So our loyal readers have become worried........where the hell is L'ORIENT ? No blog posts for three months. Sometimes we forget the huge role we play in people's lives. This doesn't surprise me, it just slips my mind because I'm me-centered. Once again an empty promise- we'll try to do better. But for those readers who don't live in the third world........you should try to come here yourself and manage probably the most important and influential lifestyle blog in Central America.......not easy. Bad internet, extreme heat, lethargy, sloth, alcohol..........all these combine to create a toxic stew of inaction. Whatever.
But now to something important.......money. Snoop Dogg's seminal invocation lamenting the high price of narcotics and escort services in Long Beach County is apt here. We too "got our mind on our money and our money on our mind".
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| Wait, that doesn't look like Central America ! |
We're spending kilo-dollars on L'ORIENT, trying to prepare for January's Panama Canal transit and February's 30-day sail across the Pacific. Wind instruments, wind generator, water heater (that's just the w's) all broken and repaired. Radar, faucets, steering system...........the list goes on. The boat work, compounded by 90 degree head and 90 pct humidity (i.e. the aptly named "rainy season") has become really intense.
Example- In May (Panama) when we opened the boat's door in the morning our luxury yacht would promptly be invaded by 40 flies. Yes, 40. Two people and 40 flies in a 53 foot boat does not equal happiness. And with no servants or paid employees to do this (I fantasize about clapping my hands and telling "James" to take care of it), it was Tom and his swatter whacking away for 2 hours to take back what's ours. It got so bad that Kirstin was literally taking notes from other cruisers on how to keep the bugs away (turns out a clear plastic baggie filled with water and hung in front of the companionway door to the boat keeps flies away - just so you know). Totally disgusting problem and one that is beneath the dignity of this fine yacht.
So with rainy season beating us down and the boat problem list now 4 pages long.......it was clearly time to retreat. L'ORIENT (being a living thing in our minds, at least) has a well developed fight/flee instinct......and flee we did, all the way to San Andres, Colombia (a Colombian owned island off the coast of Nicaragua). Fabulously, it didn't seem to be rainy (or fly season) there. And what a find!!! Great restaurant scene, live music, extremely friendly locals (universal in Colombia in our experience)........it's kind of the Colombian Myrtle Beach.
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| We couldn't agree more |
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| Our defective mule- limped around the island |
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| Our favorite reggae band - San Andres |
We have been quite the curiosity there as well. The entire day tour boats buzzed our yacht and tell their passengers about how we live on the boat (Señor, L'ORIENT es una Yacht por favor !!!). One extremely friendly Colombian yelled (in English thankfully) - "Hello American people. Welcome to San Andres!". Love Colombians.
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| Champions League finals with fellow cruiser/troublemakers (Liverpool 2- Spurs 0) |
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| Colombians support their team bigtime - everyone watches on the street (Copa America). |
During a happy hour on the bow of L'ORIENT, one tour boat got so obnoxiously close that I yelled "yo soy muy rico y muy famoso". (I am very rich and very famous)...............we could see the passengers frantically googling for 1980s quarterbacks that have severe brain damage.
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| Defense wins championships |
From there, our strategy of avoiding rainy season continued, as we decided that being in Europe would be better than the Panamanian jungle so we took Princess Emily to Spain. You might remember us taking this very same Princess to Cartagena last Christmas.
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| Princess Emily, Kirstin, and Tom |
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| Princess Emily- (a bit casual for a Princess) at the Game of Thrones castle |
Hey, being showered with gifts of expensive travel comes with being a Princess. We landed in Madrid and drove south to Toledo, Cordoba, Ronda, and Caceras.
Being a National Car Rental Galactic member, I was eager to choose my own car like that guy on commercials......."the control enthusiast". No such luck. And if you google "Renault Kangoo" you will see that we were given a white ice cream truck/bread delivery vehicle. Disappointed children were everywhere in our wake as we failed to pass out their nutty-buddies. We actually ended up liking the car..........and yes, it almost happened. We were about 2 ft from getting our ice-cream truck wedged between two buildings in a medieval Spanish town. How American that would have been.
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| For the last time, kid- we ain't got no ice cream |
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The princess loved this castle
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| NO RAIN! Beautiful Ronda |
Wine tasting, great sight-seeing, and of course the food were all amazing. The Princess loved seeing "all the historical shi_".......(her words, not ours). Spain remains our favorite country........just a hair above Colombia.
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| Ronda - it's a long walk back up |
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| Toledo - a bit nicer than its namesake in Ohio |
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| Cordoba - fantastic gardens for 105 degrees |
But then our princess needed to return to work. Not sure why, as she confessed that these 11 days in Europe had cost her only $15 in total (some snacks at Dulles). But we were far from done (and far from ready to return to the jungle).
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| She was the valedictorian of her university, too |
Kirstin and I flew to Brussels and drove to Germany's Mosel region.........this time in a normal car.
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| Bacharach - On the Rhine |
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| Don't think we are in Panama anymore |
We stopped in Bacharach, Heidelberg, Trier and Bernkastel-Kues on a desperate mission to see if Germans were indeed the master-race...........no, not that kind of race !!! The master wine-making race. Specifically, could they make a dry Reisling ? And ta-da.....we found a lot of it (especially in Bernkastel-Kues). Yum. Happy hour was never so happy. We both vowed that we would stop accelerating quickly past the German wine area in the grocery store on our way to the French area. One note for world travelers........August is the surely the best month to travel in China because it's empty.........they're all in Heidelberg.
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| Bruges - not a tourist in sight... ha |
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| Trier - a bit off the beaten path |
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| Bruges church - built 300 years before people starting wearing pants in North America |
From Brussels we flew to Miami where Tom was like an indy-car in a pit stop. You know how those air tool-ratchet and fuel-from-milk-bottle dudes swarm a car to get it out on the track quickly ? Four physician appointments in five days followed by the attempt to secure a year's worth of drugs at once. We had a wonderful visit with Tom's mother in Naples........and Kirstin did me one better and flew on to Wisconsin to visit her dad.
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| You can take the girl out of Wisconsin but ....Go Pack Go |
We've now arrived back on the boat, schlepping about 150 lbs of boat parts between us. The project list is long, but it does feel good to be back at home after living out of suitcases in 12 cities for more than a month. More to come as L'ORIENT heads still further west to Bocas del Toro, Panama for more rainy-season fun.
Oh and ......non-sequitur news flash.......our smarty-pants niece Grace was accepted into a super prestigious university somewhere in the southeastern US. We'd show you her picture or name the school, but my brother (her father) knows what kind of creepers read this blog and prefers to maintain the family's anonymity. Sorry Grace (or whatever your name really is).
