Tag Archives: Capoeira

Stash of miscellaneous thoughts/info

I have a bunch of random tidbits that I’ve been saving up, so I think I’m just going to dump them all out here for your enjoyment…or at least for your consumption.

  • When my dear friend Katie visited, she took the same tour that my parents took with Eric to Lake Gatún which is the lake in the middle of the Canal.  I just found out that both Katie and Eric wrestled the same ginormous crocodile and both lived to tell the tale.  I’m very proud of both of them for their incredible courage.  Look at the size of this thing!  And it’s only 2 years old!
Steady, Katie!

Steady, Katie!

Conquered!

Conquered!

Apparently someone asked if they could put their finger in the croc's mouth. The tour guide said sure! Eric said he knew the lawyer in me would be dying had I been there...

Apparently someone asked if they could put their finger in the croc’s mouth. The tour guide said sure! Eric said he knew the lawyer in me would be dying had I been there…

  • Next up, I have a few more photos from my parents’ visit that my mom didn’t share in her post:
This is a common thing on the Cinta Costera. Mango with vinegar, salt, pepper, hot sauce if you want it. Sounds gross, but it’s actually really good and refreshing.
Beautiful (Carolina blue!) dress from Carolina Herrera. Only $1370.
What Dad and Eric did while Mom and I went to Gucci, Dolce, Carolina Herrera, etc.
At the top of a hill at the Parque Nacional Metropolitano…after seeing sloths, before seeing monkeys.
Watching a chemical ship go through the Canal with only 2 feet leeway on either side of it.
Mom never stops, but I insisted on a daily siesta. It’s too hot to go go go all day long.
Mom and her raspado
This is me. I’m at the Canal. I’m smiling.
This is a really popular treat down here. It’s a snow cone, but with condensed milk added! Even MORE sugar!
  • This one is completely out of nowhere.  Have y’all heard that the BRONTOSAURUS IS BACK!?!?!?!  I remember being (semi-) crushed when scientists decided that the brontosaurus wasn’t a thing but that there was something sorta like it and it was a brachiosaurus.  I hated, and still hate, the brachiosaurus.  But now, and I don’t know the details, nor am I going to take the time to Google it now b/c no one’s going to click on a link to any article that I may link to, there’s something that they’re going to call a brontosaurus!  And I feel like 1) an old friend is back, and 2) there’s hope that Pluto is a planet after all.  8 year old Julie is super happy.
  • Eric told me the other day that public restroom cleaning ladies just hang out in the men’s rooms regardless of whether men are in there.  He said it was odd.  I can understand that.
  • LOTS of people rollerblade here.  Like, they still sell them in seemingly normal stores, and you’ll see multiple people rollerblading on any given walk down the Cinta Costera.  I feel like they should be wearing scrunched down socks with them, but sadly, they’re not.  Ooh, and maybe Hypercolor shirts.  Isn’t that what they were called?  Anyone?
  • Last Tuesday, April 7, a couple of things happened at capoeira training.  First of all, I got a round of applause for doing something well!  It’s not common for us to do this for each other during training, so I was really excited.  The funny thing (to me at least) was that I was doing cartwheels.  They’re supposed to be really controlled and slow, so there is a bit more skill than you’d think would be involved, but still, it made me giggle that that was what they complimented me on.  When I finished up, a girl whose nickname is Ninja (the girl from DC who’s amazing) asked me “so you’ve really never done capoeira before?”  I told her no, but in my head I was thinking…”but I was 9 once…I mean, it’s cartwheels!”  Then we switched to the other side and I showed them that, like everyone else in the non-capoeira/gymnastics world, I can only cartwheel to one side.  🙂  Whomp-whomp.
  • Later in that same practice, I was learning a new type of kick called a media lua.  The guy who teaches the classes, nicknamed Mono (monkey), came over to demonstrate how to do them one after another with a partner.  I went first, but I messed up and made the mistake of standing up in hopes of trying again.  Wrong move.  Mono kicked me square in the eye with his heel…hard.  You may remember him from earlier posts…he’s not a small guy:
He has hard heels. He's not small.

