Prelim. reports....

The man we know and love as "paisano" has passed.

Peace be the Journey (Cool Runnins)

SIN

So sorry to hear this. I am sure there will be many funny, interesting and sad stories told here. He will be missed...

Yes, Paisano will be missed by all.

oh mannnnnnnnnnn...such sad news and such a sad ending to 2005

[img]http://images.snapfish.com/345923%3A%3B8...898542%3Cnu0mrj[/img]

go in Peace......

To be remembered in our toasts

Peace to Paisano...
and his family on Island.

No more “Hey Mommy, give me a ride.” No more “Give me a dollar.” No more “I have this nice shell for only $15.”
He loved posing for my camera. We had some interesting conversations when no one else was around and he wasn’t in a hurry to get to Fido’s.
I wonder to whom he willed his walking stick?
Peace be with you. I will truly miss you.

Ohhhhh no....he was truely a SP legend. This thread will go for days with everyone's thoughts and prayers. He certainly had an impact. Condolences to his family...Rhonda

Twelve years ago, our first trip to San Pedro, and our very first glimpse of Paisano as he casually leaned over the railing at Ramons and took a handful of french fries off the lunch plate of two over-groomed, over-dressed, high society matronly touristas. A sight that to this day is indelible, and makes us smile everytime we think of it.

San Pedro has lost an irreplaceable tiny corner of it's character.

Finally at peace my friend, God bless.

May God go with him, he did a lot of good for a lot of people. Condolences to his family. I'm sure he will be missed by many.

My condolences to his family. There will be an empty spot in San Pedro. Paisano will be missed.
Peace be with him.

Paisano sold me his cane at BCs in September. Misses and I were 3 sheets to god-knows-where and we left it. Wish we had it to spark memories of our fabulous conversation -- and I know I only scratched the surface.

Won't be the same, not seeing Paisano on the beach, walking the streets, and him hitching a ride with us. He will truly be missed. Our sympathies to his family!
Coco

So sad. My last view of him, he was crossing the airstrip between Tropic and Maya trying to sell a paperback book. That was only a few weeks ago. I have to admit I thought he looked to be in poor health compared to six months ago on our previous trip. I'll miss him. Such a character.

Shortly after I moved to the island I was driving a golf cart by the Island Supermarket when Paisano hailed me down. He was going to the hardware store and so was I. Driving down front street he nudged me to pull over by the Alliance Bank. He does not get off, instead he started mumbling something to a young lady who was standing there. I asked him “Did you have me pull over so you could flirt with this girl?”. Then he said in the clearest voice I have ever heard from him.


“Yeah, nice rack”

I laughed all the way to the hardware store.

I saw him yesterday afternoon when he hailed me over and asked for a couple of bucks, while I pulled over he sat down by the side of the road and had his head in his hands. I asked him if he was okay and he said he just had a bit of fever and would be alright. I helped him up and he wished me a Merry Christmas and went on his way. I can't believe that we'll never see him again. This is a very sad day.

Icon of SP.

He made us laugh,
he made us frown,
he made us smile
and sometimes he pi..ed us off,
but he always made us wonder,,,
what might have been!
May peace be with you my friend.
Dan'l

God Bless him. He has brought many a smile to me over the years!

Glad to hear you spoke with Paisano, and led by compassion, spent some time with him, SimonB Three sleeps and I will be on San Pedro,he will be missed by many, including myself-- May God bless his soul

Love you Paisano. Miss you man. lots of good memories. He was quite the fellow. I have heard so many great stories of him in the old days. I know him from the last ten years. But he has blessed this community for many years.

We had some long conversations a couple weeks ago. i shall treasure his memory and his remarkable history.

One of my favorite stories was how the young men (who are now about 50 and running various enterprises around town) needed some rum in the middle of the night, they would pound on his door til he woke up and came to the door. he would give the (free) a couple bottles of rum and off the guys would go. no matter what hour i asked? no matter. he was rich in money once, and gave a lot of it away.

and i thank him again for the baby conch shell. it is now even more treasured.

peace paisano.

thanks for the nice photo klcman.

... tears....

What happened to the mayor? How did he die? Who was with him? Who found him? What are the arrangements for his burial? What family does he have? I will never forget the first time he bummed cigarettes and a beer off me at BC's.

we will miss you old man,some how I think he lived the dream in his own special way.. take care ,will send you a fiver in haven .will put the shell you sold me in a place of honor......

