Record of Dive-5

 

A storm has been unfolding and I am right in the middle of it. I’ll write about the matter as soon as I see some kind of epilogue. Meanwhile, this is what we have been doing besides striving through rough weather:

 

Date of Dives: March 2009.

Dive Location: Mozambique.
Type of Dive: bell sat.
Maximum Depth: 250ft.
Breathing Mixture Used: polluted.
Weather Conditions: stormy.

 

Divers & Jobs: Andy is riding the storm and is like someone about to sink but still fighting to keep afloat. We are all trying to be a sort of buoy to him but he just cannot accept the reality. JP is also facing a storm of his own, a professional one I mean, completing almost two months without being called for a new job. I am relieved to see that TD is active. He has just finished a clip for one of the themes of his new album and that means they intend to promote it and sell it to a wider audience. He returned to Joburg but he will be back in a week or so for a local jazz festival. I haven’t seen NB but the idea I have is that things have been stormy for him for quite a while. Maybe he is the kind of diver so used to storms that he even believes storms are a way of life. On the contrary, Vic has been taking the right steps and I just hope he still pursues his goals. Jo is starting a new life as a married man. Though some doubt it, things may turn out better for him than for the rest of the group. Paul is busy doing this and that. At least I can say one of us has been productive. Seabell is entertained with her new playful puppy Keket. It took her three days to learn our methods. Pups fit into a routine in a couple of days while people usually never fit adequately into most of the routines designed for them. And maybe that’s the best aspect of being human: nonconformity.

Thoth is Getting Married While I Crave Sushi

 

Thoth, if you don’t know yet, is our dog. He was born on the 3rd of July 2006 and is an adult dog now with almost 3 years old. He came to us a little late to do a lot in terms of his growth, but he was well trained and displayed a nice personality from the start.

 

From January on I’ve been looking for a companion for him. I am glad I only had to say no once. The second one seems perfect and arrangements are now made. Well, the only thing left for us is to pick up the bride, this sweet black thing still unnamed, and introduce her to a very unaware groom.

 

While all this happens, Seabell is starting to feel a bit gourmand with the unexpected opportunity to celebrate with two or three sushi dinners.

 

We do have reasons to toast in bridal terms, even if with sake. Jo, who is JP’s friend and colleague, besides being one of my seven divers, married yesterday. Though we didn’t stayed long because of another compromise, I liked Jo’s wedding very much.

Death Sentences

 

One of these days I found myself hanging in our car with diver Andy and guard George. We were supposed to meet someone but time went by and nobody showed up. The orange shadows of a very hot day were already turning into night when Andy remarked:

 

“It’s getting late. Your wife is going to kill you, George.” In fact, it was George’s day off and we felt we could be imposing and preventing him from being with his family.

 

“Nope,” he said showing the white plenitude of his open smile. “Death sentences it’s not me, menino.” (Menino means young boy and it’s used here whatever your age is as long as you still live with your parents. The moment you own your place you are promoted (?) to patrão. It’s a hierarchy thing.)

 

“Death sentences it’s about KT!” he concluded and Andy nodded.

 

“Death sentences?” I asked completely out of context.

 

Both Andy and George embarked on an enthusiastic explanation. Examples and laughs were copious. It turned out that KT, who was previously into a relationship and fathered a son, got himself a temperamental new girlfriend. She picks into everything he does and it’s frequent to hear her saying: “KT, you arrived ten minutes later! You know what that means: d-e-a-t-h sentence!”

 

“That’s awful,” I felt compelled to say.

 

“But he loves it. He smiles when she says such things. He is proud of her behavior because that shows how much she loves him.”

 

Well, he likes it so much he married her on the 31st of January. The last day of January marked the end of the road for KT, our former driver and Andy’s former right hand. As a curiosity, on that same day I wrote down: some men love death sentences.

Reinventing Love

 

If love didn’t exist
I would have invented it
Not as prostrating illusion
But breath, nerve, life

It would have the shape
Of your dreamed face
The marks on your naked skin
The naughtiness in your eyes
The complex sense of your presence
The breadth of years spent near and far

Collecting salt and memories

Gathering cinders and delights

 

 

 

 

 

If love didn’t exist
I would have invented it
The way once existed for someone

                                                                                                                              that’s not you.

 

 

 

 

 

Being anti-Valentine’s
The year I wanted to play by Valentine’s rules I ended up anti. I felt a bit amused by discovering that I am not the only one never sending cards or adopting any other usual manifestations. It happens and that doesn’t necessarily mean we are alone or indifferent to expressing feelings. It might mean precisely the opposite.

