.  I ask a few (five, actually) taxi drivers if there was a place I could stay for the night.  Hilarious!  I must be kidding right?  No?  Ok, can you point me to the direction of the party?

This was turning into a very bad idea.  Not only where there no rooms, there were no hotels!  Everything was closed, besides street vendors selling beers, hats and ice by shovel-full.  I wandered around for a while, growing more convinced that I was absolutely going to be spending tonight awake, at the bus terminal, waiting to return with my tail between my legs to Panama City.

By now it was 2 am and I must have looked strange, sitting there with my pack, nursing a third diet coke and trying to pass the next 4 hours before I could catch a bus by reading the latest Stephenie Meyer tome.  Someone approached me, and as a reflex I looked at them wearily.  ¨Are you from Canada?¨  Í shook my head.  By now, I noticed that it was two people my age, who definitely didn´t have that street hustler edge.  ¨Do you have a place to stay?¨  They seemed nice, we chatted for a bit, and before I knew it I had agreed to at least see their place, which was, as promised, just around the corner.

It was a house, completely stripped down to just walls and floors.  In 7 small rooms there lay the backpacks of their friends, about 20 Panamian kids between 21 and 34.  I could sleep in the tent on the back porch and they promised me, their eyes getting a little wider, the best time at Carnaval ever.  Oh, and it was house full of gay men and lesbian couples.  These things do not happen everyday.  I had no choice.  I was going to Carnaval.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Guidebook

on 2-16-2009 in Around The World

I’m a Do-It-Yourself-er.  I like to research.  I love finding a good deal.  I definitely don’t want the same exact lousy experience as everyone else when I travel.  And recently… I learned to love my guidebook.

I was never a big guidebook person.  I didn’t trust them.  I preferred to do my own research, and if I’m to be honest, the idea of having a cookie-cutter travel experience sounded worse than waiting in line at the DMV.  It’s like the beginning of The Beach (classic backpacker film), where Richard says, “The only downer is, everyone’s got the same idea. We all travel thousands of miles just to watch TV and check in to somewhere with all the comforts of home, and you gotta ask yourself, what is the point of that?” That was definitely not going to be me.

So until I purchased the Central America on a Shoestring Guide by Lonely Planet, I traveled completely sans guide.  What a mistake.  Let me qualify that.  If you are going to be traveling to multiple counties, mostly by bus or train and staying in Hostels, you need one of these books.  Of course if you’re spending a day in Paris, you don’t need the guidebook, it’s too much info.  But for multi-month trips, they are a godsend.

Here are the reasons I slowly grew to love my little green book and everything it could do for me:

1.  Pretty good, reliable advice. I spent about three weeks this year in Cancun.  Mostly between trips, and completely unplanned, but as such, I got to know the city pretty well.  I’ve stayed in or visited most of the hostels in LP’s guide, and their advice was spot on.  This really sold it for me, they had picked the standouts, not based on online reviews (which can be flat out wrong) but on what places were actually the best, cheapest and most reliable.

Keep in mind: Newer places, naturally, won’t be in the guidebook.  For example, Hostel Quetzal, currently the highest ranked Cancun hostel on Hostelworld.com isn’t listed because it opened after the publish date.

2.  You know what you are getting. There is a certain backpacker aesthetic.  People want clean beds, as cheap as possible, a place to hang out and relaxed atmosphere.  If you stay at a backpacker hostel, it’s different than staying at a cheap hotel.  You’re more likely to make those one-day-friends.  You’ll be surrounded with people that are traveling just like you.

Keep in mind: If you’re working, or otherwise not in the mood to chat with a bunch of Aussies all day, while you try desperately to get something done, a backpacker type hostel can be a more of a distraction.  It’s almost impossible not to make friends when you’re there, so I like to change it up, giving me some time to get caught up and still be social.

3.  It gives you really practical advice about basic things. It takes a while to figure out the correct prices for everything in a place.  That’s why taxi drivers at airports try to charge you outrageous prices ($65 at Cancun, $100 at Panama City).  Knowing what a reasonable price from the airport to downtown or for a taxi across town can save you tons when you’re still getting your bearings.

Keep in mind: Since the books are always a few years old by the time they get into your hot little hands, everything seems to be slightly more expensive than listed.  If it’s a dollar or two, I don’t worry about it.

4.  Quick ideas about what places are like, when you are offline. I love researching online.  But plans change.  Internet can be scarce.  You find out there is a festival in the next town over, but do you want to actually go there?  Is there anywhere cheap to stay?  How much is a bus there?  All these general questions can be answered, even if you’re not online.

