Well, we made it. And it is fabulous here. I feel really comfortable. The Spanish is easy to understand. The weather seems similar to San Diego, except it is pretty humid. We get a nice breeze in the afternoon that helps with the humidity, and for the first time in ages I am not hot. We still need our fans, but it is very comfortable. We are anchored, but should a mooring ball become available, we may take it. But maybe not, because this is a very quiet anchorage, without any wild wave action. There is a current because we are actually in a river estuary, but that is not a problem. We have not had too much time to explore the place yet, but we have met some local people and have already arranged for boat care while we are gone, as well as arrangements to have the floor (sole) of the cabin refinished. The worker comes well recommended by other cruisers. I feel very confident the boat will be fine while we are gone. Mike is hesitant to leave the boat this long, but he will deal with it.
The trip down here was hell for me and I am not really sure why. Yes, it was poky, and yes, it was terribly frustrating to sail hard and not make any progress. But we had no storms that caused problems, in fact we wanted some storming because the storms pushed us along nicely. It was just not that bad. We were out there for 11 days. Not a long time, not long enough to be as upsetting as the trip was. I really wanted to quit, which in turn made me feel more upset than ever. The problem was I developed this horrible anxiety that would not go away. My stomach was in knots, I couldn't eat (no real problem there, I need to lose weight anyway, ha ha ha), and all I wanted to do was sleep, which I did as much as possible. Poor Mike had to do all the work. He might as well have been a single hander for all the good I did. I did stand my watches, and helped out when asked, but that is all. I was on the verge of tears all the time, and I have no explanation for the anxiety. I really don't understand why I felt like that. Mike is scared I am going to refuse to go any further, but that isn't going to happen. I just wish I could figure it out. I am afraid I will get so nervous about possibly being nervous that it will turn into one of those self-fulfilling prophesies. The anxious feeling is terrible - I feel like I want to throw up all the time but I am not nauseated or feeling sick. I haven't felt this way in years. Anyway, this is something I have to mull over and figure out how to overcome it. Mike says he can single hand the boat and I can meet him in ports, but I don't want to do that. I want to keep sailing, and I think it is important that I meet this challenge and overcome it.
But so far I love Ecuador. I thought I would like South America and so far I do. We have TV on the boat and there is a local channel that is pretty much all news. The talking heads are pretty easy to understand, so we are enjoying it. We are learning a lot about South America in general from this channel, and also noted that while it is not exactly anti-US, they don't cut us any slack. It is interesting to see things from this perspective.
What else is new? To get in here, we had to cross a large sand bar at high tide, and needed to have a special pilot come out to meet us and direct us in. The next day we saw the same area at low tide - completely free of any water. It was hard to believe we actually came across it. There is a big bridge over the river that is lit up at night with colored LED lights. There are several other boats here with friends of ours on them, and several more boats that we know are on their way from Panama. They have everything we need here within walking distance of the anchorage, and some of the beach front restaurants look like fun. While we were walking around yesterday, we came across a guy selling empanadas. We bought two of them, and I thought they were delicious. They had chicken and I think sweet potatoes in them. I expect to have more before all is said and done. Today some of our new local friends brought us some shrimp that was so fresh one of them jumped out of the bowl. I have had fresh live lobster, but never shrimp so fresh they were alive. We boiled them up and what a delicious first meal of the day. What a life.
"I have a simple philosophy: Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. Scratch where it itches." (Alice Roosevelt Longworth)
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