From Cartagena

Well let's see. We've been in Cartagena, Columbia for 3 days and my head is spinning; all of my thoughts are in Spanish. Jon is belting out more Spanish by the day but I still have to do the difficult translations until he catches up to me. Cartagena's Old Town is fun and interesting but the REAL reason cruisers come to Cartagena is for the great boat work you can get done for extremely reasonable prices. People come here and get "sucked in" by the possibility of getting all the boat improvements they've been pining for done and months later, they're still here. We don't have that kind of time since we spent most of the season out there having fun and now we're wishing we'd reserved more time to get our must have boat improvements completed too. But, we'll have to settle for some. We've been meeting with friendly Columbians who specialize in stainless steel for the projects we have for that, fiberglass guys for deck gelcoat touch-ups and while we'd love to get all new Corian countertops in the galley, it just doesn't fit into our schedule. No one speaks English, so you've got to make your needs known in broken Spanish- this is why our thoughts are in Espanol. We're trying to have a stainless arch made for our stern to hold all the gear that hangs off our stern rail as well as supply the mounts for more solar panels and a fixed wind generator. This would give us more alternative energy power as well as increase the safety of the stern rail area since we'd bring it around more on the sides of the boat so it would be solid. We also have little stainless projects that are important and need to be done so these are the top priority. We've been running around trying to get everything estimated and started so we can get out of here within a few weeks. Now, in order to pay for this, we have to visit the ATM every day since we can only take out 300, 000 pesos per day ($120)! We're anchored off the marina here with a bunch of other sailboats and while we'll eventually have to pull into a slip for the welding, we'd like to stay out here where the breeze is good since it is BOILING hot. The sun is like a flame on your skin. The water is filthy; you can't swim here. Anyway, we've met some really interesting and fun people over the past couple of days so we've got plenty of happy hours planned to get to know them better. I get such a kick out of meeting these people and finding out about all they've done that I want to do someday. One couple today has the same boat as us and even has a perfect example of the arch we'd like. This evening we were at their boat and now we'll have them over to our boat so they can get ideas from us. We all have the same needs out here for the most part.

To wrap up the San Blas, we both reflect that we had a wonderful time exploring those islands and we feel that we weren't too late for them as we've often felt about other places we've cruised to. But they are changing at a rapid pace and we could see those changes occurring right as we were there. For instance, we were saddened to hear that the beautiful, uninhabited island in the Holandes that was nicknamed BBQ island by cruisers (since they had so many gatherings there) was sold and is actively being developed as I write this even though Jon and I were just there about 3 weeks ago. I had just given Jon a haircut there, we'd had a cruiser's potluck there, we'd walked the beach collecting shells, etc. Sad. These remote places are disappearing all over the world which is why we feel a big tug to see them now, not wait. If we'd have waited till we retired, we'd have more money but it would all be different.

We settled in at Green Island for the last 3 days in the San Blas and found some exquisite snorkeling spots. The light winds continued and while it was really hot, the water became crystal clear from the calm conditions. Venancio came by one more time and we fell for another mola and a French couple that was anchored near us sold me a pretty handmade necklace that they'd made out of "vegetable ivory" but otherwise, we had plenty of zero dollar days in the San Blas. Vegetable ivory is actually a seed from a palm that grows in South America and this couple travels into Panama to collect the seeds in the forest and then makes the jewelry on their boat. They are living on a shoestring but you can do this down here if you want it bad enough. If we didn't have this fancy money pit boat we could live cheaper too! But I don't want to. I'd rather have the money and the boat too!

Our trip to Cartagena was a motor and we were A-OK with that since it is practically due East and known to be a crummy trip. It took us 30 hours since were moving right along and the moon was out for most of the night. During the day, I was on watch and saw a huge "steel ship buoy" floating right off the bow and I was thinking my god, I do hate to see any floating debris in the water, since at night you are heading blindly through the water and could hit it (our radar is broken) but then the buoy got a whole lot bigger all of a sudden. It was the head of a sperm whale, about 50 yards from the boat! What an odd head they have. We saw 3 more after that, these being the first whales we've seen since Cape Cod I think. After that, the only things we saw were a couple of fuchsia colored man of war, the usual flying fish- only 1 casualty on deck this passage- and many, many, swallows headed North. It was like a bird highway! No one hitched a ride with us since we weren't headed the right direction I guess.

From Cartagena

Ever since we pulled out of the Rio, we've had 2 geckos aboard the boat. This is pretty common- they move on to the boat while you're in the slip, then become castaways but you can't leave them off once you're out of the Rio since I don't think they would live in those environments. They are very small, quiet and shy. Every few days we'd spot one or the other of them tucked in near the mast in the lines and what not. One day, we were bashing along in rough conditions and one was under the dodger looking like he wasn't having any more fun than we were. After the trip to the San Blas, I found one inside the cabin as we were getting the boat spiffed up from the passage and I just didn't have the heart to make him go back outside so he's been living in here and his amigo is still outside living on the mast. The past few days he's been out a lot more- just quietly sitting on the wall. We named him Huey and he's welcome to stay. I guess we've got pets now!

From Cartagena

So far in Cartagena we've explored the Old Town, hung out in the El Centro park drinking "tinto" (the popular strong coffee sold everywhere here for 30 cents a cup), and gone to a fort and a history museum. We went out for lunch and got the typico "set lunch" which is $2.50 and is a 2 course meal. Simple Columbian food. We plan to walk the wall- the wall that encloses the city that is popular for exercise- the day after tomorrow. It is supposedly 8 miles and if you get going early, you can walk it before the sun gets too strong (yeah, right!). And we've got some boat parts to search out and maintenance to do while we're here as well.

So, that's the update. I find that I repeat myself all the time but once again, everyone we meet is so warm and friendly toward us. The Columbians are a handsome people and so willing to listen to us fumble around for the right words, as long as we try. I'm so glad to see this country at last.