Jim Ellinger's Austin Airwaves TravelBlog

Greeting from tiny, steamy, remote Meteti, Panama!

While hanging out with Betina from Argentina, outside Senor Mohhamed Ali's mercado in Meteti, I was attacked and bitten on the neck and ear by an ocelot! As the attached photo shows, no blood got on my stylish KPFT-Pacifica Radio T-shirt. (Support Pacifica Radio in Houston!!) The cat, an orphan rescured from poachers, seems happy enough hanging with regular house cats in the store. The Pan-American Super Duper Highway, a dust cloud of a continuous pothole crosses in front of the store, here in the second to last stop before the end of the road, Yaviza. No road, or gringos, after that. I did find the two gringamericano Peace Corp Volunteers (PCVs) here, living in 'relative' comfort just past the last police checkpoint in a 60 dollar a month pink house.

Radio Voz Sin Fronteras is very nice, 12 years old, and listened to by everyone here. It helps that it is pretty much the only station you can easily get!Manana we drive or boat, not sure, to a place called Aqua Frio Numero Uno...not to be confused with Aqua Frio Numero Dos. A coupla' new local friends are a little concerned for our safety, especially the young PCVers, just outside town. They are only protected, I believe, by a beagle-mix puppy and their good kharma.

The internet, like continuous power, is not a sure thing here, and probably non-existent in the next place. I'm fine. Shit, I'm cool! jim ellinger