Tag Archives: Photos

Batizado photos – Unidos Pela Capoeira 2015!

I’ve been avoiding writing this post because I’m overwhelmed by how amazing an experience the batizado proved to be.  Not to mention the fact that I have over a thousand photos from the week, thanks to Eric!  I’ll attempt to sum it up for you…

As I said in my last posts, it was hard.  I worked harder that week than I ever have – physically, at least.  It was hot.  The gym was stuffy and once a day someone would get the brilliant idea to turn off the fans so we could hear the mestres speak.  Personally, I’d rather not die of heatstroke and just plan on reading body language and hand signals, but no one asked me.  But gosh…it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  Amazing people from all over, all working hard together, all encouraging, all with a sincere desire to improve…completely committed to this crazy sport and to the people who practice it.  It was inspiring.  The mestres were incredible, not only to watch play, but to play against…talk about a challenge.  Yet I always had a smile on my face in the roda because I was falling more and more in love with capoeira…with the mandinga – the malice or clever trickiness with which capoeira is played.

We’re also blessed with incredibly friendly, easy-to-talk-to mestres.  This was particularly important to me as a non-Portuguese speaker.  Everything was done in Portuguese, so I had to rely on my Spanish knowledge to interpret what I could from what they said.  It took a lot of work, and plenty of interpretation help from friends, but throughout the week I picked up a lot.  Eric, however, was less than pleased when I came home speaking a few phrases in yet ANOTHER new language.  He’s finally warming up to Spanish…I don’t think I’ll push it with Portuguese just yet.  I do, however, want to continue learning on my own, as it’s so important to capoeiristas.

Getting to the next level in capoeira is not just about the physical aspects of the sport.  You must also learn to play all the instruments, sing in Portuguese (eventually leading the songs for everyone…eek!), learn history, learn the language, and work diligently within your school.  As you move to the higher levels, you are depended upon to help teach classes, work with lower level students, work with the kids’ classes, etc.  It’s really easy to come up with capoeira-related tasks/events for every day of the week.  This isn’t a sport that you really want to pick up casually…or at least I don’t.  I’m in, and I love it.  I want to stay in, although I’m nervous about how that will look once we move back to the States after having it be my whole world here.

With that, some photos.  First, a few of our special guests and teachers, Mestre Barriga, Contra Mestre (CM) Ivan, and Contra Mestre Rodrigo.

CM Ivan in Casco Viejo. I love this shot! Not mine…
CM Ivan, Mestre Barriga, CM Rodrigo llegando a Panamá
CM Ivan and CM Rodrigo
CM Rodrigo
Mono y Contra Mestre (CM) Ivan
CM Ivan in Casco Viejo.
CM Ivan
Jessie and the mestres – serious as always!
CM Rodrigo in his signature pose. I don’t know where it originated, but most photos throughout the week featured someone in this pose. Oh, and that’s Jhonnatan with him. Nickname: Por que…b/c he asks a lot of questions.
Mestre Barriga
Árabe, Paola, George y CM Rodrigo at the rooftop pool at Jessie’s apartment.

Hanging out throughout the week before and the week of the event:

Jessie! My sweet gringa friend.
The guys watching the girls do a little samba on Árabes birthday. Not obvious at all there, boys.
Mono has gotten to be a really good buddy to me. A great coach, an encourager, and a dear friend.
Hanging out with Árabe in our cool shades.
Profesor Apaxe from Colombia. He’s the one who I played against on stage on the last day in order to get my green cord. He also awarded me my cord. Great salsa dancer too!
When you put a capoeirista in a pretty setting, you can guarantee that theyll end up upside-down and asking you to take a picture of them
Our gorgeous view!

Kids’ class, random practice photos:

Red light, green light, but with a mestre. Fun!
The guys practicing the Puxada de Rede (roughly, the pulling of the net…a classic Brazilian dance).
CM Rodrigo leading the kids’ class on the final day of the batizado. They had a blast with him!
Daughters of two friends (Auri’s daughter Vicky and Lourdes’s daughter Sara)
CM Rodrigo helping a little girl to do a cartwheel or au.
The roda is a little different when you have a giant man playing against a tiny little girl. Hilarious. So sweet.
Some of the kids have some serious talent!
Auri’s daughter Vicky trying to push CM Ivan down. Not technically a thing in capoeira, but gosh it was amazing to see how he could stay in his handstand while she shoved him! Hilarious too.
Prof. Apaxe spinning on his head because, well, he can.
Flying!
After the kids’ class.
All the kids under CM Rodrigo’s influence…for better or worse!

Okay, I still haven’t gotten to the final show, but I think I’ll leave that for another day.  Thanks to everyone who’s asked about the event!

