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| Left my hat on the boat in Colombia |
Q1- Daughter in car accident (she is fine).......Q2- Tom has heart attack and gets a coronary artery stent (did we forget to mention that? - I am fine).......Q3 - son gets multiple skull fractures playing soccer (he made the save which is the important thing, right? He is better now). All quarters - Kirstin's mom has major health challenges. We've had quite the year in 2018, but to paraphrase "Deadmen Don't Wear Plaid" (I believe this is the first time it's been quoted)......"L'ORIENTs are never more dangerous than when they're dead (nearly)".
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| The relatives congregate |
We've just arrived back on our dear yacht after a 5 week trip to the states, where we saw virtually everyone........you know it's been too long when baby niece Grace (now 5 ft 9) can spike a volleyball on you. Our trip started in Naples to visit Mom.......then on to Hilton Head for a family reunion. Kirstin and I decided we like that place.......nice beach walk, and best of all we can anchor in front of my brother's luxury villa. I'm sure he'll like having two homeless people constantly asking for dish detergent.
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| Maybe he is a luckier fisherman onshore? |
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| Makes you think twice about wading in the water |
Our next stop was Wisconsin. Brrrrr. It was 25-35 degrees the whole time (it even snowed). As we have all our boat parts delivered to Kirstin's parents there, it's important for us to make sure we don't order too much........we failed miserably at that (again) and had to schlep back about 150 lbs of parts, fabric, and clothes. We even filled a golf bag with assorted boat parts.
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| Indian summer in Stalingrad....er, Wisconsin |
We were actually selected for screening by Colombian Customs and figured we were completely screwed for smuggling in big dollars in boat supplies without paying the duty. I had visions of sharing a cell with the Cali Cartel guys from Narcos. They x-rayed everything with one huge process flaw......nobody was watching the x-ray monitor screen as our contraband-laden bags flew by, clearly filled with booty. And off we walked.......surprised and relieved.
Now we're focused on enjoying Colombia and getting ready for the big move west. How far west? We don't say circumnavigation because Neptune would first laugh and then send a few super shit-storms our way to get us to reconsider. We tell people we are "heading in a generally westerly direction and seeing what happens" so as not to jinx ourselves.
L'ORIENT is ready for the Pacific, almost. Iridium Go, spare autopilot drive, lots and lots of wire, fuses, switches, filters, and assorted minutia and esoterica. A friend asked us if heart trouble was making us reconsider our plans......our response was that since the grim reaper clearly knows we've been hiding in the Caribbean, we need a better hiding place; so the far reaches of the Pacific seems safer to us.
As we prepare for what's next, we want to take these next 6 weeks and enjoy Colombia even more. We've found it delightful.......albeit quite hot. Like Tucson in summer hot. It's an interesting time to be here as well, with tourism ramping up and Venezuela collapsing. Pictured below is a crafting product of some enterprising Venezuelan refugees. They make purses out of the worthless Venezuelan currency. Kind of shocking to see, but at $7 each, they make great, if sad, novelty gifts.
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| Fine craftsmanship by these "moneymen" |
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| Bad sign when your currency is more valuable woven together |
While the boat is in Santa Marta, we've road tripped to Cartagena and liked that as well. Definitely more touristy than our prior trips to Medellin and Jardin, but interesting nevertheless.
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| Kind of a Dodge City feel to this town |
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| No cruise ships, no gringos, no vendors..... |
Cartagena definitely should win some type of award for most aggressive street vendors. As an old marketer myself I have to give them an A+ for pure effort but sadly a D- for tactics. A hat vendor will boldly walk up to you (even if you're wearing the exact hat he's selling) and make his pitch.......as will 6 other vendors behind him. They seem to be convinced it's a numbers game.......the more people you approach, the more sales you will get. It's entertaining until it's not. A semi-official count yielded one vendor approach every 90 seconds (no exaggeration), even when you are in a restaurant. It's not nice for rich people (us) to play jokes on poor people (nearly everyone here), but we thought it would be really funny if after the 6th hat vendor approached us and we said no, we astounded the vendors by theatrically buying every hat the 7th vendor had to sell.........and then watching the other vendors query the lucky sold-out vendor about his technique. Hahahaha. Put that on you-tube and you've got a mean-spirited viral hit on your hands.
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| New money meets 3rd world Colombia |
Our Narcos-inspired Spanish continues to improve, although "plata o plomo" must be used with care (silver or lead.......kind of a threat generally made by criminals). Our restaurant Spanish has been pretty good, although if you sound too legit they assume you really speak Spanish and start feeding you Spanish from a fire-hose. No comprendo señor !!!
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| The KGB Bar....lots of cool soviet era kitsch |
We've joined the local gym to see if we can work off the turkey, sausage, and pastries that everyone feeds us in the US (and we greedily consume) ......it's funny that parents are quick to notice if you've gained weight, but no parent wants to take credit for you losing weight at their house........can you imagine a mother in her 80s crowing to her friends "my son has been here 2 weeks and has lost 10 lbs thanks to me".
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| Happy birthday to Kirstin's mom- note in Wisconsin the booze is never far away |
We're hoping to wrap up this year strongly... with no more drama. Q4 is off to a good start - we just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. We'll see.
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| 15th anniversary for Tom and Kirstin |
