Old Men Can't Wait by Simon Gandolfi

Author:Simon Gandolfi [Simon Gandolfi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781909807242
Publisher: Arcadia Books Limited
Published: 2013-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

Ten

PANAMA

PORTOBELO

SATURDAY, 15 DECEMBER

The Spanish founded Portobelo in the last decade of the sixteenth century on the south coast of a deep inlet. It is a large village rather than a town and has been on a downward curve for the past few hundred years. Relics of Spain are three ruined forts, the Customs House (now a museum), a walled graveyard and three churches, one of which is famous for the statue of the black Jesus. Forested hills rise steeply immediately behind the village. Peaks are draped in black shrouds. Coconut palms mope, drooping fronds dripping. Inhabitants are mostly Afro-Caribbean.

When heading south, I waited a week in Portobelo in hope of a yacht. Memories are of rain and a damp mosquito-infested room and narrow bed with a thin nylon sheet that slipped off the damp spiky mattress each time I moved. The room overlooked the square where local drunks congregated. This visit I am Jean Paul’s guest at his house on the hill. Jean Paul designed the house: he is not an architect. The best part of the house is a top-floor covered terrace. A male Nicaraguan house-sitter with an arm in a cast opens the door. He was cleaning the monkey cage yesterday. The cage was balanced on the corner of the terrace with a single wooden prop. The prop snapped. The cage fell fifteen feet to the hillside. Both the Nicaraguan and the monkey were inside the cage. The monkey is small and black. It survived the crash and now lies on the terrace curled against Jean Paul’s Rottweiler. Neither dog nor monkey shows interest in our arrival; the cage incident has lowered their faith in man.

I travelled with Jean Paul to give Portobelo a second chance. He has promised prawns at the local yachties’ bar. The bar is closed (wouldn’t you know?). We eat fried chicken and chips in an empty restaurant beside a slot machine that burps tuneless music.

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