Meet Nelson From Panama
Nelson. It was an absolute pleasure to meet this fine young man. One of the last things I said to him was, “tell your mom she did a really good job raising you” and I meant it. I’d seen him the first day with no words exchanged from the table I liked to sit at and do whatever it was I deemed important.
On the second day I couldn’t stand it I had to make a comment about the noise his shoes made. Squeak, squeak, squeak, every time. I was like boy, “you couldn’t sneak up anybody even if you tried.” He did the nod and smile thing and went in his room.
The next time I saw him, squeakin’ along we both couldn’t help but laugh. He asked if he could join me at the table, offered me a rib from his to-go order and the rest was history.
He was staying at Hotel 1492 because he needed an inexpensive, quiet place to study for his medical doctor exam. He’s 27, from Panama and yes English is his second language. Very impressive, on top of the fact he has a sense of humor and manners.
“…You couldn’t sneak up anybody even if you tried.”
Told you his mom did a good job. We spent the next hour I guess talking about this that and the other, politics and Covid. We had similar stories in regards to the Covid vaccine and how it’s affecting women more than men.
Not sure if I should even bring those up here so I’ll go ahead and pass for now. I will share though he’s had it twice. Him and his best friend, I never caught her name, traveled to extreme remote areas in Panama to assist with those in villages who weren’t privy to medical attention. He called it the faces of Covid that no one sees.
He took many boat trips to these tiny villages, makes you wonder how they all contracted Covid. We talked about refugees who escaped to Panama and the horrific nightmare of what they went through to get there. He said as many as 14 would start out and by the time they made it there were around 6. If they were caught they said they’d rather die then go back.
“And it all boiled down to tomorrow.”
For the life of me I cannot recall where they were coming from will update when I find out. Certainly don’t wanna put wrong information. He said the rivers were insane and out of nowhere would flood taking out a handful of people at a time.
Others would parish from the shit you can’t even see like parasites and God knows what else. I didn’t really wanna know and that worked out perfect cause they didn’t even know.
Just an awesome kid, thoroughly enjoyed his company. The following day happened to be exam day. He’d been studying every day after working 8-10 hours for a solid year. And it all boiled down to tomorrow.
Yikes. So I wrote him a good luck note and when he returned we went out for dinner and a beer to celebrate. One of the best burgers I’d ever had for the record. I asked him when he’d get his results and he said another year.
“…I take pride in being open-minded…”
Can you imagine the anticipation for a whole friggin’ year. Almost as bad as studying for a whole year just for one exam. I’m sure he did great though.
I must say it definitely was one of the highlights of my trip. I like meeting people (in general) from different cultures and different places.
It puts new perspectives on things you wouldn’t have thought about until you discussed it with somebody else who sees it differently.
And I take pride in being open-minded, I really do. Not only is it how everybody should be, it also keeps me outta the ignorant category.
We had a good laugh about that category.
— Melissa Parker
— Your Friendly Neighborhood Fearless Leader