He has hard heels. He’s not small.

The next day my eyelid was bruised a bit – which I didn’t know was a thing – but no real blackeye.  Definitely disappointing after being knocked upside the head.  You want battle scars after that.  At least my Spanish teacher noticed something and didn’t let me read anything the next day b/c she didn’t want me to hurt myself.  🙂  Love her.

The real pain from that workout, however, was from the move we practiced which involved a sorta almost roll/cartwheel thing on your head.  I don’t know about you, but I do not believe that heads were made to have weight put on them.  Especially not all of my body weight on concrete.  No, sir.  Not this gringa.  I did it though.  Or rather, I tried it.  I did not succeed in any sense of the word, but I tried.

  • On Wednesday, the following day, we had our capoeira music practice.  I don’t know if I’ve explained that since capoeira has Brazilian roots, all of the songs played while it is played are in Brazilian Portuguese.  Also, the teachers often speak Portuguese during training and classes.  Really pretty difficult when you’re just trying to understand and follow the Spanish and learn the moves and all.  I feel like an idiot ALL the time.  Anyway, we learned two new songs on Wednesday, and to my horror, Lourdes, who leads the music practices and is engaged to Mono, started going around the circle asking each of us to sing each song solo to make sure we had it down.

In case you’re wondering, I did not have it down.  I do not know how to pronounce Portuguese words.  I do not have a strong singing voice or any desire to sing solos in public for newly discovered friends who I think are super cool and want to like me.  Yes, I’m a 7th grader down here…I just want friends.  Anyway, Lourdes helped me out a bit, but the seconds one was easier to follow and I was able to make it through the long chorus on my own.  I even did the “call,” the part where you call the rest of the group to join you, on my own, and maybe not in a beautiful voice, but it was strong.  A couple of the guys complimented me and seemed satisfied.  I was happy with that.  Just trying to keep from being a complete idiot…that’s the goal.  🙂

  • We finally sorted out our electricity bill and somehow managed to have the bill from our first month and a half in this apartment kicked back to the former renter who has disappeared and has been avoiding my calls.  The electric company would not let us put the bill in our name until she paid her bill, so that’s been a problem.  Finally…and I won’t bore you with the whole story…the owner of our apartment bribed the security guys in our building to keep out the electric company guys so they couldn’t get to the meter to read it and send us a bill, then we went to the company with us and she somehow worked it out.  In the process, the company insisted on knowing how many lights we had in the house (have you ever heard of such a thing?!), whether we had an iron (um, no…it’s called a dryer), and everything else that uses electricity.  Oh, and how many watts each thing uses.  Really?!  Who knows that stuff, and didn’t you just have this info from keeping up with the apartment 2 seconds ago with the last tenant?!

Anyway, here’s a photo of Isabel, our landlady, who is so sweet and wonderful, but ruthless and sneaky when she needs to be.  We love her, even when she’s a little ridiculous.  Doesn’t she look like she could be straight out of…I can’t decide between Florida and Savannah.  Probably Florida.

Our landlady

Our landlady

  • During the Summit of the Americas, we had a great time watching out for motorcades from our apartment.  It overlooks a big road, so whenever we saw that it was being blocked off, we knew that some world leader was coming through soon.  The best part?  We saw Obama’s motorcade twice!  The first time it was about 11:30 pm and we were taking Addie out for a walk.  Lo and behold, the President of the United States just goes driving by with two limos, lots of black SUVs, cops, and an ambulance.  Amazing!  The second time, we saw him from above, from our balcony.

It was interesting to compare the motorcades to one another.  Smaller countries (think Trinidad and Tobago) probably just rented 4Runners when they got here.  Not everyone can fly over tons of cars, at least one if not two helicopters, etc.  All the folks in my capoeira group commented on it.  The funny thing is, Obama didn’t do that to show off.  It’s what he uses for everyday stuff in the US too.  It’s just amazing the differences among all the countries in this continent (or these continents, depending on what your 5th grade teacher told you about North and South America v. the American continent).

