From Cartagena

Yesterday was Sunday and fortunately, it's a day of rest after a 6 day work week here. So we sort of chilled out a little and had the boat to ourselves. A more leisurely cup of great Columbian coffee and some cleaning since the boat is a pit from all the metal and polishing dust. Then we took a walk and went aboard the visiting Spanish Navy Training ship that is here in the harbor. The " Juan Sebastian de Elcano" is Spain's biggest and oldest tall ship that is still in service. I imagine we've been on this same ship at previous Tall Ship visits in the US but you go on so many in a day that you can't remember which is which. It's always interesting to see some of the same equipment we have on our sailboat except on a humongous scale.

From Cartagena

Then last night we went out to dinner with friends from this marina. One couple has the same boat we do except it's a 35 instead of a 40. They have a beautifully designed arch on their stern that Jon spotted one day as we were dinghying by and we stopped to talk with them about it. That's how our friendship began. We got ideas for our arch and could visualize how it would fit onto our canoe stern. We all had a nice dinner together. In Cartagena, there are loads of great restaurants where you can get a meal like what you'd get in Boston but at a fraction of the cost. Plus, Columbia is about service- when you're the customer, you get impeccable service.

Today, it's back to work. Things are shaping up little by little.