Shut up to safe lives

In Panama, I could get one step closer to reaching my goal to visit all Baha’i House of worship.

House of worship in Panama City

Beside that, I did in Panama very touristy things like visiting Panama Canal, going to the Panama sign, or wearing a Panama hat.

Wearing a Panama hat at the Panama sign is the most touristy thing someone can do in Panama

My previous travels to central America were in the dry season. This time I was there in the rain season.

10 day weather forecast

Rain season was exactly what we learned in the school about tropical rain forests. Days start dry. Temperature increases and it becomes hot. Then in the afternoon, latest in the evening, there is a storm where it rains cats and dogs. Some days, we didn’t have rain. Usually those days were followed by too warm nights. That is why I was hoping it will rain. Mosquitos were to much for me. They sting me all the time. That made me forget that I am a vegan. Not even repellent helped. The mosquitos did not respect repellents.

It took some time for my wife and me to decide on a name for our child. Our relatives and friends where getting anxious. At the end we found a name. We live in the time of Data Protection and GDPR now and I can’t just post personal data of people, like the social security number, in my posts anymore. Therefore, I will name my child here in this blog Kiwi Lime. I will post the real name, once I have the consent from him or her.

There are many very good reasons to be vegan like environment, health, and ethical reasons. One reason I didn’t become vegan earlier was because of old habits. I was used to some dishes and I had to find replacements. I could find replacement and althought the replacement does not always taste like the original it is enough to satisfy my habits. For example, I liked to have scrambled eggs for breakfast. I have replaced it with scrambled tofu. In the process of finding replacements, we discovered a lot of helpful videos online that showed us for example how to make milk and cheese replacement, rice paper chips, or make tofu like chicken.

Before I was vegan, I knew that factory farming is wrong but I was telling myself that it’s something that can’t be changed. Now, I have the proof that it is possible and that I was lieing to myself. Some people say they don’t want to become vegan. They try to avoid factory farming and only eat meat from animals that had a happy life. For me trying to avoid factory farming didn’t work because I often ended up with factory meat. I needed to go cold turkey to get away from factory farming. Meanwhile, the corona pandemic that had its origin in a meat market and that showed once more the blatant wrong conditions in slaughterhouses, has extinguished my desire for meat.

One thing some people ask when they hear I become vegan is: “What about vitamin B12? Do you take supplements?” Yes, I do. In my imagination each time someone becomes vegan and is asked about B12, someone who decided not to be vegan anymore in a culture where veganism is common is asked: “How about fibre? Are you going to suplement? Are you not afraid your poop becomes hard and going number 2 feels more like going number 20?

What maked the whole thing a bit awkward is that when Ana and I started dating, I could not spell her surname. I’m embarrassed to say it took me sometime to learn it. There is more. When I was doing the paper work for our wedding, the civil servant and I were curious how someone from Nicaragua is called in German. The next time I was in the office, the civil servant told me it’s called “Nicaraguanerin” - which I have trouble to pronounce - and spell.

It was not just a travel like any other. It was our honeymoon. Let’s check our honeymoon checklist:

• watch the sunrise with your loved one
• enjoy the sunset with your sweetheart
• make sure your sweetheart and your loved one is the same person

Yes, it was a very good honeymoon.

Sunset

Our honeymoon was not just staring in the sun, thus in Mexico and Nicaragua we had a lot of sun. It had so many different activities in it. We had relaxed days at the beach but also strenuous hikes up and down mountains. We celebrated a friends birthday. I enjoyed a temazcal ceremony. A traditional native american cleaning ceremony with a sweat lodge.

Our trip to Yucatán was remarkable. In Yucatán, we swam in cenotes, caves filled with water. There were some cliffs to jump into water. After my wife bravely jumped into water I almost chickened out but than did follow her. Of course, we also went to the ancient Mayan city Chichen Itza. It was disappointing that I was not allowed to climb any pyramids. The only thing I climbed was a cylinder.

You can read the disappointment in my face

We started our travel in Mexico with a wedding that we have been invited to for a long time. In the middle we celebrated a birthday party that we organized ad hoc. Naturally, we ended our journey in Mexico with a gender reveal party that Ana Sofia and I crashed.

PS: Malte wants me to also mention that I saw lava. It was cool - of course that’s figuratively not literally.

