HOW I ENDED UP IN A TV SHOW "SOLES Y VIENTOS"

This story could never have happened without the kind hospitality of my hosts Arvo and Marianne - two Estonians residing in the capital of Colombia, Bogota. They not only gave me room and board and bicycle (thanks Arvo!) and contacts of other Estonians, but also became great friends of mine whom I shared many magical moments with!

The reflection in the lens of a camera was my own face – or was it? Where were my freckles, my tanned cheeks and my sunburned nose? When I took one last look in the mirror before I left home, that five-hour motorboat ride from the island of Porvenir to Puerto Obaldia had been written in my face. Not any more - now my freckles, my tanned cheeks and my sunburned nose were hidden underneath a thick layer of make-up.


I was sitting in a black armchair, wearing a white skirt and a checkered button shirt – both I had received as Christmas gifts from my Costa-Rican host family.

Sitting just opposite of me was Marlon Becerra in a white suit and shining silver tennis shoes.

Cameras, lights…one, two, three…Silence!

We talked for two hours. About everything – parents, the road - its thrills and hardships, backpack, people.

“I have been making this TV-show for nine years,” said Marlon, “in this time I have interviewed many people – politicians, actors and actresses, singers, football players and many more - all famous in one way or another. In nine years I have never taken the initiative to invite anyone - that is what I have my team for. You are an exception.”

I continued sitting in the same room in Marlon`s apartment, cameras recording my slightest motion, and yet it seemed I was back on the road. As if after a long period of waiting, someone pulls over. My first reaction - joy, yet approaching the car, I start doubting if that limousine could have stopped to pick up a hitchhiker – probably something just happened to the car, or the driver had to make a phone call, or anything – people in such cars would never consider helping a dusty tired traveller. My mind’s monologue rushes ahead to stop my feet from walking.
It does not hurt to ask, I hear my heart’s reply to my mind’s worry and keep going.
After the driver confirms that he can take me along, with strong hesitation I take a seat in his fancy vehicle.

“I have never picked up a hitchhiker,” says the driver as we take off, “you are an exception.”

We were “on the road” for two hours, talking all the time. About everything – parents, the road – its thrills and hardships, my backpack, people.
“I believe that for everything there is a reason,” said Marlon. “You had an accident with your tooth in Panama and your doctor gave you my name. You came crossing the Caribbean on motorboats, then hitchhiked across the Andes to Bogota. You knew nothing but my name, still you managed to find me – looking for me in the phone book and then seeking out my clinic travelling Bogota on a bicycle.”

I remember how hesitant I was to enter that place – looked at my shoes, my skirt (which used to be my grandmother`s) a second-hand sweater and every cell in my body felt like leaving. I could never have afforded to fix my teeth in that fancy place, I was sure. Palaces like that are designed for kings, not hobos.
A kind nurse noticed me and invited to enter.

“I lost a tooth in Panama, but could not afford a permanent crown,” I told the nurse. “My doctor thought it could be cheaper to treat it in Colombia and gave me this name – Marlon Becerra.”

I slowly pronounced the name written on the card. “Does he work here?”

“Yes, he does.”

I looked around. Sitting on silver sofas were beautiful people wearing design clothes reading fashion magazines waiting for their appointments. Suddenly I felt even more uncomfortable.

“I guess I better go. This place I think will be more expensive,” I sighed, not being able to hide my disappointment.

“Wait here,” said the nurse and disappeared behind the door. She soon came back telling me that the doctor would see me. I was guided to the second floor waiting room.

I sat on the edge of a sofa – all tense - how much was this visit going to cost me? A little pool with a fountain and a huge flat TV screen added to my discomfort. A bar tender came over.

“Would you like anything to drink,” he asked politely.

I shook my head and thanked him for the concern. What was I doing here?

The nurse came back handing me a questionnaire: “How do you feel about your smile?”
The front page was a “Welcome to become my patient” address from Marlon Becerra – the director of the place. The text was printed on a very fine metallic paper showing also an image of the doctor.

I studied the photo. Marlon Becerra was not too young perhaps, but his dark wavy hair gave him a youthful look. He was sitting cross-legged in a chair, wearing a black suit; a detail of his striped socks was also not to be left unnoticed. He was looking at me confidently almost reassuringly. Despite all the glamour surrounding his image there was something about him that I liked - I sensed he was different, somehow much more simple than the luxuriant surroundings tried to present him.

I answered the question of how I felt about my smile with a honest “At the moment I don’t really feel like smiling ” and continued waiting.

The nurse called for me - it was time for my appointment. It was not him – a young lad, another doctor. Before he began the check up, I rushed to ask if he knew anywhere that could be cheaper. “It could be even another country, “ I told him. He smiled and asked me to open my mouth making the conversation difficult to continue. In the following fifteen minutes he checked every single tooth in my mouth and the nurse wrote down his verdict on a sheet of paper. “ We have to make a picture, “ said the girl. “It will cost you 70 000 ($30)”, she added.

“I do not have so much with me now, can I do it tomorrow?” I asked knowing already that there would be no tomorrow.

