Rockin' in Fortuna

I started off with the intent to get a haircut and drop by and see some acquaintances I met in August 2009 when I lived in Fortuna for a month. I never found the place that "cuts the hairs". The travel kiosk was "manned" by someone else. When I asked the woman for the whereabouts of the proprietor from my former visit she went next door and gave me a list of five people who have operated the kiosk in the last two years and described each of them to me then told me where I could find Roy.

I returned to my apartment, chastised a few people in Panama for bananas country behavior, not following through on commitments and sent an email to Matias Zeledon, the coffee proprietor. It was but two sentences long. "Are you still in Fortuna? I bought a rocking chair from you two years ago, I dropped by your shop, but it is now a chocoleteria. Cheers, Jim Schmidt"

A couple of minutes later I got a response, yes he had moved and he remembered me well. Yeah, right. I walked down to his shop, "Hey, how is the computer business going? Are you still living in Puerto Viejo?" I spent two hours with the guy two years ago. I forget that much about anybody but a really good looking woman in about an hour.

I bought a couple of rocking chairs, which will be delivered on Saturday and shot the shit with a guy who was supporting himself making travel videos. Not that it matters, but my first impression was that he was gay. Then he talked about himself for a while and I was sure. Then he showed me a picture of his wife and kids. WTF? I'm usually not bad at this stuff. I went back to my apartment to follow up on more email and looked up his site. This could be kind of a fun project for Panama, but trust me, I won't be appearing shirtless with pierced nipples.

Trying to get elicit some response I sent off more emails. Rudy kept knocking on my door. He wanted me to participate in his English lessons with his students. "Sometimes in English they substitute the 'R for 'T' 'What do you want to eat? becomes Whar to you want to ear?" No, Rudy, that's not true, nobody does that. "I have an excellent ear." Rudy, amarillo is pronounced "yellow" not "jello". These poor students.