Panama City, Panama

I started out on this trip with no expectations, only really wanting to escape to a warm place and away from the huge political changes happening in the United States. I decided to begin in Panama because that’s where a good friend of mine was from (and also visiting for his Christmas vacation). I wanted to work my way up through Central America and figured it would be nice to begin in a place where there was at least one friendly person.

I ended up really liking Panama City. Granted I mostly stayed in the touristy area, the old city area called Casco Viejo. My excursions into the main city reminded me a lot of my home city of Bombay, except with way less pollution. The entire population of Panama is around 3.5 million, a tiny fraction of the 10+ million people in Bombay!

GETTING THERE

Panama City is quite far from the airport, so you have to take a $35 taxi. There is a bus but it is a little complicated to find it and take it, especially for a non-Spanish speaker. Some hotels offer a cheaper shuttle back to the airport. Taking Uber can lower the cost a bit too.

My taxi driver to the city was very interesting. He was a Venezuelan computer scientist and college professor who had escaped from there with his family. The things he told me about Venezuela and how bad things are getting there were really saddening. I don’t think most of us can fathom what it’s like to live in a fairly stable prosperous country most of our lives and then abruptly have to leave and become a refugee in another country later in life.

CASCO VIEJO

I spent a day wandering around Casco Viejo. This was my first time seeing beautiful Colonial architecture with its bright colors, flat roofs and heavy dark wood doors. You can climb to some elevation at the easternmost tip of the area and get a great view of the Pacific Ocean and the modern city skyline across the bay. If you wander a little by the water, you can find some spots where you have the modern city on your left and the contrasting old city to your right. It’s quite a delightful contrast. And if you let yourself reflect on it, quite a bit sobering looking at the shiny skyscrapers towering tall amidst quite a bit of poverty.

A lot of the new looking buildings in Casco Viejo are buildings that have been restored with the colonial facade intact. There still exist old buildings with their original inhabitants so you get to observe the contrast between their lives and that of the shiny touristy places of businesses too. Even more sobering is to look at the old buildings and see the bullet holes, back from the US invasion of Panama in 1989.

A beautiful colonial building in Casco Viejo, Panama

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50 Books By Women Of Color

My challenge for 2015 was to read “50 Books by Women of Color”. Unfortunately, I started the challenge a little late in the year and only managed to read 28. There were a fantastic set of 28 books though. I hope it proves to be a good resource for those who want a reference to great women authors of color. I added the authors’ nationalities and my rating out of five stars.

Anita Desai – The Village By The Sea [Indian] ***
Chimamanda Ngochie Adichie – Half of a Yellow Sun [Nigerian] ***
Chimamanda Ngochie Adichie – Purple Hibiscus [Nigerian] ***
Chimamanda Ngochie Adichie – Americanah [Nigerian] ****
Chimamanda Ngochie Adichie – We Should All Be Feminists [Nigerian] **
Daisy Hernandez – A Cup of Water Under My Bed [Latina, US American] **
Janet Mock – Redefining Realness [Black US American] ****
Jean Rhys – Wide Sargasso Sea [Black British] ***
Imarisha – Octavia’s Brood – Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice [Black US Americans] ***
Kamila Shamsie – Burnt Shadows [Pakistani] ***
Keri Hulme – The Bone People [New Zealand Maori] *
Malala Yousafzai – I am Malala [Pakistani] ***
Maya Angelou – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings [Black US American] ****
Marie Lu – Legend [Chinese-American] **
Marie Lu – Prodigy [Chinese-American] *
Nnedi Okorafor – Zahrah the Windseeker [Nigerian-American] ****
Nnedi Okorafor – Akata Witch [Nigerian-American] ****
Nnedi Okorafor – Lagoon [Nigerian-American] **
Octavia Butler – Bloodchild [Black US American] *****
Octavia Butler – Kindred [Black US American] *****
Octavia Butler – Lilith’s Brood – Dawn [Black US American] *****
Octavia Butler – Lilith’s Brood – Adulthood Rites [Black US American] *****
Octavia Butler – Parable of the Sower [Black US American] *****
Octavia Butler – Parable of the Talents [Black US American] ****
Octavia Butler – Fledgling [Black US American] ****
Octavia Butler – Bloodchild and Other Stories  [Black US American] *****
Roxane Gay – Bad Feminist [Black US American] ***
Toni Morrison – The Bluest Eye [Black US American] ***
Uzma Aslam Khan – Thinner Than Skin [Pakistani] *****

Global Women Who Ride on American Motorcylist

I wrote a guest column about Global Women Who Ride for the November issue of American Motorcyclist magazine. Here it is for those of you who aren’t subscribers.

