My last week in Bahia I made every attempt to soak up every drop of sunshine, eat pork sandwiches sometimes twice in one day, order a daily banana, coco or raspberry batido, smile at every surfer on the beach, share a Pilsener or two with Peter Mero, the world's greatest bartender, and follow that bliss.
The work this week was a bit more lax than usual. maybe even more sing-a-longs than the average workday- and definitely more hammock breaks. Laura and I cooked our last communal dinner of encocado camarones, trying to replicate our meal from Puerto Lopez. We had no idea the amount of work that went into that dish. First of all, who knew how hard it was to open a dried coconut? It took Clay with his giant machete and then Laura with a huge hammer to break it into pieces, followed by shaving the second outside layer and passing it to me to grade it down into shavings. This process alone took two hours and involved blood, sweat, and nearly tears. Months of reforestation and work with a machete- all in preperation for our last meal.
Then the rest of the Planet Drummers came back from their nightly sunset spotting and were recruited to help us de-poop our shrimps. All in all we didnt end up eating until about 10 p.m., but man, it was worth it. I wouldn't even call it a meal so much as a life experience.
Laura and I also made sure we tried some surfing in this last week. Surfing is always something I've wanted to do, and now that I've tried it (and failed pretty miserably) I am kind of tempted to make it a lifelong hoby aka always live near an ocean. Though the times I got up only lasted a few fleeting moments, that brief feeling of riding- literally balancing on the tremendous energy of a wave- was unreal. That, and every dude that surfs is pretty sexy in my book.
We spent our last weekend in this town we've grown to love so much. Saturday was a joint celebration for Laura's 24th birthday and our farewell. We rented out a restaurant of one of Orlando's friends and had some kabobs, bruschetta, sangria and tres leche bday cake. It was pretty intimate with just the Planet Drummers, about 12 of us in all. Toasts were said, games were played (a spongebob piñata made an apperance), and sangria was drank.
After, we headed to a Pink Panther Pool Party that our friend Jose was bartending at. Laura and I even went out and bought horribly tacky bright shiny pink skirts for 3 bucks which we turned into some fabulous pink dresses. We looked like two shiny bubblegum cupcakes from the 80s ready to boogie.
We got to the party around 1 a.m. and were for sure the rowdiest bunch there- jumping into the pool and ordering drinks like it was going out of style.
Just as I was dripping wet ordering my second cocktail, this big-boobed blond Canadian cougar karate chopped my arm and yelled "NO MAS!" Aparently this headcase was the hostess and no likey the other gringos crashing her party.
She stopped the music and insisted only the Planet Drummers leave.
I've been to my share of parties but never has this happened to me before.
(Unless you count in 4th grade when Nell Curtis sent me and Jenny Zarilla home because she wasn't getting enough attention.)
Anyways, about half the party ended up joining us and we all made our way to Peter Mero's Bar (" where everybody knows your name...") and partied on the beach until 7 a.m.
Our last day Monday I spent the majority of the day fighting back tears. Bahia is a beautiful city with beautiful people. I don't think I've ever felt so embraced in my life. Our hosts Clay and Margarita were wonderful. Clay with his laid-back surfer attitude who would respond to Sol's crying with "What's up, man?". Margarita who was your classic curvy Latina but a total goof-troop. Clay tols us if you don't know what she's saying, its probably sexual. And Sol, that nakey lil chonchito-found playing with needles or wrenches and peeing on the floor- I hope our paths cross in 20 years and I can buy him a beer.
It felt good to live substainably and communally with such wonderful souls while making the world a better place one tree at a time.
Amore y paz Bahia, amore y paz.
"What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede into the plain until you see their specs dispersing? It's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies."
-Jack Kerouac
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