Lava

It’s funny how you keep good news secret instead to go out and tell everyone. When Ana Sofia and I decided to become girl friend and boy friend, we didn’t go public. We didn’t want to get the hopes up. What if it didn’t work out? And also we wanted to protect our relationship. If you have a new relationship and are not sure yet if it will last, the last thing you want to hear is other people talk about how they would love to be at your wedding or even worse joke about it. Once the relationship is strong enough, people can joke all they want. That’s why you want to keep it a secret at first. Even if you don’t tell anyone, it will not be for a long time a secret.

Back when we were in the “keep it a secret” phase, a common friend of us told me: “I think you should date Ana Sofia”. I said nonchalant: “Do you think we are a match?” She assured me we are. At the end I told her, I will think about dating Ana Sofia. And I did think about it. I came to the conclusion, I should give it a try. I mean, to continue giving it a try.

Now that it’s not a secret anymore, I have to admit to you my travel to Nicaragua was also to meet Ana Sofia’s family.

Central American Beauty!

After Ana and I decided to get married and all the legal prerequisites were met, we organized our wedding to be very soon. We could now write a book with the title: “Plan a wedding in only four weeks”. It will be full of tips like “Plan your wedding in January: People have free schedules and can be invited on short notice”.

Ana Sofia and I had to make a lot of compromises to find a common ground for our wedding. For example Ana Sofia didn’t want to kiss in the public. I wanted our first kiss as married couple to be with tongue. We settled somewhere in the middle.

We watched an episode of a reality show about couples who plan an inexpensive wedding. There were a lot of stuff that we didn’t like. One think that we both liked was a wedding on a small remote tropical island. People on the island had the habit to help each other and when the couple was preparing their wedding they got help from everyone on the island. Ana Sofia and I feel lucky that our wedding was supported in different ways by so many friends. We are very grateful for all the help.

Since our wedding, we are in the process to settle together. We have stretches where we have quality time together. Other times, we barely see each other and I feel like William Sears, who remembers meeting his wife in the airport before they continue their travels – each one to another destination.

It’s a hard world we are living in, specially for singles. Some people have set the goal to “save” singles from all these difficulties and volunteer as match maker. For me, who was such a long time single, a lot of people wanted to be the match maker. At times, I thought that there was a competition between some family members and friends .

I was once at someones home and my host told me a family with three daughters are coming. The oldest daughter is not married and the middle one is. The family arrived we said hello and sat down to talk. The oldest daughter was next to someone else talking and the middle daughter was just right next to me. The parents were sitting not very far away. The parents started to ask me what I’m studying. When I told them, something strange happend. They turned to the daughter who sat next to me and said with a very enthusiastic voice: “Did you hear that? He studies physics!” I was surprised. Of course she heard me. She was next to me. Also why this super enthusiastic voice? Than they asked me which languages I speak and I answered them. It got weired again. The parents turned again to the middle daughter and repeated what I just said. That went on for several question and answers. At times, it felt like the parents would be enthusiastic about what ever I would have said: “Did you hear that, he can go on the potty by himself!” After several minutes, I heard the person talking to the other daughter saying: “Ahh! You are the middle daughter! I thought you are the older one”. In that moment, I thought: “That’s funny. I thought that, too” and suddenly I understood what was going on. It turned out the older daughter had a boyfriend who lived far away. And the daughter wanted to leave and marry him. The parents wanted to make her forget the boyfriend. Of course that didn’t worked out and she married her boyfriend.

It’s a tough world for singles out there. I remember once, I was talking to three sisters. I asked one of them what her name is and her answer was “I’m married”.

It’s a mad world out there. One day, I talked briefly with a woman who was very enthusiastic. I was not sure if she was flirting with me. A moment after we finished our conversation, she came to me, gave me a piece of paper, and quoted Carly Rae Jepsen “here’s my number, so call me maybe”. That made me feel certain, she was flirting. But when I called her there was no enthusiasm in her voice, quiet the opposite- she sounded half-hearted. Once again it turns out I’m eye candy with an unbearable voice - girls fell for me when they see me and reconsider when I talk to them on the phone. Nothing happened and later I found out that she is married. To quote Miss Jepsen again “This is crazy”.

Please don’t think I’m pulling a “How I met” on you (meaning: keep you nine years in suspense to finish with a disappointing ending). In my next post, I will reveal who my wife is.

Blue umbrella not yellow!