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Global Women Who Ride on American Motorcylist

Motorcycle Film Festival 2015: Movie Shorts

The world of big budget movies has traditionally had very little to offer motorcycle enthusiasts. Since the inception of cinema, there have been little more than a handful of movies that told our stories or represented motorcyclists accurately. This is why it is so exciting to see that access to affordable cameras, editing software and online distribution has finally driven motorcycling related film making out of the confines of Hollywood studios and into the hands of people who ride and build bikes and understand motorcycling best. We have seen an explosion of independent movies that capture all that motorcycling has to offer.

The Motorcycle Film Festival in New York was started three years ago by riders and film enthusiasts who wanted to showcase these movies and bring the community together for three days of high quality movies, interviews with film makers, and an opportunity to meet other riders in the city. This year’s selection of 35 films featured everything from slick productions with significant sponsor backing to amateur garage flicks. It was especially thrilling to see movies made by and featuring women and people of color, hitherto almost non-existent in popular motorcycling culture.

The 2015 Motorcycle Film Festival

These are some of my favorite films from the festival.

THE COAST TO COAST RELAY

The Coast to Coast Relay is a five minute gem of a film about two men riding across England on completely inappropriate vehicles – Montesa Cota 315 trials bikes with 3-liter gas tanks, a top speed of 30 mph, and of course, no seats. They ride from Newcastle upon Tyne to the Irish Sea through rough single track trails, logging roads and frozen snowscapes with minimal gear – handlebar mounted packs, backpacks, and a homemade selfie stick.  They take in their stride the various mishaps they encounter, ranging from overheated engines and flat tires to the inevitable running out of fuel.

The fun, upbeat score and the self-deprecating humor makes it impossible to watch this movie without a big smile on your face. By the time it’s done, you want to grab your bike and go have a micro-adventure of your own. Filmmaker Greg Villalobos truly knows how to say more with less as he hits the magic formula to portray the joy of riding and having fun with your buddies. The movie took home the prize for the Best Short Documentary, and deservedly so.

https://vimeo.com/124192518

If you enjoyed watching that, check out this interview with the filmmaker Greg Villalobos, where he talks about the making of the movie: http://www.motorcyclefilmfestival.com/blog/2015/9/20/visiting-with-greg-villalobos.

Follow Greg Villalobos’ work at: http://gregvillalobos.co.uk

FIFTY YEARS OF KICKS

“Don’t assume that because people are older than you, they’re going to be slower than you.” This line from 50 Years of Kicks summarizes the message of this twenty minute documentary. The movie follows 60+ year old dirt riders Paul Rodden and Larry Murray from Oklahoma and Ontario respectively. Each of them have almost fifty years of riding experience and many enduro championship wins, which comes across when you see them tearing through ruts, sand, mud, water crossings and hill climbs on their KTMs. They fall, drop their bikes, pick them back up and keep going.

They reflect back to the old days when Husqvarna manuals dedicated half their space to physical conditioning in the rider, paving the way for good workout habits that stayed with them for a lifetime. Habits that served them well in one of the most physical demanding sports there is, especially as your body ages and you lose core strength and balance. During one sober recollection, they talk about a close friend who died of a heart attack while riding on the trails with them. And of that being the best possible way to go – with a smile on your face minutes ago while doing what you loved best.

Motorcycling media tends to focus on young riders as their core target demographic. This leaves us bereft of older role models. It is harder for us to envision riding when we hit a certain age because we see nobody else doing it and doing it well. That’s what makes this movie especially important. It drives home the fact that we don’t have to give up our passion as we age. Here’s hoping that 50 Years leads to more positive representations of old folks riding their bikes and showing the youngsters how it’s done.

Filmmakers: Anthony Kerr and Dallas Shannon
Follow Motojournalism at: http://motojournalism.blogspot.com/

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Motorcycle Movies: Dirtbag II: The Return of the Rattler

The premise of The Return of the Rattler is simple. Four men decide to participate in the Dirtbag Challenge held annually in the San Francisco Bay Area. The challenge involves building a chopper in one month for less than $1000. It needs to be a rideable machine that can run at least 100 miles without breaking down. They have a Yamaha XS650 to work with – the Rattler from the title – but they are complete novices to building choppers, with no prior experience with welding or fabrication. What could go wrong?

The movie is a riot of laughter as you watch the bike evolve from design to final assembly. Our protagonists cuss and laugh their way through all the unanticipated problems they run into. You laugh with them as they mess up, but you also see them learning from their mistakes, thinking through problems and asking for help when they are stuck. Somewhere down the line, you realize that they have passed on to you the secret to creating anything new.

Film maker Paolo Asuncion likens the process of building the bike to his own journey of questioning the belief system he grew up with. “I was put together a certain way but the stock parts didn’t work for me anymore.” he says. As with the Rattler, he had to figure out which parts of that system to keep, which ones needed to be swapped out with something different, and which ones needed to be created from scratch. Moments of reflection like these are interspersed throughout the movie, breaking up the laugh-a-minute ride and keeping it grounded.

