One of the interesting things about being in Panama is that it really is the crossroads of the world, as I have probably said before as I know I tend to be repetitive. The only common language is that which belongs to neither of us. When I meet a French boat, they often speak little to no English and I speak no French. But we both speak Spanish. We have met boats from all over, and the only one I did not like was a Russian who was one of the rudest people I have ever met in my entire life.
It has been really windy here at Isla Espiritu Santo for the past couple of days now, and yesterday saw rough seas as well. Today is still really windy - after watching a panga struggle against the wind and the still active seas, we decided not to go fishing today. Yesterday our friends (who arrived in the anchorage a couple of days ago), treated us to a complete American/Canadian turkey dinner with all the trimmings, as they say. (Who are they anyway and why do we keep repeating the things they say?) There was even apple pie! I ate so much I was almost sick. And then today they gave us half the turkey carcass and I made some wonderful soup. I do think Mike and I have become really good soup makers. Mike has been perfecting different bean soups, which suits me just fine because I love bean soup. Anyway, these people have become great friends, and we will miss them when we head off to Ecuador. They are braving the lightning and staying here for the rainy season. They were in Ecuador this past season, and from everything they tell me, I am going to love it. It is not hot like here, though, so I may have to buy some jeans when I come back to the states. All the women down here tend to wear those skin tight leggings like jeans, and heaven knows that would not be a good idea for me. We might actually have to use a blanket at night - or at least a cover sheet.
We just found out that some friends of ours that we met in El Salvador are selling their boat and moving to land. They plan to live somewhere down here, I am not sure where, and do volunteer work. I feel kind of bad about it, but also kind of not, since I know things were difficult for the woman. It was not her milieu, the boat was small and did not have refrigeration and some of the electronics that we have that make things easier for us. And she also never got over being seasick often. That is not any fun, and I do know others that have had to give up the sailing life because of seasickness that does not respond to the various medications. Many people are sick at times, myself included, but only under unusual conditions, and it does respond to medications. I have some from Mexico that is amazing. So if there is anyone out there who wants to come and see us but is worried about seasickness, worry no more, that medication will fix you up just fine. So I will miss these people, but where ever they are going to be living, I hope I can visit them. That is one thing about this life - just when you get to know someone and really start to like them, one of you leaves for somewhere else. But there is also the thrill of running into old friends in new, strange places. That is the good part.
I have been reading the Lonely Planet guide for Ecuador, and am more excited than ever to go there. It seems like we could spend years there and not see everything. There are so many things about South America that fill me with excitement, and I feel like I used to feel when my dad took me to the fair as a kid. I looked forward to it all summer and I was never disappointed.
Ok, I am starting to ramble on, like it's the first time that ever happened, ha ha ha. Mike has gone to bed, and I am going to read for awhile before I join him. The moon is waning hard, and it is a really really dark, windy night. I love it like this.
"Time is what we want most, but what we use worst." (William Penn)
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Friday, March 21, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
And Yet More Fish Tales
The fish gods have not been kind to us since we got back here. Although we finally had a fish dinner, it was not without great difficulty. Day 1: No fish. Just a couple of bites, but each time the fish threw the hook. Day 2: More promising bites, and two fish caught. Unfortunately, they had to be thrown back as they were too small. Day 3: Just bites, and one that took a lot of line out before it threw the hook (almost hitting Mike in the face). By this time, we are getting very unhappy. I can't figure out why I am not catching anything. I am feeling as though I have lost my touch. I am using a new rod, and it is stiffer than my old one, but that doesn't explain it. By the way, during this whole time we are switching up lures, all sorts of things. So Day 4: Finally I catch a nice grouper. It will make a delicious pan fish for the two of us. We will gut it (of course) and cut only the head and tail off (so it will fit in the pan) but otherwise cook it whole, Salvadoran style. So back to the boat we go, and Mike decides to clean it in the dinghy, since it has to be scaled and the scales fly around all over the plan and make a mess on the deck. He cleans the fish, and then - here is where it gets sad - when he leans down to swish the fish in the water to do a final rinse, he drops it!!!! I would have dove in after it except I knew it would sink faster than I could dive. We fished some more that day, but of course nothing. Anyway, Day 5: I catch a nice large sierra. As I am reeling it in and getting it into the boat, Mike knocks it off the hook and again, it is gone! We keep fishing, and finally I catch another sierra, about a third of the size of the first one, but we get it into the boat safely, Mike cleans it safely, and I cooked it and we ate it. I hope the curse is broken.