We’re flying to Madrid tomorrow night.  We’ll go through Tangier (Morocco), spend Christmas in Salamanca, visit a friend in Barcelona for a few days, then head back to Madrid to fly back to Panamá.  We get back here on Dec. 30…then Eric heads to Raleigh from Dec. 31 – Jan. 9th!  Whew!  Busy!

 

Batizado Day 2

Today was hard, but satisfying.  After the fact, you know?  It’s not like I was sweating it out in this sweltering gym and thinking the whole time about how wonderful it was to be pushing myself this hard.  No, a lot of the time I just thought about how it’d be embarrassing to puke.

So you get a better idea of how this works, there are probably 20-25 of us from Panamá, Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil, and as of tomorrow, Miami.  There is one mestre – Mestre Barriga.  His name pretty much means Belly.  In case I haven’t touched on this before, everyone in capoeira has an apellido, a nickname.  Sometimes you get it when you do something stupid and people call you out on it, sometimes it has to do with how you look, like one friend who is named Irmão, or brother, because he looks a lot like our contra mestre.  Sometimes it has to do with your style of play.  My gringa friend Jessie was really good at Kung Fu before she started capoeira and she’s super smooth and quick, so they call her Ninja.  I’ll get my name at the end of this week!  Can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with for me!  I think I’m the only one without an apellido at the batizado…so I’m ready for it.

Here you can see my friend Árabe (left), CM Rodrigo (middle), and Mestre Barriga (right) at the Canal yesterday.  Of course, they played a little capoeira too while they were there, but my favorite of the photos they sent around was this one:

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Jogando capoeira at the Canal:

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So back to Day Two.  It’s just amazing how hot and suffocating the air is inside the gym.  There are some fans, but unless you’re standing right in front of them, they don’t do much.  My goal is usually to position myself in front of one when we start a class.  By dinnertime I was feeling pretty rough…mostly nauseous from the heat and exertion.  I made myself eat though, and laid down on the floor for 20 min or so.  I still wasn’t great for the rest of the day, but I made it.

After dinner, one of the things that we practiced are martelos.  Martelo literally means “hammer,” and according to wiki is defined generally as a kick with the instep with the most common target being the head.  CM Ivan decided that we needed to work on taking kicks, this time to the upper arm.  So…we paired up and began kicking the mess out of each other.  Not comfortable.  I worked with one of my Brazilian friends, Thaisa, which in hindsight may not have been the best choice.  The girl doesn’t mess around.  I definitely got some practice in.  I can take a hard kick.  And I have the giant bruise to show it.  I named it Thaisa.

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The most impressive duo during this exercise was definitely Mono and our German friend Noel.  You could hear their kicks land throughout the gym, over all the other kicks and talking and groaning.  Within 5 minutes of finishing the exercise, Noel’s arm was purple.  Mono posted this photo of his own shoulder last night.

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Continuing with injuries, I’ll give you the rest of the rundown.  Remember how I broke off a piece of bone in my finger a couple of months ago?  Well, I reinjured it yesterday.  Who knows if the piece broke off again or if it’s just jammed or what, but it’s swollen and I can’t get my rings on again.  Fun.

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I also managed to land on my kneecap pretty hard on Night One of the event.  I didn’t feel it much then because I was in the roda and playing against a guy who must be 6’6″…adrenaline kinda takes over…but the next morning I had some intense pain whenever I put any weight on it or touched it.  I knocked it a little yesterday and that didn’t help.  I can still walk fine and move it pretty well though, so…onward!  Funny thing about all these injuries – they’re ALWAYS on the left side.  Never fails.

Oh, and I think I got lied to by one of the contra mestres last night!  I had heard throughout the year that there is a certain toque, a certain rhythm, that you’re supposed to play on the berimbau if someone dies in the roda.  Of course, this dates back to when capoeira was used in serious combat, so you don’t get a lot of that these days.  I think there would be more CPR and 911 calling these days.  But anyway, the actual toque seems to be shrouded in a bit of mystery.  I asked CM Rodrigo about it yesterday and was surprised and excited when he was happy to share it with me.  I videoed it and shared it with a few others, thrilled that I had cracked into this secret world.  NOPE!  Turns out he showed me a fairly standard toque, but not one that I’m used to, so I didn’t know the difference.  Dang it!  The quest continues…

A few pics from the day:

I’m excited because Instrutora Rebelde, a woman from Miami, arrived early this morning.  I can’t wait to meet her after hearing about her all year.  Plus, she’ll be the one and only female instructor in the crowd.  She has quite a reputation, so I’m excited to see her in action!

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So if you’re reading this today or tomorrow, say a prayer for endurance, proper nutrition and hydration, and no puking.  Halfway there.

In closing, Summer is adorable and ready for Christmas!

 

I Ain’t Fancy and A Hurt Monkey

Last Friday night I was invited to…well, I wasn’t quite sure, actually.  Sometimes between certain friends’ accents, slang, ambient noise, just plain being distracted, or not focusing all of my energy on understanding folks, I don’t get the whole story.  Ask Eric about that.  He can give you an example or ten.  It’s hard to be on all the time.

