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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