Today we made water for the first time in a couple of weeks. We filled both tanks, and I did two loads of laundry. I have two more to go. Since I do it in a five gallon bucket, the loads are small. (By the way, I only do laundry like this when we are out in the middle of nowhere. In port, I have it done or find a Laundromat. I prefer the former, naturally.) Sheets take two loads - a sheet and pillowcase in each load. They dry fast, though. Now that the humidity is down, the laundry dries in a couple of hours.
It has been wonderful here. We still have the place to ourselves, and since the last post, there have only been pangas coming through. Last night we were sleeping and I woke up about midnight, because I thought I heard a voice calling out. Mike woke up too, and when he looked outside, there was a panga out there. The guys were out of gas, so Mike gave them a gallon, and they went on their way. That is far from being the first time we have helped these guys out with gas, but it IS the first time it happened in the middle of the night. We sometimes have them stop and ask for water, too. When it is really dark and the moon is all gone, the fish have been putting on a real fancy show with all the bio-lum. It is amazing, like a fireworks show in the water. The water is filled with flashes of light that appear and disappear all around the boat. I love watching it, and never get tired of it. When a school of hundreds of tiny little fish all suddenly group together and jump out of the water and then back in and scatter, it is truly a sight to behold and I wish I had better words to describe it. We also saw a new kind of fish today - we saw four of them, ranging from one half inch to about two inches. I saw the first one and thought it was a leaf floating on the water until all of a sudden it darted (no other word for it, "swam very fast" does not describe it at all) about a foot through the water and then stopped. Now leaves float along, but they do not dart. So I watched it for awhile, and realized it was a fish. It could spread its dorsal fins and its tail until it looked like a butterfly in the water. When it was furled up, it looked like a leaf. It seemed to be eating plankton or some such stuff in the water. The water was not super clear at that point - we have currents that run through that bring debris with them, stuff that has come out of the rivers and creeks in these islands. The fish came with that, but this is the first time I have ever seen them. If one is really careful out here, it is probably possible to see something new almost every day.
Well, that is enough for now. We are just hanging out, enjoying being. That's it.
"In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them." (Aldo Leopold)
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Today we made water for the first time in a couple of weeks. We filled both tanks, and I did two loads of laundry. I have two more to go. Since I do it in a five gallon bucket, the loads are small. (By the way, I only do laundry like this when we are out in the middle of nowhere. In port, I have it done or find a Laundromat. I prefer the former, naturally.) Sheets take two loads - a sheet and pillowcase in each load. They dry fast, though. Now that the humidity is down, the laundry dries in a couple of hours.
It has been wonderful here. We still have the place to ourselves, and since the last post, there have only been pangas coming through. Last night we were sleeping and I woke up about midnight, because I thought I heard a voice calling out. Mike woke up too, and when he looked outside, there was a panga out there. The guys were out of gas, so Mike gave them a gallon, and they went on their way. That is far from being the first time we have helped these guys out with gas, but it IS the first time it happened in the middle of the night. We sometimes have them stop and ask for water, too. When it is really dark and the moon is all gone, the fish have been putting on a real fancy show with all the bio-lum. It is amazing, like a fireworks show in the water. The water is filled with flashes of light that appear and disappear all around the boat. I love watching it, and never get tired of it. When a school of hundreds of tiny little fish all suddenly group together and jump out of the water and then back in and scatter, it is truly a sight to behold and I wish I had better words to describe it. We also saw a new kind of fish today - we saw four of them, ranging from one half inch to about two inches. I saw the first one and thought it was a leaf floating on the water until all of a sudden it darted (no other word for it, "swam very fast" does not describe it at all) about a foot through the water and then stopped. Now leaves float along, but they do not dart. So I watched it for awhile, and realized it was a fish. It could spread its dorsal fins and its tail until it looked like a butterfly in the water. When it was furled up, it looked like a leaf. It seemed to be eating plankton or some such stuff in the water. The water was not super clear at that point - we have currents that run through that bring debris with them, stuff that has come out of the rivers and creeks in these islands. The fish came with that, but this is the first time I have ever seen them. If one is really careful out here, it is probably possible to see something new almost every day.