 

Valentine’s Day in this town is almost like Christmas. There is not a single restaurant table or hotel room available and commerce is pretty busy. The only thing wise is running away and that’s what I’ve been doing over the last years.

 

This year I thought about creating my first Valentine’s card ever, but then I saw an anti-Valentine’s campaign somewhere and decided to adhere. Learning Valentine’s by the negative is as good as any other form of learning.

 

If I had to describe love, I would compare it with diving. We try to dive into someone’s heart and mind. Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes we like and keep diving and diving, always discovering new motives of wonder. Love can be the greatest adventure of all if we really want to live it with someone.

 

But sometimes we hope, we persevere, we fight, we dive again and again and return with no answers. That’s because some people have the ability to disguise their hearts and hide their minds. Even so, some disguise them because they are naturally shy and private while others hide their true hearts and minds because they are not pretty to see. One thing I guarantee: it can take ages to discover a person’s true nature, but sooner or later, if you insist before taking extreme decisions, you will be able to know the waters you are diving into. This is my deep feeling about love: it doesn’t matter if you are alone, unhappy or lost of hope, sooner or later the right person is going to show up. That doesn’t mean you have to sit and wait. That only means you have to dive deep before deciding who deserves your Valentine’s cards.

 

I am anti Valentine’s as a recognition that sometimes one has to be anti before being pro – for the sake of the truth. Now and them we have to reinvent ourselves. Why not reinvent love when love so desperately needs to be reinvented?

 

I met someone who felt for the wrong guy but nothing could move her: nor his sick, unstable behavior, nor his doubtful words, nor even his questionable feelings and intentions. He defended his skin, his interests, and the status quo above all. She didn’t seem to care or notice it. What should be evident for the rest of the world was merely stressful and upsetting for her, but never a strong, definitive reason to change her mind. Nothing he could do or say was able to trouble her feelings for him.

 

And then, one given day, when I was already considering her a lost cause, she heard him say an expression and she finally got it. “What seemed intriguing and attractive about him felt rude and vulgar,” she commented. “It’s not a question of origin, maturity or education. It’s a question of tact and gentleness. He doesn’t have feelings for people in general. How could he refer to some jobs as diminishing? Imagine what a driver or a carpenter would feel hearing such expression? Their honest work, allowing them to feed their families, qualified as diminishing! Humble jobs only diminish people who feel or are already diminished. Diminishing is not working. It’s stealing, killing, raping, robbing or disrespecting people. A person capable of producing such words doesn’t deserve my admiration or any one else’s.”

 

I just replied: “Why on earth took you so long to see it?”

 

“The evidence itself was too evident. I thought there were some substance beneath the upsetting signs, but no. Now I got who he really is. He is just someone deprived of feelings towards the rest of the world. He has an ugly heart and I would never be happy with someone like him. He is a fraud. He is just someone rude who would make me feel sickly unhappy. He made me fight for him as if my feelings were a diminishing thing too. He used to say that a person would have to climb a mountain to reach him and I would, because I thought he deserved everything. I know the wrong signs were there. Maybe I was too tired climbing that mountain to see them. From what I know today of him, I am pretty sure he is the one who would have to climb the highest mountain in the world just to look into my heart.”

 

We had a long conversation. I could see she is really changed and I was glad for her. The motive of my anti-Valentine’s statement is coherent with everybody’s dreams and aspirations. Anti-love is nothing else but a prelude to true love.

Seafood and Poetry

 

Even if quietness is my modus vivendi these days, things seem to happen faster than I can write them down. A week is usually gone when I post about a certain fact. I’ve been trying to write about the previous day but that never happens, be it because reportable facts are more than days to live or because, due to the ups and downs of the local Internet, it’s too risky to consider last minute work.

 

A week ago we returned to the Costa do Sol restaurant. I can say we are now mid summer, but this particular Sunday felt as if we were living the first days of it. A bright blue sky and a feeling I cannot put into words but was suspended in the air surprised us all the way down to Costa do Sol.

 

I played photographer for a bride and the way people kept asking me to take pictures I would have photographed all Costa do Sol visitors if I only got time for that. There are periods when white bridal spots are part of Costa do Sol scenery.

 

We sat on the restaurant veranda and chose seafood for lunch: crab and prawns. I remember commenting: “I don’t know if people coming here are aware that they get a lot more than seafood…” It’s evident I was referring to the immense blue sky, the silvery blue sea or that don’t know what in the air.

 

I am sure there’s another aspect making people came back: friendly service. Besides, where else in the world would you find someone like Manuel, restaurateur and poet? He shared with me some of his writing attempts and I selected two less private to show here.

 

The first one Manuel wrote on his way to Havana, and I bet he had the restaurant in his mind. I took the liberty to translate it to English, introducing a couple of changes to benefit the new language.

