Shorter Por Favor

On Friday and Saturday night, these are the best nights to go out in Colombia. Of course, this is a standard for many countries, especially USA. This country was a little different though because this city defined "true parties." People start at 12am and they go out until 5am.  

When it came to going out, I planned to go with the receptionist(super nice and perfect English), but she had to work late.  This was fine because my only intention was to go out and people watch. Of course, I had interest in seeing some hot Colombian man-I am a woman and I am allowed to look. 

The main party area was in El Poblado about five minutes walk from my hotel. From my room, I could hear the bass.  While I had no desire to go out, I came to Colombia and it was a must to go see the nightlife.  The best part for me is people watching therefore I decided to take a stroll through the park and party area. It's full of amazing restaurants, lounges, roofs, fast food, sushi-everything you name it.  

          

            Waiting for food 

I thought if I found a good place I could check it out for an hour or two. Although, I was completely enjoying myself on the street. The high numbers of people on the street and the open patios where you could watch people dance. There are some underground incredible salsa places, but I felt like staying in the area. Taxis at night-no bueno.


With my magnetic gravitation to luxury, I had to check out this fancy hotel I had heard about. When I got there it reminded me of one of my favorite NY restaurants, it was gorgeous. There was only one guy ahead of me who went up through the elevator. The party was happening on the rooftop-my favorite place to be.  When I got dressed, I actually put on makeup, did my hair, wore my black and flower jumper and gold wedges. I received a good amount of attention, which came unexpected. The women in Colombia are stunning and beautiful. 

I was feeling pretty good, but I did not fit the part for this bouncer at the door. 


"You're wearing pants."
"Yes, but this is a jumper with gold wedges."
"Still those are pants."
"Yes, but it's a nice jumper."


He was being quite respectful and didn't look me up and down with that horrible "rejected" look. He was just doing his job, which I understand.  I am standing a bit outside the door just glancing at a couple girls standing outside.
He points to this girl who is dressed in a black mini dress with everything exposed and 6 inch silver platforms.


"That's what you need to wear.  A short dress and platform shoes. The shorter the better."


While I mentioned these girls are beautiful, they don't always dress the part.  Many follow the expression, "the tighter, the better" and fortunately they can pull it off.  Their cleavage is exposed, their skirts are high, and platforms a must.  There is nothing I can really say to that other than, "Let it be."
This guy was serious about "looking a certain way." While I really wanted to go upstairs, I was not willing to look like that ever.  Not to mention that dress and those shoes are nowhere in my wardrobe. 


After this experience, it was disappointing, but I was not stuck on it. I walked around and talked with some locals, checked out a salsa place for 15 minutes and went home....

That party desire fuel is not running in Priscilla's engine. 

4 Amigos

For the rest of the day, we went walking through town, had lunch at the fish market with some local crowd. The fish was excellent and Carlito decided to take a walk. He enjoyed smoking cigarettes and having his time alone with a beer and the beach. This fish market was right on the beach. He didn't like crowds and these were some serious crowds. While he was a vegetarian, they had veg options, I was kind of wondering why he did not sit with us. He was my buddy and he left me alone with the love birds. 

Story goes they met in a hostel and they have been together ever since. I stared at them with half of me thinking "Oh that's so great." The other half was thinking, "Oh I wonder how long that's going to last." It's just a bitter woman speaking out. I should be with a certain person, especially on my birthday, but I'm not.  It didn't matter because I had great company and good fish with plantains, fries, and corn-happy.

We went for a walk along the coast and it reminded me of Miami-not just the skyline, but some of the fit people. We climbed down some rocks and sit staring in the sea, we sang in the rain, we climbed up a giant wire playground with a beautiful family of kids, we ate some potato balls filled with cheese, and there were other local delights. 

and we actually found the bus to get back. 

Then the couple decided to stay back and Carlito took me out for the night to El Casco Viejo-the hip, beautiful, and happening place of Panama. It was also the oldest with fantastic architecture, churches, and new buildings. 

