Friday, March 10, 2006

In the morning I saw buildings through the window. Buildings! It was over. We went up on deck and saw Cartagena all around us. Everyone was in a flurry of excitement to get off the boat. Alas, it was not to be. We were not yet allowed to leave the boat; we had to wait for the captain and his girlfriend to go ashore in the dinghy and process our passports. They were gone a long time and it got hotter and hotter, though it was still morning.

When they got back a few hours later, the captain told us we had to wait for immigration to show up at 2:30 before we could take our things ashore or go get a room. But we could wait in the yacht club, sans backpacks, and walk up to the ATM and get cash, and there was a supermarket, and Internet access. I put on shoes for the first time in the past five days.

At the yacht club after getting massive amounts of pesos from the ATM (it's 2500 Colombian pesos to the dollar - yikes), Michael and I tried to get menus, and ended up with plates of food. Because if you want a menu in Colombia, you need to ask for a carta. If you ask for a menu, you'll get the menu del dia. Luckily the menu del dia is usually the cheapest option. And luckily it was decent food too, though I wasn't too picky after forty hours of nothing but a couple of granola bars. But the best part was the juice that came with the menu, Jugo de maracuya, aka passionfruit juice. Yum.

Some guy named Manfred waited with us for the immigration officials. Apparently he was some kind of official go-between, but to be honest, I wasn't really paying attention to anything besides my jugo de maracuya. I was tired and wanted a shower and I just kind of went with whatever was happening and hoped that it would all turn out ok. The only thing I noticed was that when Michael asked Manfred if he liked it here, Manfred said, "NO."

But everything worked out. Immigration showed up, we got our stamps, some of the guys went back to the sailboat and brought our packs back in the dinghy and then we all got into taxis. Except for Martin, who felt up to trying to take the bus.

The group made plans to meet up and have dinner together tonight. Most of us are staying at the same two places in the Getsemani area. Michael and I are at the Holiday Hotel. We first tried the Doral, across the street, but it didn't work out. The guy showed us a room and we liked it ok, but I asked if he had a room with more light. I don't usually bother about stuff like that, but after all that time below deck in the sailboat I felt I needed direct sunlight.

He didn't want to give us the room next door, possibly because it had four beds in it, while the one he was offering had three. That's fair enough, but then he tried to show me that the room he wanted to give us, tucked away under the stairs, had as much light as the one in the middle of the courtyard. "Mira," he said. And explained in words and gestures how the sun rises and moves across the sky, thereby lighting up all rooms in turn. I was like, did this guy just explain to me that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west? Buddy, this room is under the stairs. Who cares where the sun rises?

I was going to give in and take the room, but Michael insisted we leave. "This is me knowing you," he said. And I wouldn't admit it at first, but he was right. I would have been irritated every time I passed by that guy, with his "mira, the Earth is round" business. So we went across the street to the Holiday Hotel, and it turned out the bulk of our group is over there, so that's nice. And we got to take a shower! Oh, bliss. It was cold water, but the warm kind of cold, not the cold kind.

At 6:45, we all met up and went out to a restaurant called Los Pelikanos, chosen because they offer four-course meals with all-you-can-drink wine. Upon arrival we discovered that the wine actually is "all you can drink until the main course is over."

"Everyone eat slowly," admonished Dean, aka "the funny Irish guy." The food was good, though I'm glad I did not choose the salchichas en jugo de naranja as one of my two appetizers. Hot dogs in orange juice? Those who did order it (why??) said it was good, but I'm not much of a hot dog fan.

We were missing three people. The captain and his girlfriend couldn't make it. Probably they were still in shock over what we did to their boat. Martin came to the restaurant with us but when he saw the menu he decided it was too expensive. But it was still a large, noisy group, the kind that makes other diners wish they'd gone elsewhere. It was a lot of fun.

Man, it's amazing how soppy you can feel about a bunch of people when you almost die with them (ok, when you mistakenly think you're almost going to maybe die) and then follow that up by going out and consuming all-you-can-drink wine with them. But it was a good group to start out with. What a trip. What an experience. Thanks, guys!

HOURS ON A SAILBOAT (traveling): 64

HOURS ON A SAILBOAT (total): 96

 

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Cartagena, Colombia!

On the sailboat.

On the sailboat.

On the sailboat.

On the sailboat.

Front to back, left to right: Suzanne, Rich, Sam, Emily, Paul, Albin, Me, Martin, James, Dean, Sepi, Peter, Jeremy, Michael.