 

Sitting Here

Each one sitting here
Each one stepping in here
Where yellow and blue play
They all come in and say
About ones’ victories
And others that have failed
Between a grouper and a xerne
Between past and present
Life turns and life passes
Each laugh stopping here
This soul, that life
The past still sitting here
The present here stopped.

 

Be it figurative or not, I liked the second one. It remains in Spanish for the sake of the international character of this space.

 

Cigarra Cantante!

Una cigarra canta!
Pero la otra no baila
Otras quieren dormir
Pero la primera si canta!

 

Hay otras bailantes cansadas

Hay otras cansadas bailantes
Pero mi cigarra cantante
Si canta sola so canta!

 

Las que dormen no se despiertan

Prefiren seguir dormindo
Asi la vida no imagino
Que todas juntas bailantes
No siguen cantando, cantantes,

 

La harmonia sinfonica

De mi cigarra cantante
Que un dia se despiertara
De una cancion euforica
Viva mi cigarra cantante
Viva mi cigarra cantante!

Collecting Memories

                    

Sunday we went back to Emmanuel sunny restaurant. We had a nice chat with him, Gotan Project, some Cuban tunes, seafood soup, garlic prawns, grilled grouper and house wine. I left wondering how eating a lot of fish and shellfish changes our drive.

 

Despite the fact that I am relatively new to blogging, Emmanuel asked me to leave here the following appeal:

 

Costa do Sol restaurant was established in 1938. The Petrakakis family launched the famous “LM prawns”, and ever since they have been operating the place with perseverance and enthusiasm. Right now, Emmanuel Petrakakis is collecting stories and impressions from people who have visited Costa do Sol restaurant, from 1938 on. Any of you who would like to have a say, can send it to: rcs@teledata.mz 

          

O restaurante Costa do Sol existe desde 1938. Foi a família Petrakakis que lançou os “LM prawns”, famosos camarões de Lourenço Marques, e desde essa altura eles estão à frente do lugar com perseverança e entusiasmo. Neste momento Emmanuel Petrakakis está a recolher histórias e impressões de pessoas que visitaram o restaurante Costa do Sol, desde 1938. Quem quiser contribuir com algumas palavras pode mandá-las para:  rcs@teledata.mz 

 

The summer season is starting and the town is full of tourists. I left the place with the unease sensation that there was someone in the restaurant who knew me from somewhere else. Could it be the blond photographer who entered when we were ready to leave and smiled and stared at me­? Could it be someone or something else? We do know people from Portuguese media and it seems a cartoonist exhibition is currently going on, as Emmanuel promptly remembered us pointing proudly at the words left on the wall by Portuguese Rui Pimentel.

 

On our way home, Paul started his favourite topic of conversation: wealthy food. So we stopped to buy a beautiful pineapple at a small street fruit stall. As they do frequently here, the stall has a name: “Um txova pra mim!”, “A push for me!” or “Give me a push!” That’s right what I need at this precise moment. Afternoon is reserved for dog Will, some music from German friends and blogging. The push has to come another day!

Best of August

 

The first act happened when we arrived at the marina, it was already full night. To pass the time I started to take photos with my digital camera, despite the knowing that the light was not sufficient.

 

In the restaurant we waited for our three guests of DC, arrived via SA. One of them works with BG. It was such a lovely night that I regret not to have taken a photograph every minute. Lots of shellfish and rosé wine! Lagosta pequena, camarão tigre, camarão médio e outros mariscos, tudo regado com rosé!

 

The restaurant is in a sort of bridge. Halfway through the meal, the weather alarm received in the afternoon proves to be true. A small fishing boat sailing near is almost swallowed by the waves that beat with insistence on the windows of the restaurant.

 

Sometime during the evening, one of the ladies present expressed her surprise at my interest on such a wide range of topics. I reminded her that this is one of the side effects of being involved with the news media.

 

The conversation was pleasant. Towards the end many smiles and good disposition, helped along by the rosé. I say farewell to the marina with a photograph of the few lights on the edges of the bay.

 

A night like this, of easy conviviality between people from different countries and continents, confirms the fact that we live in a global village!”

 

That was my best evening of August.

Weekend Tides

 

War. Calamities. War. Calamities. We are deeply sad with the news, and just to remember us how real “tales from the sea” are:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/irwins-death-sparks-fund/2006/09/05/1157222098946.html  

Goodbyes and awakenings: golfer Agassi and Brazilian football.  

Unforgettable: Sunday lunch with family and VIP friends at the sea front casino. Sometimes you are “confronted” by status with funny things like people having personal cutlery at restaurants, with their own name carved. Anyway, great company!