Kevin and Lorraine, the world travellers, were already out at the bike when I started bringing my gear down. I had promised them to meet and take them over to Bocagrande with me. I had been there before, so I thought I had a good chance of finding it, hero like. But, I still had to find some beer and hard liquor, and cigarettes, necessary evils to get through the ride. As I was committed to quitting before I got to Panama, I could justify one last puff. And we were off at 11 am exactly, after some quick directions.
I led them straight to the church on the other side that Rolly had described,
then turned around to the nearest dock. We had to come to the other side of the harbour as the water was deeper there. I said we have nothing to worry about, we should be able to see the boat coming across. It was only 1115 so we sat in the park and chatted. The are a retired couple who met in the British Navy, went through Africa on their 1200 Bmw bike, then shipped it across to Buenos Aires and went all the way down to Patagonia, and Ushaia, the farthest southern tip of South America. They said the wind was so heavy on the gravel road it took both of them just to keep it upright on the foot stand. Something like 90 km in 9 hours! Sure glad I stopped where I did, as I had no interest in driving another 10,000 km to ring a bell and return.
Fritz The Cat arrived at 1205 and my battery did not. Kevin gave me a push but it was so weak I turned it off and rolled it some ways, only to start it luckily again. Big Rolly (the captain) is 2 metres tall and strong as a bull. He straddled Kevin´s bike first and they heaved it up onto the catamaran. Mine was next. It stalled of course, and couldn´t start again, but we pushed it around to get it on. While everything was getting tied down, we put all our unnecessary items in the hatches and I got around to saying hi to everyone. The two Australian girls Loretta and Jane that I had teased showed a bit of uncertainty and surprise as to why I suddenly came on board, but I came out of the gates charming everyone to hide the nervousness of new meets. I apologized to Jane for taking it a bit far and we were all set.
How to sum up 5 days on the boat? I liked the experience. It was good for me, and a strengthening occurred. I felt seasick the first night (ironic considering how much I teased the girls) so I laid down at 8 pm. Got up at 245 to take my shift at the wheel and watch out for other ships in the night. Got my best sleep from 4 to 7 after I woke Sebastian up for his shift. By 8 pm the next night, we were in the San Blas Islands, an archipelago of 365 islands mostly uninhabited and straight out of a calendar or postcard. Fritz said it was one of the fastest, and easiest he´s ever done.
In a nutshell, we always had lots of food, (it missed the mark a few times) and drink (coffee with lots of grinds, tea with lots of leaves, ice water with lots of burning taste to it. It was just very simple kind of macaro
ni and cheese type fair throw it together and make it palatable. The freshly squeezed lime juice was very refreshing, and all kinds of fruits to eat whenever we liked. I was sleeping early, (I had a 57 year old spanish goldwing rider in my bed who laid in bed 2 days from seasickness) and often but the shift was I didn´t feel guilty or not good enough compared to the chatty, socializing, drinkers. I just talked when I had the chance and didn´t worry about a popularity contest. It was a real nice change.
I finished 4 books in 4 days. ´Tough guy´ (true story of a young New York mobster who finally gets caught, spends 10 years in jail and converts to Judaism), ´Love and Obstacles´, from a Serbian writer who spent his young adulthood in America while the Yugoslavian ethnic war was raging, ´Ishmael´, a talking gorilla that bridges the murderous relationship between Cain and Abel and our own fight today of trying to exterminate all life on earth that doesn´t directly serve humanity, and finally ´Bad Monkeys´ a trippy Matrix type psychological thriller of a woman acting as a double agent between good and evil forces.
I led them straight to the church on the other side that Rolly had described,
then turned around to the nearest dock. We had to come to the other side of the harbour as the water was deeper there. I said we have nothing to worry about, we should be able to see the boat coming across. It was only 1115 so we sat in the park and chatted. The are a retired couple who met in the British Navy, went through Africa on their 1200 Bmw bike, then shipped it across to Buenos Aires and went all the way down to Patagonia, and Ushaia, the farthest southern tip of South America. They said the wind was so heavy on the gravel road it took both of them just to keep it upright on the foot stand. Something like 90 km in 9 hours! Sure glad I stopped where I did, as I had no interest in driving another 10,000 km to ring a bell and return.Fritz The Cat arrived at 1205 and my battery did not. Kevin gave me a push but it was so weak I turned it off and rolled it some ways, only to start it luckily again. Big Rolly (the captain) is 2 metres tall and strong as a bull. He straddled Kevin´s bike first and they heaved it up onto the catamaran. Mine was next. It stalled of course, and couldn´t start again, but we pushed it around to get it on. While everything was getting tied down, we put all our unnecessary items in the hatches and I got around to saying hi to everyone. The two Australian girls Loretta and Jane that I had teased showed a bit of uncertainty and surprise as to why I suddenly came on board, but I came out of the gates charming everyone to hide the nervousness of new meets. I apologized to Jane for taking it a bit far and we were all set.
How to sum up 5 days on the boat? I liked the experience. It was good for me, and a strengthening occurred. I felt seasick the first night (ironic considering how much I teased the girls) so I laid down at 8 pm. Got up at 245 to take my shift at the wheel and watch out for other ships in the night. Got my best sleep from 4 to 7 after I woke Sebastian up for his shift. By 8 pm the next night, we were in the San Blas Islands, an archipelago of 365 islands mostly uninhabited and straight out of a calendar or postcard. Fritz said it was one of the fastest, and easiest he´s ever done.
In a nutshell, we always had lots of food, (it missed the mark a few times) and drink (coffee with lots of grinds, tea with lots of leaves, ice water with lots of burning taste to it. It was just very simple kind of macaro
ni and cheese type fair throw it together and make it palatable. The freshly squeezed lime juice was very refreshing, and all kinds of fruits to eat whenever we liked. I was sleeping early, (I had a 57 year old spanish goldwing rider in my bed who laid in bed 2 days from seasickness) and often but the shift was I didn´t feel guilty or not good enough compared to the chatty, socializing, drinkers. I just talked when I had the chance and didn´t worry about a popularity contest. It was a real nice change.I finished 4 books in 4 days. ´Tough guy´ (true story of a young New York mobster who finally gets caught, spends 10 years in jail and converts to Judaism), ´Love and Obstacles´, from a Serbian writer who spent his young adulthood in America while the Yugoslavian ethnic war was raging, ´Ishmael´, a talking gorilla that bridges the murderous relationship between Cain and Abel and our own fight today of trying to exterminate all life on earth that doesn´t directly serve humanity, and finally ´Bad Monkeys´ a trippy Matrix type psychological thriller of a woman acting as a double agent between good and evil forces.
Stefan, a super nice french guy, has been on a bike trip of his own lebretonstef.canalblog.com
The snorkelling was brilliant, refreshing my mind, body and spirit after initially finding it tough to breath in the mask. The life in and around the coral was just so beautiful and awe inspiring I´m tearing up now thinking this could be lost forever if we continue eating this earth up. And my nephews, or maybe even my kids or theirs in turn would not be able to marvel at this, because they had all been destroyed by an ocean that is 1 degree too warm. Hmmm.
I have on my thinking cap, and I´m angry. It seems as if I don´t waste time on fools anymore, and see my life pretty clear. It´s something to continue to work on and cultivate, this clarity. Love YOU!
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