You also get to see builds from other participants in the challenge – a Honda CM400 with modified beer bottles for headlamps, a 750 Monster with a girder front end – and understand how much the end vision can vary between builders. The one thing they have in common though is that they want their bike to be like nothing else out on the road. They talk about how satisfying it felt to build something real and tangible, and to ride something that they built with their own hands. Their firm belief is that “Anybody can do this.” By the end of the movie you start to believe them.

This is a movie with soul. You laugh, you learn, you grow, and you come away thinking it’s time to go get a project bike and start wrenching. All you need is a vision, a garage, and a buddy or two by your side.

Read an interview with film maker Paolo Asuncion: http://www.motorcyclefilmfestival.com/blog/2015/9/15/paolo-asuncion

Motorcycle Movies: L’équipée en Himalaya

This is a story of four French women who fly to India and ride across the Himalayan mountains on rented Royal Enfields. Women riding across the Himalayas is not a new thing – the Indian all-women motorcycling group Bikerni last did it in 2010. Riders from various countries have done it over the years. For those of us who haven’t yet ventured out there, this film is quite thrilling to watch for some of its incredible footage of gorgeous scenery and the dizzying roads the group traverses.

The movie begins with the four women starting their journey wearing three-quarter helmets, flowing scarves and regular street clothes – no real motorcycling gear between them. You wonder if you’re in for a very short movie because they’re probably going to bite the dust any minute now. As they climb in altitude, you see them adding more layers to keep warm, to a point where one of them is wearing seven t-shirts underneath her flimsy jacket. You wonder to yourself – “Did they just wake up one morning and think – ‘I think I’ll go ride the Himalayas today'”. Yes, that is a Legally Blonde reference.

After the first 45 minutes, you get over their poor clothing choices when they start traversing some incredibly difficult roads. You see them riding down rocky roads with sheer cliffs that make you dizzy even from the safety of your theater seat. You see them dealing with altitude sickness, freezing weather, rockfalls, and some of the most challenging roads in the world. All you can think is – respect!

By the time the credits roll, you know what kind of person you are – the kind who can’t wait to book a plane ticket to India and rent a Royal Enfield, or the kind who is happy to live vicariously through the people who thrive on this kind of adventure. Our ladies have earned some solid street cred and you can’t wait to see what their next adventure is going to be.

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Motorcycle Movies: Road Less Travelled

Dirt bikers and brothers James and Steven Beatty ride off-road across the Trans-America Trail – a different type of classic American road trip. They ride 5,000 miles from Tennessee to Oregon before reaching their final destination at the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, they ride across forest service roads, gnarly single track trails, slippery water crossings, and get caught in quicksand. They deal with crashes, injuries, getting lost, and breakdowns. This is a must-watch for those who hope to do the Trans America trail someday.

In one breathtaking shot, one of the riders narrowly missing a wild horse that runs across the trail. Another scene shows James working on his bike and getting indirectly zapped by lightning.

The movie does have its weaker points. The first hour is an entertaining narrative that focuses on the riding and the scenery and brings the viewer with them. Towards the end though, it breaks down into reality TV style melodrama, taking the focus away from the riding. The protagonist’s struggle to deal with his father’s death and seeking to expunge those demons during the ride frequently struck a false note, something that could easily have been remedied with a better voice actor. In spite of all this, the movie is worth a watch for the first hour alone.

Filmmaker: James Beatty

Back to Seema, Taluka and Sankri

The remaining two days were spent descending back down the mountain. I had thought that this would be far easier, and it was, but some of the downhill sections were absolutely brutal on the knees. And no matter what, the distances were long and walking on rocks for hours was tough on the ankles and knees. I was exhausted at the end of each day. We pretty much retraced our steps back along the same trail and spent the first night at Seema, then went down to Taluka the next day and got a taxi back to Sankri when we were done.

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Har Ki Dun

Today was a nice, slow rest day. All I did was sit around in a chair, bundled up in warm clothing, reading and looking at the mountains. My jaw had dropped when I first emerged from the hut and looked out at the towering mountains all around us. It was clear now and I finally saw them in all their glory. The tallest peak was almost at 20,000 feet and called Swargarohini. Legend has it that this was where the Pandavas climbed up to ascend into heaven at the ends of their lives. There was a glacier off in the distance. It was called Jaundhar Glacier.

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Seema to Har Ki Dun

I wasn’t quite sure if I would be in any shape to hike the next morning but when I woke up, I wasn’t at all sore! We had alu parathas and tea for breakfast and set off. This was a day of fabulous views everywhere we looked. It started off with crossing a suspension bridge, then climbing up a steep ascent. From here, it was mostly flat or a gentle uphill trail with gorgeous mountain views. We saw our first dramatic views of snowcapped mountains in the distance.

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