Well, that is enough for now. We are just hanging out, enjoying being. That's it.
"In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them." (Aldo Leopold)
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Saturday, March 8, 2014
In the Moment
In the last post, I didn't talk much about the trips between Panama City and Isla Contadora, and then Isla Contadora and Isla Espiritu Santo. Both of those trips were incredible sails, making me remember what it is like to really SAIL. Most of the summer when we were here (and I use the term "summer" to indicate which months we were here. Technically, there are only two seasons here - dry and rainy. The dry is Dec to May, and rainy is May through Nov. The rainy season is considered winter here, and the dry season is considered summer.) We had to motor between the islands because of either no wind or more likely, light winds from the wrong direction. And because of all the detritus in the water due to emptying rivers, there are lots of big logs floating around so we won't sail through here at night. But these days, since with the change of seasons there has been a change in general wind direction, we can sail. The first trip we hustled along at 5-6 knots on average, and it was fabulous to sit there on the bow and feel the wind and see the water disappearing under the bow. There is no noise from the engine, and because there is no heat coming from it, it is cooler downstairs. The heel was not too bad - and I am used to that now, pretty much anyway.
When we sailed from Contadora to Espiritu Santo we went slower, because we wanted to trail a fishing line. So we tried to keep the speed under 4 knots, which is a perfect trolling speed for a rod(we got skunked. The boat was almost perfectly balanced, it was a beautiful day, and I even took a nap right there in the cockpit. Again, I was reminded why I wanted to do my world travel by sea, at least as much as I can. It was a feeling like no other - the boat moving along propelled only by nature, and the absolute sensual delight (no other word for it) of the sun and wind on your skin, the sound of the wind in your ears, the sea birds circling, wheeling, sometimes diving hard. (Side note: We have to keep an eye on our fishing lure because if it is close enough to the surface, the boobies will dive for it and if they get caught, it is hard to free then without at least one of you getting hurt.) Oh there is nothing like this feeling - you feel as if it will go on forever, and at the same time, like there is really nothing you can't handle, nothing that you can't figure out a way to accomplish. It's like taking a bath in every good feeling you ever had, all at once, but in a calm way. I am so glad I have experienced this.
We have this anchorage completely to ourselves, at least we have had for the past couple of days. No one except the occasional panga stopping ashore to get water from the fresh water stream that empties across from where Magda Jean is anchored. We also see the panga with the guys who hunt iguana with dogs. Two guys and their dogs are dropped off and then picked up at the end of the day. Sometimes they have iguanas and sometimes they don't. I have never tried it - they eat it in El Salvador but it is not the sort of thing you find on a menu. I guess I would try it if I had a chance, depending on how it was prepared. Funny, I am like a four year old about food - I won't touch cheese or sour cream, don't like mushrooms, and so on, but I will happily try this strange stuff. I never claimed to be consistent. Anyway, at the risk of TMI, when you have an anchorage to yourself, you don't have to get dressed, even in your bathing suit. There are only two things send us in search of sartorial splendor is the sound of an approaching panga or the fear of sunburn. The only tan line I will have left is where my ankle bracelet is! HA HA HA!!!
I shall leave you all with that visual. The Las Perlas Islands are heaven on earth. The proof is in us risking lightning strikes to spend more time here.