One of these days I’ll have to get into Lourdes’s reaction to hearing the Apache helicopters this past weekend.  It reminded her of when the US invaded Panamá in 1989, when she was 5 years old.  She got really scared remembering it and told us all about it via WhatsApp.  I was ashamed that I knew absolutely nothing about us invading, and yet this was a hugely impactful event in my friend’s life.  Amazing how little we learn in the States about these things sometimes…

  • Coming up:  planning our first border run!  Although Eric took a trip to Boston a few weeks ago, I’ve been here for more than 90 days, meaning that I can no longer drive legally.  I’m not the type for taking chances with this kind of thing, so we’re leaving next Tuesday for Costa Rica.  We’re hoping to stop through Boquete (a major Expat retirement site b/c it’s cooler and beautiful) and Santa Catalina (a great surfing area where a friend owns a hotel) on our way back.  Exciting!

Birthdays!

So last weekend (Saturday, March 21) was my birthday.  At the last minute, I decided to be brave and invite over the capoeira group – who I barely know, but who are my best friends in Panama – for drinks and snacks at our apartment.  We live right near where we practice, so I didn’t think it would be inconvenient for folks.  It was an odd thing.  I had no idea what sort of get-togethers this group usually had.  Do they get together at people’s houses?  Do they go out usually?  Do they drink or are they the super dedicated to their health types?  How much food should I have prepared?  Who will come?  Are they going to feel obligated to come but not really want to?  Am I enough a part of the group to invite them?  So many questions!  I was pretty nervous.

The plan was for me to go to Capoeira practice from 4-6 and then for folks to come over after that.  Only 7 people made it out that day, but that was fine by me.  Why, you ask?  Because I found out that it is tradition on a capoerista’s birthday for there to be a roda and for the birthday person to play capoeira with everyone in the roda.  In case you’re wondering, I still know next to nothing.  I have no moves.  I don’t look cool doing this stuff.  I have no stamina.  So as each person got out into the roda with me, I was just trying to throw a few kicks, ginga a little, and breathe until the whole thing was over.  Yes, it was really nice to have this honor, but gosh, I had no idea what I was doing.  Awesome.

After practice, everyone looked like they were pretty much giving their regrets and heading home.  Everyone, that is, accept Moisés, my buddy who was the guy to help me out in the first roda on my first day of practice.  He told me he was going to shower and come over later.

I texted Moi a bit later to let him know that, as far as I knew, he was the only one coming over, and of course he was still welcome, but I didn’t want him to feel obligated.  Eric had suggested this b/c he knew how weird he would feel walking into a house for a birthday party for someone he didn’t know well and finding out he was the only guest.  Yikes.  Anyway, about two hours after we expected him to show up, he came…with three other guys!  Yay!

We ended up hanging out, mostly on the balcony, until almost 1 am.  For them, probably not too late, but for us, that was probably the latest (non-hospital) night that we’ve had since we’ve been here.  It was a lot of fun.  Once Eric had a couple of drinks, he loosened up enough to speak some Spanish, and most of the guys understood at least a little English, so he was able to communicate with them too.  Here’s the group:

George, Dario, Me, Moi, Antonio (Árabe)

George, Dario, Me, Moi, Antonio (Árabe)

I was really happy that they came, and very glad that Eric was gracious enough to help me host some folks that he didn’t understand completely.  It was a wonderful birthday.

Oh, Eric also made some tortillas de maíz for us – these wonderful little fried corn cake things – and one of the Panamanians complimented him on his frying talent.  Someone decided that putting salsa on them was a good idea, although I prefer to eat them plain.