                

              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adorable, adorable family we played on the jungle gym with climbing up to the top. Easy for monkeys ie Me lol

Stopping back at hostel to change 

We just walked around looking at all the apartments and condos. It would be so nice to rent something there except it's Panama.  Panama is not a place I would live and I can say that with confidence. 

We stop by some nice places. One of them reminded me of this awesome lounge in Gauthier if Morocco. It was so nice, but Carlito did not like it. He knew it was my birthday celebration so he went for a walk and I hung out for a half an hour. 

   Rooftop lounge with Movie 

We then went upstairs to a rooftop bar and we ran into our Domincan friends-what a small world. We were talking about boys and getting advice from Carlito. It turns out one of them is divorced and has two kids. It's always a shock when people look so good. They went home and we went to stop at a food truck for Carlito. 

We stopped by a food truck for Carlito to eat a veggie taco and they made me a special birthday Arepa with extra avocado, white cheese, and tomato.  I was talking about how America isn't much different than Panama except the people can be questionable. The one guy said, "Hey I'm from Colombia." He was a break dancer and Colombian. Instead of sitting in front of the counter, I decided to go back and watch them make the food. This was causing a lot of commotion on the street and I loved it. 

While hanging out, I met a new friend Marco, who was a friendly teddy bear. He ended up taking Carlito and I to this club-the last place I wanted to be. The DJ was from Germany and the beat was pretty good, but I did not want to be in a club. Granted it was a nice club with a line to get in and he took us straight in the front door, which made it not so bad.  

While standing there for 15 minutes, I look at Carlito and he looks at me-let's go. We had a long day and we were ready for sleep-separate sleep people-not what you think just because he is a male.

Angel on my Shoulder

When I would leave my hotel, it would usually be daylight. It was not recommended to go out at night because it was "unsafe" for tourists. There was nothing to prove this to be true so I would occasionally walk at night.  Usually, this would be a short distance to the park to get some food, okay get a $1 slice of pizza. I was addicted and just love the fact it was $1 and so fresh and tasty. 

When I walked around the fountain area, I saw this boy on a bike in the distance. When I walked home, I again saw this boy on a bike following behind.  The last day, I saw this boy walking on foot near my hotel. 
Of course, this could have been coincidental as this boy looked super innocent.

He said, "Hello" with a huge smile.
He had to be about 16 years old. 

I said in a non-confrontational way
"I see you often around here."

He said, "I work across from you at the travel agency. This is my company on my shirt."
 
I said, "Oh I see. You like riding your bike."
 
He said, "Yes, I love my bike."

He would repeat his answer and he appeared a bit aloof, but very sweet and kind.
I was starting to notice that he could have  Aspergers or a similar diagnosis.

I said, "You are riding your bike at night a lot."

He said, "Yes I see you in the street and in your hotel."

I said, "Oh why do you do that? I'm not that interesting."

He said, " To help keep you safe."

We continued our conversation and I realized that he was not following me rather he was watching over me. He said that many bad people walk around at night. He was scared that something would happen to me.  He didn't come up to me because he did not want to bother me. 

What was interesting that this boy actually felt more nervous when he saw me talking to strangers. When I was near the pizza place, the park, and even the church. He said I should not talk to these people because they could be bad. 
It was clear this boy had a disability and it was clear that he was an angel on my shoulder.


Sometimes I feel invisible to danger because my strong connection with people. It's hard for me to remember that there is possibility for harm.  No matter how much I can coach them, calm them down, reason with them, challenge them, smile towards them, listen to them, and love them-danger is present within the environment and keeping safe is important. 

This boy took me down the street riding on his handle bars. I gave him a few pieces of candy and we parted ways. I'll never know if he really worked at the travel agency across the street or if he just came from a somewhere special...... 

Nicaraguan Basketball

On a Friday night near the church, I saw heard some shouting and saw a crowd of people. I assumed it was a church gathering or maybe a festival.  I looked down to see a basketball court with people sitting on each side cheering away. The players were dressed in official uniforms with one team red and the other blue. It was cute that they had official uniforms with their names on the back. Also, they were an older team in their 30s and 40s all male. They were all playing in a league through the church, which I thought was nice.