Keep in mind: Of course the book doesn’t replace actually going there, checking it out, doing your own research or talking to people.  But for a very basic idea of a place, it can’t be beat.

So in short, I don’t use my guidebook to plan my trips.  That’s not really what they are for.  But this afternoon I went to the Panama Canal and I wanted to find a certain book in English.  I found out the price for a cab driver to the canal ($15 roundtrip and they wait while you go in) and the largest bookstore in Panama City.  I could have asked around for this.  I could have gone online and found it.  But I didn’t have to, it was there, waiting for me, in my guidebook.

I still talk to people, get off the beaten path, find places to stay, research and all that fun stuff.  I’m still a traveler.  I just have a back up plan.

What about you:  love em or hate em, tell us how an example of why you feel the way you do about guidebooks (for example: that time in the Amazon when you used the phrasebook to dire results or the amazingly cheap and wonderful time you had because of a recommended sidetrip out of Venezuela).

Should, Should, Should I Travel?

on 2-16-2009 in Around The World

I often get this question in one form or another, but it wasn’t until a long time reader posted a comment asking just that question that I realized if she was still wondering, it was time I addressed it. Here is her comment:

“Any advice for a single, female, 27 years old who is thinking a lot (almost 3 years now) about taking a different road…no 9 to 5er, living a traveler’s life, etc. I am scare as i think anyone would be wanting to take a completely different path. how do i convince “myself” to take this step that I want to take rather than succumb to my fears as I have been?”

Travel advice, Should I travel, doubt, online travel, travel sites

Essentially, “Should I travel”? The question itself sums up my entire journey and ultimately the reason I decided to create this site. I spent a long time thinking about what I ‘should’ do and it started young.  At first you’re preparing for college, so many things you should do: play sports (even if you’re terrible), take classes you think will look good on your transcript, or spend hours studying for the SAT.  Sure these things are good, and everyone should do it, but it doesn’t end there.

In college maybe you major in something you think will get you a job.  After school, perhaps you take a job you think will prepare you for some high paying gig in the future.  Five years later, you’re buying a house because you really should be thinking about your net worth.  Ten years later you’re a manager, and what should you do next?  I know, more hours, more networking, and bigger projects.

These aren’t bad things in and of themselves.  But it’s a kind of auto-pilot, a life run by consensus, based on how most people think we should be living our lives.  You’re doing everything right.  Then why are you questioning it?

It’s not just your career.  Everyone is ‘should’-ing all over the place. It’s the most American thing you can do. You eat a delicious meal, but you should be watching what you eat. You take an afternoon off, but you should have done something productive.  You want to travel, but you should be a responsible person and focus on other things.

It’s never enough.

Oh but it keeps going.  Some people find what they love. It could be travel, outdoor activities, political activism, crafts, religion or losing weight. They stopped ‘should’-ing themselves and started doing what makes them happy. But it doesn’t end there, because now they are telling everyone they meet how they should do exactly what they are doing.  (The Traveler says “You should travel!”, the Activist says, “You should get involved!” and so on).

The world is sending us mixed messages.  Which one is it?  We can’t do everything, so eventually we have to choose.  And we’re stressed because of all the infinite things on the should list.  We know we can’t do them all, but it’s still a thorn in your side.

So what exactly should you do?

Travel advice, Should I travel, doubt, online travel, travel sites

You have to start with changing your perspective.  Accept that these shoulds, are nothing more than the subjective observations of other people.  People relate paraphrased versions of their own life in their advice.  Often they are relating what they wish they had done.  Shake off these ideas of a single way to live life.  Shake off the idea that if you take one misstep your whole life will be worse.  A single moment can change your life, but you can’t avoid that.  You won’t know when it comes, you can’t avoid it, it’s only in hindsight that you can see the fork in the road.  These things that you’re afraid will happen– they aren’t real.  I know the feeling, the doubt, the uncertainty, the fear.  I was afraid the moment I started thinking about going “off the path”.  What would happen to me?  Would I become another cautionary tale?  But the truth is, the real truth, there are no safety nets.  You’re no safer hiding out in a comfy job in a big city than you are on the road.  Don’t believe me?  We’ll get there.

Let’s go to the practical side of things. If you can let go of aspirations that don’t match what you actually want to do, there is still the question of what path to take. It’s a big commitment to take off for a year and travel around the world. Or is it?

The biggest question on most people’s minds is the Opportunity Cost. You can phrase it other ways like, “Will I regret this?” or “What will I be giving up to do this?” or “Won’t I be derailing my life for something rather frivolous?”

