People are strange when you're a stranger

I met someone last night who is from another planet. In a former life. And who's to say, really? It made for an interesting conversation with a fellow human who is trying to make sense of irrational things. He said we met in a former life too, but I don't recall it. The festival, it turns out, is today. But I am leaving for Panama City today, and will miss it. There was a big baseball game on last night, apparently Panama's equivalent of our World Series. Walking the streets after dark, it seemed that everyone was gathered around a TV out on the street, with the volume WAY up. At the end, the score was tied, and the favorite team (not sure who was who) was at bat with bases loaded. The pitcher hit the batter, which of course gave him the base, gave the team the winning run, and up and down the street you could hear eruptions of joy. And then the music started, and the dancing. Earlier in the day I had reason to pass by a rundown house painted green on raised piers about 3 feet off the ground, a metal roof, with plants smothering the front. There was a long narrow porch, really just wide enough for passage. But clearly it was the mens' territory. Jutting out from the porch was a roofed overhang, under which sat a TV, and somehow the men managed to sit in that narrow porch and watch TV, smoke and drink their beer. It made me smile, the way that humans behave. Men congregate and make man noises, women circle up and chatter endlessly, and the children run playing in circles around them all. And life goes on. I suppose that in a community such as this, being unhappy with your mate would in some measure be diluted by the constant presence of others. And for sure it would be a force in keeping a marriage together because it would not be just the couple divorcing, but the whole group would be disrupted. I like looking in on other ways, and other lives. And I'm glad I'm not required to stay and participate.