Paisano my friend, we will meet again.

Paisano you lived Paradise.

The shell you gave me, will always be with me to remind me of your kind of peace, free will and freedom.

Wish I could hear it one more time.."Hey pretty lady".

I first knew Paisano in 1978; but, my Paisano tales are too long to write here.

I last knew and spoke with Paisano every day from Dec 1 to 15, 2005 during which time my room at Lily's Hotel was just a few feet from where you see Paisano's feet in the photo below.

This photo of Paisano was taken on Lily's lower front porch, facing the sea just a few yards away. You may be surprised to learn that we were such good friends that he would sometimes bum a light instesd of a cigarette!!!

Lately, his "home" was where you see him in the Photo. I will miss Paisano very much - neither Lily's porch nor San Pedro will ever be the same again.

I am o so sorry, all good thoughts to any family on the island.
He always made us smile and wonder. We have a beautiful conch shell to remember him by.
An honor to have made his acquaintance.
Peace and love.

I feared this day was coming when I saw him in August. Very sad ending to what was otherwise a very good year for me.

He is irreplaceable.

His memory will live on for generations to come.

SimonB - glad you were there for him.

Condolences to Paisano's family.

We will miss him jammin with his air guitar

Will have a toast tonight with One Barrel.

Peace be with you.

I would love to know Paisano's life story. I have only heard the local lore like most everyone else. When we were down in February, Paisano stumbled into the Sunbreeze Hotel courtyard where we were packing a bunch of parachutes. He started talking to me about "capewells" and "belly mount reserves" and "shrouds"....all old school skydiving gear terms not used since the early 80's. I was pretty amazed, yet somehow it didn't surprise me. I figured he may have jumped a long time ago in the military. A man with more history and stories than most...and finally at peace.

Somewhere I heard that Barefoot Skinny was trying to take down some of his history. Anyone know if there's any truth in that?

from a well known San Pedro businessperson

I heard everyone is concerned about taking care of Piasano, please note that the business community is taking care of his needs.

Sounds like J.M.

he jumped me hard once when i was trying to get him to quit yelling at richie woods. he would hollar at richie something fierce. i was telling him he and richie were both good folks, and so he unloaded on me.

it was actually a prelude to us really getting along well.

Sitting at BCs one afternoon, I had picked up a coconut along the beach. Piasino came in, gave him 5 bucks and ask him if he had his machetee (sp) with him. His responce "who do you want killed"? My wife and I will certainly miss him. God rest, my friend.

Yes, Skinny used to pay Paisano a few bucks a week for his story. He taped the sessions. I'm not sure, but I think they were destroyed by Mitch. It's the end of an era.

And I remember several years ago, sitting at the bar at Paradise, when Paolo Fiori ran it. Piasano rambles in with his ubiquitous conch shell. Paolo was in a good mood that day and rather than chase him off, she gave him $5 for the shell. When she closed that night, she took it home, placed it up on the balcony railing of her 3rd floor apartment ( where Aqua Marine is now) and went to bed. Next day, shell is gone. Late afternoon comes, and along with comes Piasano, selling.......yup, the same shell! Gotta love it.

Anyone think he's doing the same thing to St. Peter right now?

"Conch Shells in Heaven"

One more San Pedrano looking out for AC. Hope he helps to keep those storms away.

He will live on in stories and memories for generations to come.

SIN

I am sadden to hear of his passing. We always look forward to seeing him when we come to SP. What's true story of Paisano? I was told that he was once a million when he first came to San Pedro. Does he have family in SP? Will he be given a proper burial? May GOD look after him.

Absolutely. May he RIP.

Viewing at the San Pedro Roman Catholic Church at 4PM and funeral services to immediately follow.

SIN, today?

Yes

He never had more than one shell so he could give it to you with one had and take the money with the other with his walking stick tucked under his armpit. I hadn’t lived here long when he came up one day with a beautiful Flame Helmet shell and wanted $15.00 (Belize that is) I said, “I’ll give you $10. He took the ten, gave me the shell and as he walked away he said, “You owe me $5.

Thank God we all have our own memories of Paisano...the man made me laugh so hard, by belly hurt. Many pictures of he and I....we are the same height. Well, Chloe, I guess we don't have to fight over him anymore...God has won him home. May Jah help him on his journey....Bless our Paisano, wish I could have known him better. The island will NEVER be the same without him. Too many sad stories coming from there in the past few weeks. Hopefully, Skinny can put it all together in a book....he will be forever remembered in our hearts. We will miss you Paisano.....

