February 2007
 



Sunday, February 3

Indianapolis Colts win The Super Bowl

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10-24.686N
075-32.656W

Still Docked
Club de Pesca
Cartagena de Indias
Colombia

Thursday, February 22

A SPECIAL EVENT

CARNAVAL



Four days, every year, millions in selected cities have fun.  Their towns shut down, their spirits soar, inhibitions are put aside.

The famous carnaval cities are Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, most of the island of Trinidad, Venice, Italy, and New Orleans.  (A most special carnaval is in Oruro, Bolivia, where, years ago, our son Chico found himself leading a comparsa.)  Thousands of small towns do the same.  And one town near us, Barranquilla.

With the exceptions of Mardi Gras and Fantasy Fest in Key West, we are unaware of any celebration comparable to Carnaval.  The 500 Festival Parade, The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl parades, Fourth of July parades, all are fun, in a sense.  They are fun to watch.  Entertaining for a two to four hours.  But they are not as fun as a carnaval parade.  They are relatively stilted.  Spectators buy seats to sit and watch.  Participants ride floats, play instruments, or walk down the streets. In contrast, Carnaval participants are massive numbers of  amateurs, perhaps 50,000 in Barranquilla, who work all year to learn a dance routine and to prepare costumes, all personally financed, at costs up to $1,000 each or more.  They look terrific in their body clothing, head dresses and make up.  They act proud and precise.  They smile and cater to the crowds.  They dance, play clowns, leap acrobatically, usually moving together in comparsas that compete for prizes.  At the same time, spectators are themselves participants.  They arrive at their viewing stand seats with noise makers, rum, and free spirits.  They make friends with everyone around them.  During pauses in the parade, private bands in each viewing stand perform, keeping everyone moving, laughing, caring. Barranquilla has a unique feature.  Spectators purchase aerosol cans of "spuma," a soap like substance that clings to the body, like a tough and resilient bubble bath.  Some people buy dozens of these, spraying any nearby target, including the tall Gringo who was uncomfortable but accepting, who wanted to feel the freedom, but who could not quite do it.

We made a late decision to go to Carnaval, thereby missing the first night, and winding up at the worst hotel we have known.  The second day, for us, a Monday, we moved to El Hotel del Prado, which reminded us of the large hotel on Mackinaw Island, or the old Hotel (now a casino) in French Lick.  We remained through Tuesday, seeing complete parades on Monday and Tuesday, but without enough energy to see La Festival de Orchestas, except on television.  We also missed the Friday and Saturday evening private parties at the hotel, and at other places around town.

El Tiempo, the newspaper from Bogota, printed color pictures of Barranquilla, and of the Carnaval in Rio, planting a seed that might grow to a visit to Rio this time next year.

By the way, John and Chichi were famous.  We were interviewed by Channel 7, and we appeared about twenty second on the Tuesday evening special report.


Wednesday, February 14
Valentines Day

Thanks to new ideas from Chichi, and the skills of William Martinez, we have a new bimini with side awnings, new isinglass that we can see through, and new canvas down the hard dodger.  It looks good, but a point of anxiety is whether we used the correct thread, which is specialized UV resistant thread.  If we did not, things will start to fall apart in about a year.  Thanks to the hard labor and skill of Manuel, our toe rails and stern seats have new coats of Cetol and Cetol Marine Gloss.  He also put a coat of varnish on decorative rails.  (The fellow's smile and good will are extraordinary.)

The Cartagena Naval Museum displays models of historic battles, as well as hand made small replicas of ships, including The Bounty and The Cutty Sark.  Across the plaza is the office of The International Film Festival of Cartagena which will show some 30 films from 15 nations, including one from Bolivia, Chichi's home.  Gabriel Garcia Marquez was to join the festival, but the paper today said that he has canceled.   His book, "Love in the Time of Cholera," was being filmed here in December.  It should be released late this year.  The festival starts March 2.

Friends Susan and Gary aboard s-v Pacifico left Sunday for The San Blas islands.  We first met them in Bocas del Toro.  The relationship clicked.  Their friends, Cheryl and Ron, came here a few days earlier to join them for a month.  This morning, the grapevine says that they lost either a propeller or a gear box.  We are waiting for more details.

Friend Marty, who married Selina in Panama City, with John and Chichi as witnesses, had hip replacement surgery this week.  The hospital is clean and friendly, better than we expected.  When we visit a town, we like to identify the best hospital, just in case.

On February 4, John tried his debit card, only to learn it had expired Jan 31.  Next we learned that the new cards, mailed January 22, were lost in the mail in the states.  So, we have no money, and await anxiously the arrival of a DHL package with the replacement cards. In this case, the service of our otherwise excellent brokerage firm stunk.  The old organizations are bound by so many bureaucratic procedures that they cannot respond well to emergencies.

While walking down Boca Grande in El Centro Comercial, we found an office that teaches how to use computers.  Ten minutes later, Chichi signed up, and she was in the first class twenty minutes later.  It runs all week.  The first day was fine, but after 2 1/2 hours the second day, her mind was flooded beyond capacity.  Too many Windows.  Still, a fine opportunity.  Tomorrow, she will work in the emerald store of ex pat Lee Miles, helping to sell jewelry to travelers from a cruise ship.

Our thoughts for the future are coming together, the latest plan being to stay in this area, around 10 degrees north, through the huricane season.  This means that we would leave Pachamama at Shelter Bay near Colon, or Bocas del Toro, or perhaps back here in Cartagena, following another trip through The San Blas starting in April.  We want to be home in early July to prepare for Laura's wedding shower (July 14), and wedding (September 15).  An earlier plan had been to sail to the states this season, and to aggressively advertise the boat for sale.  A few minutes after we put the "for sale" sign on the stern, we took it off.  This place means too much to us.  We do not know how we might respond to an offer.