"Out truest life si when we are in dreams awake." (Henry David Thoreau)
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When we sailed from Contadora to Espiritu Santo we went slower, because we wanted to trail a fishing line. So we tried to keep the speed under 4 knots, which is a perfect trolling speed for a rod(we got skunked. The boat was almost perfectly balanced, it was a beautiful day, and I even took a nap right there in the cockpit. Again, I was reminded why I wanted to do my world travel by sea, at least as much as I can. It was a feeling like no other - the boat moving along propelled only by nature, and the absolute sensual delight (no other word for it) of the sun and wind on your skin, the sound of the wind in your ears, the sea birds circling, wheeling, sometimes diving hard. (Side note: We have to keep an eye on our fishing lure because if it is close enough to the surface, the boobies will dive for it and if they get caught, it is hard to free then without at least one of you getting hurt.) Oh there is nothing like this feeling - you feel as if it will go on forever, and at the same time, like there is really nothing you can't handle, nothing that you can't figure out a way to accomplish. It's like taking a bath in every good feeling you ever had, all at once, but in a calm way. I am so glad I have experienced this.
We have this anchorage completely to ourselves, at least we have had for the past couple of days. No one except the occasional panga stopping ashore to get water from the fresh water stream that empties across from where Magda Jean is anchored. We also see the panga with the guys who hunt iguana with dogs. Two guys and their dogs are dropped off and then picked up at the end of the day. Sometimes they have iguanas and sometimes they don't. I have never tried it - they eat it in El Salvador but it is not the sort of thing you find on a menu. I guess I would try it if I had a chance, depending on how it was prepared. Funny, I am like a four year old about food - I won't touch cheese or sour cream, don't like mushrooms, and so on, but I will happily try this strange stuff. I never claimed to be consistent. Anyway, at the risk of TMI, when you have an anchorage to yourself, you don't have to get dressed, even in your bathing suit. There are only two things send us in search of sartorial splendor is the sound of an approaching panga or the fear of sunburn. The only tan line I will have left is where my ankle bracelet is! HA HA HA!!!
I shall leave you all with that visual. The Las Perlas Islands are heaven on earth. The proof is in us risking lightning strikes to spend more time here.
"Out truest life si when we are in dreams awake." (Henry David Thoreau)
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Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Not Dead, Just Lazy
I have been in Panama City for about two months now, and am now back in the islands. Actually, I just checked the ships log, and apparently I arrived in Panama City this time on Jan 20. So. Here I am.
I just got lazy while we were sitting in PC and didn't write anything. No excuse at all, just lazy. I am sorry if anyone worried about me. We are fine and happy.
While in PC, we got a new alternator and two new fiberglass propane tanks. The old tanks were made of steel or aluminum, and we simply couldn't keep the salt water out of the container, and they rusted on the bottom. This will not happen with the new ones. We bought the new ones right after we filled the old ones, so at this point we have a ton of propane on board. I can bake my heart out if I want to - and it is a good time of year because it is not so god awful hot and humid. And when it does get real hot, at least it is pretty dry. On some days, I can wash my hair and it is dry in 20 minutes. Usually it is still damp the next day. Speaking of hair, mine is down to my waist now. I suppose that is pretty stupid. I can't even really manage it - just braid it or roll it up on top of my head. Yet I cannot bring myself to cut it. Having a short haircut is out of the question - my hair grows so fast I would have to get it cut again every six weeks at an absolute minimum, or it will be falling in my eyes and I can't stand it. So I leave it long enough to pull back or put it up. But this is sort of ridiculous. I don't think it even looks that good this long. And I know I am way too old for this. I just can't do it yet. I can't.
The alternator. After the other one stopped working, Mike out in an old one, and we got to PC and had the original one rebuilt. Mike then put it in. We ordered a new one, and when it came, Mike took out the rebuild and put the new one in. So now we have a brand new one and a good rebuild. When we started sailing this trip, we noticed that all of a sudden the engine was revving and slowing on its own, which is never a good sign. In addition, the display indicating the exchange of power was also going haywire, jumping from one number or another. Mike went into the engine room, and immediately discovered it was a wire that had come loose. So I took the helm while he crawled into the engine room with a soldering iron and fixed it. So we were back underway and everything was fine.