Travel advice, Should I travel, doubt, online travel, travel sites

Here are some ways to shake up your thinking:

1. It could totally screw up your life. Do a search for websites where people traveled the world and completely regretted it because it ruined their lives. I couldn’t find any, but please let me know if you do.

2. Travel is expensive, especially when you consider lost income. Most people think like this, “I make $50K a year, so it’s costing me $50K to travel the world for a year.” This is incorrect. You’re paying $50K to maintain your lifestyle in the states. A more appropriate calculation is to take the total you put into savings and retirement accounts last year (I know some of you will say zero). This is the lost income, because you weren’t going to see the rest of it anyway. You’re sticking around so you can afford to stick around.

3. My career is going to be completely derailed. Oh shush. This is just plain fear talking. You could be laid off tomorrow, and you know what? you’d figure away around it. A year off from work is easily explained, and in fact it will give you some great skills that will probably help you in the long term anyway. You’ll learn how to read people, negotiate hard for better prices, be self sufficient, figure things out, keep your cool under pressure, make decisions and so on.

4. It would be smarter to just save my money and invest it. Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I lost a big chunk of my 401K this year because of the market. And even though it’s a great time to buy a house, it’s not like the market is going to rebound to 2003 prices in the next few years. But who knows? Think about this though… how much will a 10K investment make me in 1 year? How much would paying a mortgage for a year earn me in equity and saved taxes? In the big picture, i.e. in 25 years, will it matter so much that you’ll say, “Damn! I should have never missed that year of working to travel, what a fool I was!” Okay then.

5. Will I even like traveling, what about my comfortable bed back home? No idea on this one. The only way to know is to try it. Take a week vacation. Fake a death if you have to (3 days bereavement plus use 2 person days to “travel” to that out of state funeral) and travel somewhere nearby, say Mexico, but do it in the fashion you imagine you’d be traveling on the road. Try living on $20 a day, sleeping in hostels, taking local buses. Or take a week Spanish class in an immersion program (places in Guatemala are just $170 a week including living with a family and 3 meals a day) to get some quick local flavor. Or if travel is out of the question (you workaholic you, seriously we need to talk) try joining couch surfing and letting people crash on your couch for a weekend, where you can pump them for information about their travels.

Don’t worry though, if it seems like I’m trying to convince people to travel, I’m not.  You could take travel and replace it with anything and my advice would be the same.

Despite all of this advice, the thing that launches you out the door is some impedeus, perhaps a ‘sign’. You just wait, and one day it comes or it doesn’t. Some travel opportunity falls in your lap or you get fed up with work or your partner insists or you just get a feeling. But maybe with a little prodding, you can find that moment faster… or at least open yourself to seeing it when it comes. Then you’ll find whatever it is that you want to do and forget all about the should.

A Night at Fresa y Chocolate

on 2-16-2009 in Around The World

On my last night out with in Cuba, I hung out with the boys: Brayan, Orlando, Roberto Carlos and The Mexican (Cesar).  We were doing it up Cuban style, which means that the American buys a $3 bottle of Rum at the liquor store, one of the boys hides it in his pants, we order a couple of generic cokes and through some slight of hand, they become Cuba Libres.  For about 5 dollars we drank all night.  It felt like college all over again.

We went to a bar across the street from the Cuban Film Institute called Fresas y Chocolate. The bar is full of Cuban film memorabilia, and named after the award winning 1993 film. I’m told that the title comes from a scene where two men meet, and it’s obvious that one of them is gay when he orders strawberry ice cream instead of the decidedly more manly chocolate.

There was live music, a spry old man played the guitar and talked about his life.  While we listened, Brayan pointed out someone sitting at a large table up front.  “Hey look at that guy, he’s huge in Europe, he’s very famous.”  Now, Brayan had been lying to me all week.  It’s his sense of humor to tell me that there is a monument to Obama (a pile of dirt) or that Cubans ate fried condoms on pizza during the special period.  I’m careful not to swallow everything he says, as he’s already tricked me a couple times (much to his delight).

Then the man with the wild blond hair that Brayan had pointed to, was greeted by the owner, handed a guitar and went on stage.  The crowd was loving it.  I later googled him to find out he was Raul Paz, a cuban artist who had played with Gloria Estaban and now had a record contract and was in fact, big in Europe (or at least France).

I thought one the boys, Orlando, was going to drop dead from excitement when he played a cover of “Only You”.  I took a quick video with my small camera, and if you can see that arms to the left of me, that’s Orlando going crazy.

The best part? Seeing Orlando’s face, when I took this photo (Raul Paz on the left, Orlando on the right). One of the most memorable night of my travels so far…

Fresa y Chocolate, Cuba, Night life, Raul Paz, online travel,