Marigolds.
Corrinne and I remain holed up at Jungla de Panama. We’ve been hanging around with the animals, but have few pictures to show for it. I’ll work on that.
In particular, I need to get some shots of Dorado, the palomino horse. We hung out for a while today and it was interesting. He came out of his pen, let me tie him to a tree and brush his coat, his mane, and his tail. Then I tried to walk him around for a spell and he immediately began bucking. I have a good amount of experience with mules, but horses are more difficult, and I was out of my element more than I hoped to be. I walked him a bit, let him graze. Walked him a few steps, and eventually had to resort to using peas and carrots to bribe him back into the pen he shares with Floyd the billy goat. I haven’t spent much time with Floyd, but word on the street is that he likes to sneak up behind you, lower his horns, and flip you over. Goats, man.
Floyd thinks bipeds are hilarious.
I have to say, I’m a little disappointed things didn’t go better with Dorado today. I really like that horse, and I hoped my experience with mules would put us on good footing. I dunno. I’ll give it another shot with him tomorrow. It’s strange to be in a space with an animal that can kill you dead when said animal gets ornery. Hopefully we’ll do better next time.
But it’s not all horses and goats around here. The main attraction, as I posted before, is the monkeys. Monkeys are a lot of fun, a lot of fun to watch, and damn near impossible to deal with once they get to being difficult. Yesterday, a monkey ran in the kitchen while Corrinne was having breakfast and sat in her cereal bowl, then grabbed the milk carton and bit a hole in it, and was making his way through the dishes in the sink when someone came and took him outside. It makes for a great story, but a fairly miserable breakfast.
They also make for good alarm clocks. Here’s what I woke up to this morning:
Whatchya doin?
When we’re not hanging with the animals up here, we take the ride down the hills into Boquete, where the Coffee and Flower Festival is in full swing. Last night was a chance to poke around a bit, and while the flowers were impressive, the coffee was pretty much non-existent. I suppose they have so much coffee in the area they don’t feel the need to put the stands up inside the fairgrounds. Or maybe they just don’t want to give kids the opportunity to have coffee after sundown, which is generally good policy.
In any case, the flower designs are lovely and the coffee, when you go into town to get some, is mind-blowing. Corrinne’s a bit of a coffee expert and says it might be the best coffee she’s ever tasted. I am not an expert, but it’s the first coffee I’ve ever had that I did not feel compelled to put sugar in.
Coffee plant with ripe berries.
I snapped the above photo during a hike around Palmira. This is the extent of our activity these days. We pet animals, we take small hikes, we ride into town for food and coffee and sometimes see the festival that’s happening down there. The effect is feeling like the world is a million miles away. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I keep looking at the map, thinking about Nicaragua, and considering the next steps of our journey. I’m not sure how long we are going to be here, and I’m trying to let go of that and just sit still.
Corrinne showed me a card today that read, “I love routine. Until I get bored. Then I love excitement. Until I feel overwhelmed. Then I love routine.” Yeah.
I expect we’ll be here a couple more days, and I’ll work on sitting still. That’s a lesson even on the road. Maybe especially on the road.