“Can you tell me how much it altogether is going to cost me?” I then asked thinking of it as a logical response to this matter. The number would not have made any difference, I was sure I would never be coming back to that clinic. Ever.

She asked me to sit down in the corridor and wait. I lack words to describe how bad I felt. I had wasted their time, the girl, making calculations was wasting her time, I was wasting my time sitting there, wating for what? I should have been honest with them, appologised, said that I was not going to return – thouhts continued rushing through my head as these pretty patients, nurses and doctors kept walking by.

I reached for an apple in my bag. I will give her this apple and appologise as she returns, I decided. I felt a tear crawl up into the corner of my eye – I suddenly felt so sorry for myself.

Sitting there with all the drama in me I had left unnoticed that I was sitting facing THE Marlon Becerra’s office – the door was open. No mistake there – it was the man from the picture - same black shoulder-length wavy hair, this time wearing white laboratory coat and…bright green tennis shoes. He was working on one of his patients, showing her an image of her teeth on a computer screen. A group of nurses and doctors were surrounding him listening attentively.

“Are you here to see doctor Marlon?” asked a lady sitting next to me. I shook my head, then thought it was impolite and added “I don’t think so.”
“What are you waiting for then?” she continued.

“I don’t know,” I honestly did not feel like talking at all.

She looked puzzled and I felt I needed to explain my reply. I had suddenly forgotten all my Spanish. That did not help.

“Look at this place”, I had finally gathered my thoughts, “it is for people who have a lot of money, not for people like me. I think I should go but they told me to wait. So I am waiting. But I do not know for what.“

He finished working on his patient, spoke for a brief moment with the lady next to me and then after she left looked at me:

“You do not speak any Spanish?” he asked.
“I do, a little,” I replied.

“Where do you come from?”

“Estonia.”

“How did you come here?”

“With six boats travelling from Panama to Turbo, and then I hitchhiked across the mountains and then with a bicycle ”

“How did you know about this place?”

“I broke my tooth in Panama but did not have the money nor time to fix it there. My doctor knew your name and wrote it on this card”

I showed him the card.

“Then when I came to Bogota I looked it up in the phone book, found out you had two clinics and picked the closest one to try to see you”

"Why are you holding that apple?" asked the dentist.

"It is my desire to eat that apple without a fear of breaking my tooth I am holding,
not the apple" I replied.”

“You will be able to eat that apple in two days”, promiced the dentist, looked then at my shoes:

“I used to have shoes like this as a child!” he smiled, then turned to the team of doctors and added:

“Treat her as my most important patient,” then looked at me:

“I have only had a few favourite patients in my life. Do you know Diego Maradona?”

“Yes, I do. The football player.”

“He was one of my favourite patients, and a friend.”

My young doctor was also in the room.

“Which material should we use for an inplant?” asked him Marlon.
The lad made a suggestion after a pause of thought.

“No,” said Marlon. “It should be gold.”

They began work, took many-many photos among other things I have no idea of. Noone spoke of money, and I also did not inquire.

I went to thank Marlon before I left.

“Would you like to come to my TV show?” he asked.

“Sure!”

We arranged to meet the producer the following day in his other clinic.
My bicycle’s parking ticket showed the time had been away 3.30 - 9 PM. Five and a half hours.

After our meeting the following day, and talking about the show, Marlon arranged one doctor to take care of my teeth once again and told me to come back on Monday after I have my new porcelain crown done.

“I can not allow you to continue your journey without getting your teeth fixed,” he added.

I have never felt so good in a dentist’s chair! My horror-story had turned into a happy-end fairy tale!

On Friday I got a brand new porcelain crown – identical to it’s neighbour tooth. Even the nurses could not tell the difference, on Monday, as Marlon had promiced, I was given a dental filling and later that night I also kept my promice and appeared in Marlon’s TV show “Soles y vientos” (Suns and Winds).

“Just do not leave without saying, good-bye,” said Marlon after the show.

Yesterday, two weeks after our first meeting, I came to the clinic again.

I was waiting in the lobby when I saw a group of dentists, Marlon Becerra among them, enter. He immidiatly came to greet me.

“I am leaving tomorrow”, I told Marlon.

“When are you coming back to Bogota?”

“I can not say.”

“I have a present for you,” saying that he handed me a little plum-flavor lip gloss (that had his name on it) “it is to protect you from the winds and the suns of the road.”

“I also have a present for you” I said and handed him an apple.

“In the beginning there was the apple – my desire to eat it without fear, now it is a symbol of good teeth as I can eat all the apples in the world!. Thank you for everything, doctor!”

Colombia has welcomed me in a very special manner. I feel as if this country is somehow trying to enhance my voice. The same night we filmed the show, I received an email from a journalist Krister Kivi, working for the largest Estonian weekly paper Eesti Ekspress. The article should be published today. Yesterday I met a guy from Arvo's English club I had participated in, for another interview.

"I guess from now on you'll have no problem catching a ride in Colombia" my brother told me over skype the other day. I wonder. My bag is packed. I am about to leave for Mesitas.

TV SHOW SOLES Y VIENTOS

on aire May 31st and June 7th 2009