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What I Learned When I Met A True Nomad
She reminded me of one of life’s fundamental human rights
In my current home-away-from-home, a little hostel on the south coast of Panama, the gardens are looked after by an early-thirties Colombian woman named Sofia (name changed for privacy reasons).
She’s very quiet, keeps to herself as she landscapes and waters the plants. Her beige shadow is a dog named Reina, a jumpy little thing who was abused before Sofia adopted her. They range up and down the beach playing fetch when she’s not working on the garden, Sofia absentmindedly pounding out rhythms on her drum between throws.
They sleep in a tent staked in the garden by the pool, with the flap open, because Reina will run out and bark at anyone who walks on the beach at night.
Truth be told, I barely noticed Sofia the first few days I stayed here. Then I started getting more and more curious. One of the staff told me that she walked here from Colombia. Another told me that she was there to guard the turtles. Whispered legends surrounded her.
Now, Sofia speaks no English. She has no reason to, coming from one Spanish-speaking country to another. My Spanish is getting better, but it’s still not great, and I barely got past “good morning, how are you?” each time I saw her.
One day I saw her sitting in front of her tent, clearly not busy, so I decided it was time to explore my curiosity. I grabbed my phone, pulled up Google translate, and spent a fascinating hour getting to know this enigma.
Sofia, it turns out, is a protector of turtles. Turtle eggs, to be specific. She’s trained Reina to run and chase after people on the beach because it’s a laying beach for sea turtles. Unfortunately, that also means it’s a target for egg thieves.
Some people in Panama city are willing to pay for turtle eggs because they believe that eating them provides a host of benefits, ranging from medicinal to aphrodisiacal. So poachers, under cover of night, will walk the beach and dig up the eggs they’ve seen the mothers lay.
But not on our beach. When Reina runs out of the tent, Sofia gets up and follows her. In Panama, stealing turtle eggs is illegal and can result in jail time. so if they…