My interest in the game was questionable, but when I started watching I realized they were really good! The red team was in the lead as they had a couple excellent players and some cool fake out tactics. The blue team was only a few points behind and they were trying so hard. A few kids and I were cheering on the blue team together with our oohs and aaahs.  They ended up losing, but it was such a great game. I wanted them to play again:) 

                         

Tourist Night

Being busy working, my schedule involves eating sleeping, and writing.  My social hour usually involves walking down the streets meeting new locals from dusk into the evening and connecting with people God wants me to meet. Staying at Roatan Hostel, which is a pretty small space. It was full of girls who were ready to mingle, dance, meet boys, have fun, act silly, and live life. In the beginning, a few of us did discuss renting a 4X4 and going around the island, but this didn't happen as we couldn't make our schedules work out.  When it came to Saturday, it was the last day for many who were continuing their journey.  Our hostel owner was so sweet organizing a bus for everyone to go together and she was also coming with and hanging out-this is not common for owners, but she was quite cool-seriously adored her. Everyone was going and everyone was asking if I was coming. I couldn't be the odd woman out, therefore I threw on an outfit, my gold platform shoes, makeup, scrunched up my hair, and that was it. My SF buddy and I were more interested in staying back and playing scrabble, but we decided to not be old, but live young and go out. Even if we just made a small appearance, that would definitely be okay.  

 Being one of the first ones ready(a rare occurrence), I greeted our driver, Juan Lewis, who came in all dressed up asking 50 questions. He spoke perfect English and as he grew up in the Bronx, New York. It was clear he was very proud of living there and had good knowledge of the cities and states. Now he is back in his hometown where he works as a tourist driver where he is happy with all the money he makes( go figure Roatan).

While I thought it was a girls night, one guy managed to sneak on and boy was he a 20 year old handful.
Unfortunately, the thing with hostels is they are really for young people. I'm not in my young 20s anymore rather I have grown out of that developmental stage- nothing bad about it, but would rather be around older intellectuals than those just experiencing life for the first time.

Anyways, I sat in front with the driver from Bronx New York and we were talking about going to a better place. The hostel owner chose a local place that has local people and local grinding aka dancing. El bosque was definitely on my mind and recommended by Juan Lewis. The plans were not changing. She insisted on her local place and we joked about dropping them off and going to El Bosque. I decided to just go with the flow and have some fun.

So we were driving over to the bar and Juan shouts, "Did you see that?" JL

"See what?"

"I just ran over a big boat."

Apparently I missed running over the gigantic snake. I questioned if he was sure and he responded that he knows his island. Only in Roatan- do you run over a boa and then go on just like nothing happened.
Well,we arrived at the bar and it was empty and uneventful, which triggered my "I told you so attitude." We all sat and we were talking about traveling and taking silly pictures.

          

           

I would occasionally go up to Juan where we would sit and share all of our favorite things about New York. He talked about his love for Indian girls and I talked about my love for My Moroccan. He told me to hold on to my love while I questioned the unpredictable bit. Juan had some real good life experience and knew much.  

Even though, there was a small crowd, there was not a lack of entertainment.  The young boy was quite an entertainer like myself and he gave me a break for the night. Between his dancing and his stupid questions and nonexistent logic, he pretty much was like that annoying child you love regardless.  

The dancing was seriously, as my friend Mat would say, out of control. The 20 year old was asking me to show him how to dance and I delegated that task to another person. He was the lost puppy dog of the night. When we were all dancing together, he would come over with a different guy and say, "He wants to dance with you Priscilla," and I would run away like a ten year old. It was okay dancing with the girls, but not interested in going near any man.  Usually I am embarrassed my stupid tourist dancing, but this time I just let go and let us have fun.  Juan was watching and I was smiling and calling him a voyeur. 

When the clock struck 12, it was time to go home before I turned into a pumpkin or in Island case-a coconut. One girl was leaving and I caught her while I was standing outside.  Being concerned about the price, we cut the guy down from $5 to $2.50 and off we went.  Apparently, everyone stayed out until 2 or 3.  Unfortunately, I didn't have anymore taste for the local Island flavor. I was more interested in sleep.
                

               Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

             

                 Our adorable Hostel Owner