It was a small but nice funeral, the priest had many nice things to say about Paisano.

How wonderful to hear. Interment in the cemetery next to Aqua Marine?

Yes, up by the north end close to the west wall. Someone paid for a very nice casket with the inscription "Beloved Friend".

We are celebrating New Year's tonight, but not without drinking a toast to Paisano. Thanks for the memories old man....We will miss you.

...last saw Paisano at the Pierlounge at about 7PM. Gave him a couple dollars...he looked at it a long time and said Merry Christmas. He appeared very tired...Smokey said that when he left the Spindrift Hotel that he'd see him someday. By the time I got back to the Spindrift from the Lions Den...Robo told me that Paisano had died of a Heart Attack on his "yard". Rest in Peace, Paisano!!

My wife and I have only spent 1 week on AC this last November. As we were walking into Fido’s one evening Paisano was walking out. He saw that my wife was wearing a knee brace and so showed us his knee brace and spent a minute sincerely commiserating with my wife about their shared injury and pain. At first I must admit that I took him for just another wino but he spoke so nice and with such true sympathy that my impression of him immediately changed and I felt a little ashamed for what I was originally thinking. “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” Right? Now I feel kind of privileged and blessed to have met him.

Truly a sad day indeed. San Pedro will not be the same without Paisano.

May he rest in peace.

Gail

If you loved Piasano or hated him we should all aspire in our lives to leave such an impact on the people around us when we are gone, may he forever live on in our memories.

klc, thanks for the picture, I just printed it and put it with the tape measure that he sold me on Friday.

May you have a good day too!!!! Quit your squawkin.

It's about Piasano, rest his soul.

gotta have a pet on the playground don't ya know..
Acknowledgement of any kind is better than none at all though.

That is why turtle you must try to understand that the animal shelter was not really made for the benefit of the animals. It was for the benefit of the playground..

HMM wonder what they do with all those potlickers in cozumel and cancun ???,

You obviously did not know Piasano, he chose to live his life the way he did because he did what he wanted to and answered to no one. He did have a place to sleep and he chose to sleep wherever he wished. The majority of my friends are local San Pedrano's and I had a long conversation with an elder San Pedrano last night, a person who had known him since the day he arrived and he talked of him with fondness not disdain. The San Pedrano's were the ones at his funeral not the gringos (with a few exceptions) or the tourists. The shame is on you.

well said Simon & NYG.....

and please use the pic for whatever purpose you please. I just think it is a wonderful portrait that captures his being.

Thx to Jesse too for using it in the SPD yesterday.

:rolleyes: Why is there ALWAYS "that guy"? :rolleyes:

Great photo klcman!

May he rest in peace.

Chris, you seem to know much about Paisano.

Tell us his true/real name.

Tell us about his life before Belize.

Cris, not sure you have made the correct connection here.

Interesting.....hmmm...

Guess this is probably how Habib Hajara got his nickname "Paisano": http://www.answers.com/paisano&r=67

Thanks for that info Chris, I knew some of history but not as much as you've offered. I've only known Paisano for a few years so I never did get to see his old side. The Paisano I knew was always a kind person to me and always was always gracious whenever I gave him a ride, a smoke or a couple of bucks. He would often talk well of the older San Pedrano's as we drove around. I think you're right that as his time drew to a close he must have seen the error of his ways and in his own way was trying to make some amends. A saint he certainly wasn't but I'll bet he'll give Satan a good beating with that cane on his road to redemption.

One year when I had been working with TMM down in Placencia for a month or so, one of the first places I dropped by after coming home was BC's for a beer. I few minutes later I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see Paisano, the first words out of his mouth were "welcome back". I was really touched by the fact that he even knew that I had been gone as I had never told him I was going off the island. It was one of the things that really made me feel that I was a part of the community. I will forever cherish the kind words he had for me on Friday when I last saw him.

Thanks to Short, I never new his real name.

Habib's = Paisano's birthday is August 7th, I can't remember the year.
Rest his soul, peace now to locals who were very afraid of him (many), and bless his family!
I have a small conch shell he gave me on our last visit to the Island and it's very special to me and always will be!
Let him rest... and god bless.