Stahlratte

Im leaving at 4am monday morning, from Panama city, Im gonna get into a 4wd jeep, that cuts through a jungle pass throgh the middle of the country to a small town on the carribean coast that has no roads in or out of it called cati. Theres a 140 foot 220 ton steel sailing ship there, thats gonna take me and 10 other people down the carribean coast of panama through the unihabited white sand beaches of the sandblast islands, to the carribean port of columbia, a city called cartagena. the capatain is a german drunk named Ludwig and the boat is called "stahlratte", I think that means steel rat. Im not crazy about the whole rat reference.

P-city

been taking cabs in panama for five weeks now, hopped up baby toyotas retrofitted with propane two stroke bangers, that burp into second like a drunk forklift spitting a thick sugary smoke. every neighborhood down here sounds like a tribe in africa. Kunduroo is the worst, Its got streets like broken ladies, bombed out shells and kids that run down the side streets chasing a dog while beating a flaming tire with yesterdays stick. They call it hollywood, and the guns bang and the whores swoon, and it all sucks in at the waist, panamas pristine relics, decay and sequined squalor. boulevards frought with bloated night gods, and gold colored girls that I wish I could own from the inside out. I been good taking it light, eating pigs knuckles and sancocho, a chicken soup thats made with yucca. the casino takes the black seas seat and I finally see cards for what they are another jackoff keeping me from the real thing. another flat back, another frothing gash, another filthy portion. I had a small seizure on an all in call with ace king suited. I watched the whole green and gold room gasp for air, like a colapsed lung at the bottom of the ocean, and ave D came to caress me back. Back clear as a bell, snorting and shooting and begging. she had a wet newspaper stuck in one nostril and the metalic drip in the other all of it making its way kindly down the busted blue trachia of a dead child. I think its time to quit

casco viejo

still in panama city, been staying in casco veijo , the old colonial part of town for 10 days now. its beautiful here, like a combination of havanna and brooklyn. this city and its people are definately my favorite place so far, Ive been teaching english and doing art classes with these kids, up in the mountains outside the city. a cup a coffe here costa a quarter, a ten minute cab ride costs a buck twenty five, and a 7000 sf 300 year old mansion costs 150 grand, I might be here a while. I lost my camera yesterday so, I got no pictures to post, but things are going good. Ive been eating alot of pork, are pigs feet bad for you?