Panama City, and Panama in general, is a really interesting place. It is literally the cross road of the world, because almost everything comes through the canal. We could just sit at anchor and watch the huge ships coming in and out, leaving huge bow waves that make every boat in the anchorage rock up and down, back and forth, sometimes strong enough to knock things over. Everyone has a story. There are a lot of people who wandered down from Canada and the US, just wandering south until they come here. Then they stay. Did you know it is impossible to drive from Panama down into South America? It is true, there are no roads at all through the jungle. You have to fly or take a boat. There are cruisers who earn money ferrying backpackers to Colombia and Ecuador. Or people hang around the yacht clubs looking to be taken on as crew to South America. I was flabbergasted to discover there are no roads. I guess the jungle is too thick and swampy to make a road through. And then there are always problems at the Panama-Colombia border, and Panama is always worried about Colombians sneaking in and causing trouble.
My birthday was last month, and for a celebration, we got off the boat and spent two days in a hotel. Unlimited hot water! Shower as long as you want to! Unlimited TV! A huge bed where we can both spread out! No rocking (actually, I missed that part). But it was a lot of fun. We stayed in the old part of Panama City, and our hotel is in an old colonial building that has been restored. They are restoring as many of the old buildings as they can. This part of the city looks out over the ruins that are all that is left of the original Panama City, before it was sacked and burned by the pirate Henry Morgan.
We did some great eating while we were there. On the first night, we wandered around drinking beer in a micro brewery, and of course by the time we got to the restaurant, we had too much to drink and needed to eat. Unfortunately the hostess told us there would be a forty five minute wait for a table, and we were welcome to wait in the bar. Now I knew this was a bad idea. While forty five minutes is not that long, it means we would have even more to drink and by the time we were served, we wouldn't be able to even taste our food. So we moved on. At the next place, the hostess started to tell me which parts of the restaurant were full, like the outside tables. I told her (in Spanish) that we did not care where we sat, and we were really hungry. So she looks around and then takes us (ahead of others it seemed) to a really nice inside table. IT was when we sat down and took the menus in hand that we realized the problem, and it was a bad one. Neither of us had brought reading glasses. We could not read the menu to save our lives. It was in small, stylized printing, in tan ink on ecru paper. And it was dark. So I told the waitress the problem, and asked her to please read the menu to us. Mike then declared he wanted a steak. So I told her this, and she said, well, we do have a chateaubriand. I knew that was beef so I said "Bring two!" It seemed easier to do it that way, because I could imagine myself saying "Go back to the pork. What was on it again? And lets hear about the chicken again, does it have cheese on it?" I did not think that was a good idea, especially since all these conversations have to be conducted in Spanish. However, when we got our chateaubriand, it was probably the best steak I have ever had in my life. Better than the Kobe beef in Asia, maybe even better than what we had in Nebraska. It was incredible. And I bet if we had not forgotten our glasses, we wouldn't have ordered it. I have seen it on the menu lots of times and never had it before. Unbelievable. And the next day we had a big lunch at another place - I had a sort of mixed fried rice that again was to die for, and so by dinner time we were not starving, but wanted to eat. So we went to a place that specialized in tapas, and ordered about four different dishes and they were all wonderful. I ate well on my birthday weekend and was very satisfied. We do not give each other presents on Christmas and our birthdays - for a long time now if we want something, we buy it or determine we either do not really want it or can't afford it. So there is rarely anything out there I am coveting. I don't need a nice wardrobe anymore, nor do I need anymore jewelry that I don't wear. I am really looking forward to visiting the US this May and June - since I am going to a wedding, I will be dressing up really nicely. I may even get someone to make me a fancy hairdo for the day.