Anyway, I knew that my friend Auri had invited me to some event having to do with her daughter’s friend’s parents store and that it must be something fashion-related because she said she knew I was into stuff like that and we had recently been talking about Fashion Week.  My brilliant deductive reasoning skills told me that Eric would not be interested in going, and he happily stayed behind.

When I finally found the place, I realized it was the grand opening party for a formalwear store, and it was – in true Panamá fashion – rather over the top.  Everyone was dressed up.  There was a red carpet, complete with the backdrop thing that said the name of the store where everyone could take pictures.  Know what I mean? There was a reporter and camera from a fashion tv channel.  A photo booth and an open bar!  And I was…in a casual skirt, an untucked shirt, flats, and no makeup.  Awesome.  Oh, and Sonal…I didn’t have a clutch.  It was a normal sized bag with a strap.  You would’ve died.  You have no idea how many times I’ve said that since I’ve been here…”Sonal would kill me if she saw me here, wearing this, without a clutch!”

Anyway, once I ran into Auri’s daughter and she lead me to Auri, I found out that Auri was somehow involved with the runway show and would not be hanging out with me.  Still didn’t have all the details, but at least I understood that part.  Boo.  And ps, it was only 6:15.  Ugh.  I put on my best “I’m totally okay with being underdressed and alone” face, grabbed one of those uncomfortable stools at a hightop table that we all pretend we’re okay sitting at in a skirt and (at least for the rest of them) heels, and started my people-watching.

PS, for anyone planning a party, those stools suck.  If you want to move the stool, you have to get down off of it and move it, then climb back up.  It is neither easy to climb up or down in a skirt and/or heels.  Not cute, not ladylike, nothing.  Just not a good situation in general.  And as an added bonus, this one spun.  Oh, and just for fun-sies, the table spun too.  Thanks.

I eventually made a Venezuelan friend who turned out to also be a lawyer.  Very nice woman.  The runway show began just as I was about to give up and head home.  This new friend, Marling, and I watched it together and took turns commenting on the suits and the three well-chosen models.  Auri ended up being the mistress of ceremonies…although I don’t love that term…sounds impure.  She was all dressed up in a crazy J-Lo looking dress and an enormous amount of make-up, but she looked beautiful and did a great job.  She really appreciated me being there to support her, and when she told me that, it was all worth it.

The whole group, models, owners, hosts for the evening.
with Auri, our mistress of ceremonies for the evening and my capoeira buddy.
Auri and one of the models
Carlos, one of the models.
Owner of the store being interviewed for Social TV or something like that.

I know y’all are getting sick of hearing about capoeira and seeing photos from rodas, so I’ll keep this one quick and only share a few pics.  This one was cool because it was at the Canal Administration building which looks like this:

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It was supposed to be a big one, with all the capoeiristas in the city invited.  Everyone seemed really excited about it on Facebook…but then only about 5 or 6 guys showed up outside of our group.  And they came 30-45 min late, when we were starting to get tired.  The problem with not having enough people in a roda is that you have to have some people playing instruments.  The people left over are the ones who play against each other.  You get pretty exhausted after only a minute or so because you’re going so hard, so – with any luck – someone cuts in for you after about that long to play with the person you’re playing with.  So that way, everyone usually plays against two different people, then goes back to the outside circle until they cut in again.  If there aren’t a lot of people, you have to cut in again pretty quickly…and don’t really get to catch your breath.  And meanwhile, you have to have 2-4 people playing berimbau, one playing a big drum, a few playing tambourine, and one playing this thing that looks like a double cowbell.

Anyway, it turned out fine, just not as big as the last time we did something like this.

This one got posted on CDO Panama’s Instagram account with the caption “Boom!”
Jessie and Lucero
Omar
Omar, Árabe, Kike, Auri
Mahalia – Love her!

The thing that didn’t go great though is when Mono got kicked (accidentally) in the kidney/back with someone’s heel.  It seemed like he might be okay for a minute.  I was actually about to cut in and play with him.  But then he left the roda and ended up facedown in the grass for a while.  After that, some folks helped him over to lay on the monument for a while.  He eventually was mostly carried to his car because he couldn’t walk.  Very scary and sad.  Horrible timing too with the batizado coming up very soon.  He has worked so hard all year for this, so we’re hoping for a quick and full recovery.

He managed to make it to work yesterday, and he’s heading to the Panamá/Costa Rica fútbol game with us tonight, so he’s doing a lot better.  Amazing how soccer cures most ills for this man.

I’ll leave you with a few gorgeous photos from our upstairs neighbors, Stella and Elliott.

Our neighbor Stelliott’s (Stella + Elliott – their word, not mine) photo from Pedasí
Our neighbor Stella in El Valle