Tortilla de maíz

The Tuesday following my birthday, March 24th, I went to capoeira practice and my new friend Lourdes and her fiancé Mono (well, his real name is David, but his capoeira name is Mono, or Monkey) surprised me with a birthday present!  Completely unexpected and unnecessary, but very very sweet.  Here’s what they gave me:

Regalo de Lourdes y Mono

At the end of practice, Mono called everyone together and he presented me with the official CDO (Cordao de Ouro – the name of our group) Panamá shirt!  I was really honored.  It made me feel like I’m officially a part of the group.  Here’s what it looks like…not that y’all care, but this was a big deal for me.

IMG_4606 IMG_4607

So, skipping forward a bit…yesterday, Sunday, Eric and I went to Juan Pablo’s house (another Capoeira friend…we don’t know anyone besides these folks) for his birthday party.  He lives with his folks still in this house at the top of this hill that has a great view of the Bridge of the Americas, which is over part of the Canal.  The directions to get there were ridiculous.  He basically dropped a pin on a Google Map when he was home and sent it to us via WhatsApp, then sent us verbal directions via WhatsApp, along with photos of landmarks along the way.  All of this, mind you, is because addresses do not exist in this silly country.  We still had to guess quite a bit about where we were going.  I said things along the way like, “yes, I think that looks like the tree from the picture.  See how that branch looks like this one?”  Seriously.  That’s how it went.  Ridiculous.  But we made it.

And it was so much fun!  Everyone was outside, and luckily it was shady and breezy enough to be comfortable.  There was a grill area that was covered and that’s where all the food and drinks were set up.  All of the capoeira folks were there, along with a few of Juan Pablo’s friends from school, plus lots of family members.  We spent a lot of time getting to know a Brazilian couple who happens to live in the building right next to us.  We figured this out because the woman, Jessica, posted this photo on Facebook one day:

Rainy day in Panama 3.20.15

I saw it and thought “wow!  That’s almost like our view!  She must live nearby!”  So I went out to our balcony and tried to compare our view to hers to see where she lived.  Here’s the photo from the same day, but a few hours later, from our balcony:

From our balcony

So I figured out that they were to the left of us and not up as high.  I didn’t want to post the photo on Facebook or say anything at that point though b/c we hadn’t talked much yet and I didn’t want to seem creepy.  I told her and her husband all of this on Sunday and they thought it was hilarious.  I’m hoping we’ll get to hang out with them more.  They seemed like fun.

In the middle of the party, we had a roda for Juan Pablo.  It was a tiny little area that we had, so it was pretty intense and a few folks fell over on the brick grill area.  Looked painful.  I wasn’t sorry that I was in a dress and heels.  I just played the tambourine and the double cowbell-looking thing and clapped and enjoyed watching.  A few photos from the day:

 

Jessie, formerly featured flying through the air at the performance a few weeks ago, is originally from the DC area. Jessica is from Brazil and is the one who lives in the building next door. Both really sweet women.
Ready for the roda. Moi in the center in blue (kneeling) and Juan Pablo, the birthday boy, on the right.
Mono, Moisés, y Antonio (Árabe) playing the berimbau (the long bow-like instrument with the gourd at the bottom that acts as an amplifier) and singing.
One girl had to kick off her shoes in the middle of the roda, so Moi proceeded to use them to keep rhythm. I was just trying to think hard enough to play the tambourine without messing up too badly. I don’t know how I’m going to sing in Portuguese and play an instrument at the same time.
The birthday boy and his sweet girlfriend Ana.
Mono and Lourdes
Lourdes (in orange, upside-down) and Juan Pablo.

And lastly, a random photo of Juan Pablo upside-down on a beach somewhere that he shared with us.  Pretty cool.

IMG_4611

My parents are here this week, so we’ll see whether I have time to share photos a little at a time or whether it’s one long post after they leave…

Friday night’s Capoeira presentation, Saturday date night

There was some kind of big commerce exposition at the convention center nearby at the end of last week, and the capoeira group – CDO Panama, short for Cordao de Ouro, cord of gold, I believe – performed there.  We got there right at 8 when it was supposed to start, but things were running late, so we had the pleasure of seeing acts from other countries.