What else is new here? We are back in the islands, and plan to stay out here until the end of March, at which time we will return to Panama City to pick up some electrical things we have on order, reprovision yet again, check out of the country, and head for Ecuador in early April. Our visas and cruising permit expire in early April, and I do not want to be an illegal alien again. So this time we really are leaving. There are a number of boats that we know who will be there at the same time, and several of them are interested in continuing on to Chile. I am interested as well, so we will be exploring that possibility as well. I have wanted to go to Chile as long as I can remember. I saw it on a map as a little kid, and it looked so cool, long and skinny, all coast line. When I was in third or fourth grade, my parents gave me a globe for Christmas. I used to just look at it and think about all the places I was going to go as soon as I got old enough. I knew from a very young age that Eau Claire was not the place for me. IN fact, I had no fears or worries at all when my mom told us we were moving to California. California! Even the name sounded good to me. I thought, here is a place where I can live and be whatever I want to, and people will no longer remind me that I used to eat paste in kindergarten (I still remember eating it, it was sort of sweet). I could re-invent myself if plans for a new me fell through. Then later I realized that I wanted to travel, to just keep moving. So now I am doing that, and it is going on four years now with no end in sight. Every now and then we talk about getting a new boat, but I am convinced that is just talk. Magda Jean is going to take us where ever we need to go.
Anyway, I have rambled on long enough, babbling about nonsense. I have to remember this is a blog, not a diary. Yet being me, I am sure I will continue to blur that line, and spill my guts all over the page.
"It is better to travel well than to arrive." (Buddha)
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I just got lazy while we were sitting in PC and didn't write anything. No excuse at all, just lazy. I am sorry if anyone worried about me. We are fine and happy.
While in PC, we got a new alternator and two new fiberglass propane tanks. The old tanks were made of steel or aluminum, and we simply couldn't keep the salt water out of the container, and they rusted on the bottom. This will not happen with the new ones. We bought the new ones right after we filled the old ones, so at this point we have a ton of propane on board. I can bake my heart out if I want to - and it is a good time of year because it is not so god awful hot and humid. And when it does get real hot, at least it is pretty dry. On some days, I can wash my hair and it is dry in 20 minutes. Usually it is still damp the next day. Speaking of hair, mine is down to my waist now. I suppose that is pretty stupid. I can't even really manage it - just braid it or roll it up on top of my head. Yet I cannot bring myself to cut it. Having a short haircut is out of the question - my hair grows so fast I would have to get it cut again every six weeks at an absolute minimum, or it will be falling in my eyes and I can't stand it. So I leave it long enough to pull back or put it up. But this is sort of ridiculous. I don't think it even looks that good this long. And I know I am way too old for this. I just can't do it yet. I can't.
The alternator. After the other one stopped working, Mike out in an old one, and we got to PC and had the original one rebuilt. Mike then put it in. We ordered a new one, and when it came, Mike took out the rebuild and put the new one in. So now we have a brand new one and a good rebuild. When we started sailing this trip, we noticed that all of a sudden the engine was revving and slowing on its own, which is never a good sign. In addition, the display indicating the exchange of power was also going haywire, jumping from one number or another. Mike went into the engine room, and immediately discovered it was a wire that had come loose. So I took the helm while he crawled into the engine room with a soldering iron and fixed it. So we were back underway and everything was fine.
Panama City, and Panama in general, is a really interesting place. It is literally the cross road of the world, because almost everything comes through the canal. We could just sit at anchor and watch the huge ships coming in and out, leaving huge bow waves that make every boat in the anchorage rock up and down, back and forth, sometimes strong enough to knock things over. Everyone has a story. There are a lot of people who wandered down from Canada and the US, just wandering south until they come here. Then they stay. Did you know it is impossible to drive from Panama down into South America? It is true, there are no roads at all through the jungle. You have to fly or take a boat. There are cruisers who earn money ferrying backpackers to Colombia and Ecuador. Or people hang around the yacht clubs looking to be taken on as crew to South America. I was flabbergasted to discover there are no roads. I guess the jungle is too thick and swampy to make a road through. And then there are always problems at the Panama-Colombia border, and Panama is always worried about Colombians sneaking in and causing trouble.
My birthday was last month, and for a celebration, we got off the boat and spent two days in a hotel. Unlimited hot water! Shower as long as you want to! Unlimited TV! A huge bed where we can both spread out! No rocking (actually, I missed that part). But it was a lot of fun. We stayed in the old part of Panama City, and our hotel is in an old colonial building that has been restored. They are restoring as many of the old buildings as they can. This part of the city looks out over the ruins that are all that is left of the original Panama City, before it was sacked and burned by the pirate Henry Morgan.
