From Cartagena

We've been having fun in Cartagena despite the heat, dirt and noise, although I cringe every time I wash the boat and see all the black dirt running off the decks. When it gets wet, it turns to mud. Can't wait to get into the marina next week. The gelcoat patch work is done and we really feel good about the job that Luis and Pepe did. They worked so hard for several days in the hot sun. There were so many spots to fix it was hard to keep track of them all but they were so careful and good spirited through it all. The radar is fixed, and we went to Biannay's shoppe yesterday to check on the progress of the stainless steel arch and Jon was very pleased with the work they've done thus far. Hopefully it'll turn out OK and we'll be glad to have done it. It means more room for mounting solar panels and all of our other equipment. We had a mechanic come and check out our engine since the turbo is louder than it used to be and oil pressure is lower, but he said there was nothing really wrong, just a worn engine that will eventually need replacing one day but is OK now. Hope he's right. Anyway, things are shaping up and we've had the boat to ourselves the past few days which is nice. Next week, they'll start installing the arch on our stern.

From Cartagena

We've had a great time the past 2 days, just touring around. Yesterday we traveled out to a botanical garden about 20 km outside of Cartagena with another couple we've been spending time with- they're from New Hampshire. Between taxi's, buses and little tuk-tuk's, we got there and back in one piece. It was a pretty botanical garden but not as good as some we've been to. They had really friendly parrots, nice pathways and the usual huge tropical foliage. The landscape outside of the city looked like it might be going to be a little like Honduras but it was hard to tell since there was still a sprawl from the outskirts of Cartagena. Columbia has 3 mountain chains, including the Andes and is supposedly one of the most diverse countries in the world. We wish we could explore the mountainous areas. It is also a huge country so it takes forever to get anywhere.

From Cartagena

When we got back to the marina, we met our friends on Alaya and all went out to dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant nearby. Today, Jon and I walked most of the wall for exercise, then swung by parque central to see what was happening. Most of it was closed off and there were all these kids in uniforms sitting at tables with chess sets in front of them. Turns out it was a serious chess tournament in the park. We also went to the Museum of Gold which was very interesting and then got a typico lunch in the old city. I like the typico here in Columbia much more than Honduras. It is your choice of meat- today we got rotisserie chicken, then soup, rice, lentils, salad and plantains. All for $2.50. You walk out stuffed. It's plain food but very well prepared and everyone gets it.

I never realized there was so much gold in South America. All the way back to early BC, indigenous tribes panned for alluvial gold which they pressed and melted and shaped into adornments, utensils, fishing hooks, and funeral offerings. It was said that solid chunks of gold the size of eggs could be found in the rivers. Anyone important was buried with lots of gold. Then the Spaniards came in and made themselves rich by digging up the graves and stealing all the gold from them. Then they stole the crops and enslaved the people!

As we wandered back toward the boat, we walked through the flower area where all the fresh flowers are for sale and Saturdays are big market days anyway so everything was bustling. Then this guy comes down the sidewalk with ice cream. It is a cart with a softserve machine on it, powered by a little motor with a drive belt- all open in the back- that was driving a compressor to keep the ice cream frozen and power the machine. For 22 cents, we got a pink cone with chocolate syrup drizzled on it just because we'd never seen anything like it before. We also looked in to doing some inland travel but the short of it all is that it is just ridiculously expensive. Machu Picchu is $1,300 per person just for airfare and even traveling within Columbia to the Andes area is $850 a person for 4 days and only covers part of the costs. We can fly from the US for nearly the same thing; it makes no sense. Plus, it feels too much like we're taking a vacation from our vacation, even though we're not really living like we're on vacation.

A few days ago, we spent most of a whole day working on finding a new solenoid for the windlass and Jon installed it. It took forever to find one that would be powerful enough and the guy assured us that this one we bought was the right one for a windlass. There were no markings on it to indicate the amperage limits but it was all metal so looked promising. When we got home today, we were messing with the anchor chain since it was twisted and Jon told me to give the windlass a couple of taps to tighten the chain. Well, it wouldn't shut off- the load on it for that second cooked the solenoid in the on position. It was just running and running but without enough umppph to pull up the anchor thank goodness. Jon had to get in there and disconnect the stupid thing as it burned up and started spewing fumes. It gave us a scare and now we have absolutely no windlass and are out the money for the stupid solenoid too. Down here, you can't get any parts of any quality and you'll pay a lot for what you do get.

Huey, our resident gecko, is settling in to the inside of the boat. He's usually hanging out behind my cactus plant pot on the counter. The past few nights, he's been chirping from back there. We seem to have gotten ants recently and Jon took out some bug bombs we've been keeping for "just in case" situations. He'd put the bombs on the counter and I started reading the instructions to see what we had to do. Then I remembered little Huey! I looked down at the pot and he was sticking his head out from around the side as if to say- "Hey! You can't set that thing off in here- I'll die!" So, we put the bombs back away. If he'd just take care of the ants I'd say he would be earning his keep.

Well I guess that's pretty much the update on what we've been doing. We're on schedule to be out of here by May 1. Looking forward to being on the move again and headed North for the summer. We've got a huge list of things to buy, fix and install, not to mention varnish, polish and stock up on.