Cristo

Money is not your gold.

I met Cristo by chance at the porch of his house on the island of Bastimentos, Bocas del Toro, Panama. He is a boat guide and has a very surprising past to share with you.

What is the most important thing in your life, for what do you get up in the morning?
The first thing I think about is my children. I have quite a few, some are already grown up. I have 4 little ones, 2 live in Panama City and 2 here, in total now there are 7 … 7 alive. Two dead ones, there were 9. One big one died and the other … well, the first two died. The day before yesterday one had its 6 year anniversary of the death …

O, I am so sorry for your loss. Now it is quite difficult to ask my next question, but I´ll try anyway. What makes you happy, what makes you laugh?
I like to laugh, I’m laughing every day. What makes me happy – always being on a boat. This is my life. Because I like the sea, I love being at sea, I’m always happy in the water. Do you also work at sea? Yes, I work in the tourism sector. I do my tours, they are my job, they are my happiness. I can meet different people every day. Then you have the perfect job. Yes, I have a good job because I like it, and every day I make new friends, I get to know someone new each day. Imagine the amount of thousands of people I know from all over the world!

What is your favorite day of the week and why?
Some people have a favorite day but I don´t because when the weekend comes it is just one more day to party. All  the days for me are the same. Everyone is waiting for Friday or Saturday .. but a day is a day for me.

What have you done that you’re most proud to have achieved?
Well, I do all kinds of things. In former times I was a famous DJ here. And what kind of music did you put on? All kinds of music, not electronic, not techno, not pop – everything – everything that is music, I put on. There are special DJs like techno DJs, but they are not real DJs. A real DJ is someone who knows to put on any kind of music – that’s a DJ. Everything that people like – he knows how to please people with his music. But there are DJs who know how to dance to pop music and they want to play pop records, and some who like techno and play the only thing that they like, trance. But we do not. We play everything. Central America to South America.

And why did you stop? Because it began to cause problems in life. Like women. I had to stop because I was already famous, I had many problems with women. As a professional you do not have to look for women, women look for you. It costs. When one is famous all the women want to be with you. If she is lonely. It is what caused me problems later on. I had to let it be. Would you not like to start over again? No no no, you do not sleep well at night.

What is the best lesson your parents ever told you?
My father taught me many things to do. Because I am a carpenter, it is my professional career. I can make wooden boats, I do a little bit of everything. I am a barber, the only one here on the island. I am everything. My father taught me to build things, he showed me how to do many things. But building stuff …  at the moment I almost don´t do it at all. I prefer to run my boat.

If you could ask for one wish, what would it be?
In former times, yes, I had many intentions, to travel, to get to know the world. And getting to know the world has been smooth, with no stress. Because for my first trip I took off to Miami, and from Miami I went to England, from England I went to Barcelona. I worked in Barcelona as a cook, too. I was on a cruise ship for a couple of years in the Mediterranean Sea. From there I went to all over America, New York too, and Manhattan. Last year I went to Asia, Indonesia. I was in Jakarta for 28 days. Then there is no desire to travel left because you’ve already seen everything. No, I do not wish to maybe have this and this … because there is always the moment when I think of something and then I get it . And I never stress out about having something and wanting another – no. I am not like this.

If you could send a message to the entire world, what would you say?
If I would send a message to the world … look, many people who think about money and money is not your gold. The poor can live as happily as the rich and the rich can live as happily as the poor. There are many rich people who are never happy, and the poor are always happy. We we are not selfish, we share … but the rich do not share. They think about money but the poor cannot think about this but work, you know? There are honest, people, no? The rich may be happy, but he can not be happier than us, and the rich are afraid.
cristo3
What do you think about his points of view, especially the last part? Do you agree?