We did some great eating while we were there. On the first night, we wandered around drinking beer in a micro brewery, and of course by the time we got to the restaurant, we had too much to drink and needed to eat. Unfortunately the hostess told us there would be a forty five minute wait for a table, and we were welcome to wait in the bar. Now I knew this was a bad idea. While forty five minutes is not that long, it means we would have even more to drink and by the time we were served, we wouldn't be able to even taste our food. So we moved on. At the next place, the hostess started to tell me which parts of the restaurant were full, like the outside tables. I told her (in Spanish) that we did not care where we sat, and we were really hungry. So she looks around and then takes us (ahead of others it seemed) to a really nice inside table. IT was when we sat down and took the menus in hand that we realized the problem, and it was a bad one. Neither of us had brought reading glasses. We could not read the menu to save our lives. It was in small, stylized printing, in tan ink on ecru paper. And it was dark. So I told the waitress the problem, and asked her to please read the menu to us. Mike then declared he wanted a steak. So I told her this, and she said, well, we do have a chateaubriand. I knew that was beef so I said "Bring two!" It seemed easier to do it that way, because I could imagine myself saying "Go back to the pork. What was on it again? And lets hear about the chicken again, does it have cheese on it?" I did not think that was a good idea, especially since all these conversations have to be conducted in Spanish. However, when we got our chateaubriand, it was probably the best steak I have ever had in my life. Better than the Kobe beef in Asia, maybe even better than what we had in Nebraska. It was incredible. And I bet if we had not forgotten our glasses, we wouldn't have ordered it. I have seen it on the menu lots of times and never had it before. Unbelievable. And the next day we had a big lunch at another place - I had a sort of mixed fried rice that again was to die for, and so by dinner time we were not starving, but wanted to eat. So we went to a place that specialized in tapas, and ordered about four different dishes and they were all wonderful. I ate well on my birthday weekend and was very satisfied. We do not give each other presents on Christmas and our birthdays - for a long time now if we want something, we buy it or determine we either do not really want it or can't afford it. So there is rarely anything out there I am coveting. I don't need a nice wardrobe anymore, nor do I need anymore jewelry that I don't wear. I am really looking forward to visiting the US this May and June - since I am going to a wedding, I will be dressing up really nicely. I may even get someone to make me a fancy hairdo for the day.
What else is new here? We are back in the islands, and plan to stay out here until the end of March, at which time we will return to Panama City to pick up some electrical things we have on order, reprovision yet again, check out of the country, and head for Ecuador in early April. Our visas and cruising permit expire in early April, and I do not want to be an illegal alien again. So this time we really are leaving. There are a number of boats that we know who will be there at the same time, and several of them are interested in continuing on to Chile. I am interested as well, so we will be exploring that possibility as well. I have wanted to go to Chile as long as I can remember. I saw it on a map as a little kid, and it looked so cool, long and skinny, all coast line. When I was in third or fourth grade, my parents gave me a globe for Christmas. I used to just look at it and think about all the places I was going to go as soon as I got old enough. I knew from a very young age that Eau Claire was not the place for me. IN fact, I had no fears or worries at all when my mom told us we were moving to California. California! Even the name sounded good to me. I thought, here is a place where I can live and be whatever I want to, and people will no longer remind me that I used to eat paste in kindergarten (I still remember eating it, it was sort of sweet). I could re-invent myself if plans for a new me fell through. Then later I realized that I wanted to travel, to just keep moving. So now I am doing that, and it is going on four years now with no end in sight. Every now and then we talk about getting a new boat, but I am convinced that is just talk. Magda Jean is going to take us where ever we need to go.
Anyway, I have rambled on long enough, babbling about nonsense. I have to remember this is a blog, not a diary. Yet being me, I am sure I will continue to blur that line, and spill my guts all over the page.
"It is better to travel well than to arrive." (Buddha)
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