We saw a little of this:

Chinese fashion show

Chinese fashion show

 

a little of this:

Dances from another part of Panamá

Dances from another part of Panamá

and also this guy, who was Eric’s favorite:

He was probably all of 10 years old, and his buddy, wearing the same costume of pajamas and a big dragon head, was probably 5.

He was probably all of 10 years old, and his buddy, wearing the same costume of pajamas and a big dragon head, was probably 5.

I happened to sit down next to the girlfriend of one of the guys in CDO, so I got to chat with her, Ana, a little.  Finally, the capoeira performance began.  I didn’t know how the photography was going to go since I couldn’t really just stand in front of everyone for the best view, there were huge speakers on the front of the stage blocking half of the good moves, it was dark, they were moving fast, and there was a huge lit-up screen behind them.  None of these are elements that I’ve ever known how to deal with before.  Luckily Eric coached me through all of this during the other acts, so I was decently prepared (compared to how I would’ve been otherwise) by the time they went on.

I ended up taking almost 400 photos of their maybe 8-12 minute performance!  Don’t worry, I’ve paired it down quite a bit for y’all.  Here are a few of my favorites.  The white girl flying through the air is Jessie, the one I said is from the DC area originally.  The guy with the braids/dreads (and doing the crazy handstand) is the leader of the group.  His nickname is Mono, or monkey (again, racial issues are different here), and he is engaged to the beautiful girl playing the drum and singing.  The other guy flying through the air is Juan Pablo, the boyfriend of Ana, the girl I was sitting with as we watched this.  In case you care about all of these relationships.  🙂  The one playing the tambourine is the one who I think is named Moíses and who was with me in the roda for my first time.

Incredible, huh?  I talked to a few of them afterwards and was greeted with hugs and besos.  All of them seemed glad that I had come and were excited that I had taken pictures.  Mono added me to their facebook group today, so I’ve posted a few of the photos for them.

So – changing gears – for Christmas I gave Eric a scrapbook type thing full of date ideas for us for 2015.  At the point when I made it, I wasn’t sure if we would be in Raleigh or in Panama b/c of CB, so it has ideas for both places.  Last night we tried out our first official date from the book.  We went to a restaurant called Market.  You can check it out here.  It pretty much caters to Americans, but it’s known for having really great steaks and hamburgers.  It is owned by this one restaurant group that has three restaurants in the area that are all supposed to be really good – kinda an Ashley Christensen kinda thing for you Raleighites (Raleighians?).

I had the corvina (typical Panamanian fish) and yuca and it was AMAZING.  Best food I’ve had in months.  Doesn’t it look delicious!?

A-MAZ-ING!

A-MAZ-ING!

Here are a few other pictures from our night out:

I’m working on trying to use my camera with manual or aperture priority settings. Eric loves it.
Each date from the book comes with a photo challenge. Eric hates this part. Luckily, he humored me…
All dressed up for the first time in weeks!
Note the UNC necklace. Didn’t really go, but I was going to wear it anyway. I even made really early dinner reservations so we could be home in time for the game (7:30 our time).

Of course after not being able to watch the three previous games of the ACC Tourney, the Heels wolfpacked all over themselves when I did get to watch.  I take full responsibility for the loss.  Ugh.  Notre Dame?  Really?  Better than some others, I guess, but jeez.  I still am learning to accept Miami and Virginia Tech into the ACC.  The Irish are too much.

This morning I interviewed a potential empleada and we really liked her.  She wants full time work, but we don’t need it, so we offered to let her start here knowing that she’d be looking for full time work elsewhere.  Since we have the windows open all the time, EVERYTHING is covered with dust and dirt.  It gets really gross really quickly.  Eric learned his lesson about walking around barefoot yesterday when his feet were black after about 30 minutes.  We couldn’t tell if his feet were making the floor dirtier or vice versa.  Gross.

We’ve also heard that during the rainy season, you have to leave your drawers and closets open so mold and fungus doesn’t grow on your clothes and especially in leather shoes.  Ah, the tropics!  It ain’t all glamor.