Totally protected....this time of year, a tropical storm blows through about every three days.....the storms pass through....but, we are safe and sound. Thankfully!
We have been here three weeks now in the Bay and enjoying the tranquility. Lots of swim time.
Speaking of swimming, yesterday when we were in the water, Sonny saw a green head sticking out of the water, headed our way. When he pointed it out, of course, I swam fast to get away... while he swam over to it. He held out his hand, and it came to him. It was a bright green gecko, who was glad to get a rest. Sonny held him for a minute, then he set him free. But, he swam back to Sonny very quickly. After discussing it, we decided we did not want a gecko that big on our boat, so he set him free again. He swam away.
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Along the way, you walk down a one lane, dirt/mud road. We passed a donkey, found a bright green gekko, two pigs in the middle of the road, cows eating along the side, and when we got into the pueblo, there were people playing rummy on the roadside. |
Pigs, cows, donkeys, dogs, and kids run wild in the streets. It is all safe and there are no problems. Not sure how they know whose pigs are whose, and....whose kids are whose. ;) Some houses do not have front doors, so I am not sure how they keep the pigs out of their house, if they do.
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Almost back to our dinghy, there is a young lady, Kathy Kay, with a small vegetable tienda. We bought five bananas, five mangoes, and five avocadoes for 8,500 pesos, or about $4.25 in US. |
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The children see a "gringo" in the pueblo and start calling out "propina, propina". Some even asked for propinita, (a small tip). They are learning very young.
We made it back to Valentina, with our supplies, just in time for the afternoon rain shower.
Baru has been the most relaxing time we have had cruising. Our daily chores consist of watching the coming and going of the ulus around us and swimming in the water in the shade of the boat.
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There are five boats in the anchorage near us, and Roberto "Mister" and Carmen invited us to his huge house on the hill to celebrate July 4th. |
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We put up our US flag at the top of our mast to celebrate the day. |
We all took meat to grill and a dish to share. It was a very relaxed, nice evening together.
| The boats are: | ||
Wind Dancer
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Mis Gale
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Bicho
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Brahms
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Valentina |
Thank you Roberto and Carmen for such a fun evening.
7/6
We normally stay in the water a couple of hours a day, listening to our CD's to learn Spanish.
While here, we sure have enjoyed Roberto and Carmen. Very good friends.
It was good to see our friends in Cartagena. Getting a lot of work done on their boats. But, before long, we will all be back at the islands, enjoying the cruising life again.
Texas Night on S/V Dragonet
John and Diana invited us and Sandy and Cheri (S/V Namaste) aboard Dragonet tonight for a Texas reunion. We took a Willie Nelson CD and enjoyed TexMex and fun.
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Time to jump in and help. The character boat, Angel, does not have a motor, and after the chocosauna, he was dragging, so Sonny, the guys on S/V Blue Lizard, and Joel (S/V Brahams) help him re-set his anchor.
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| Our oven quit working while we were at
Baru, so we called a local in the cruising directory to come repair it.
After he was on the boat, and Sonny realized he did not know how to fix the stove, or have any parts, tools, etc. he escorted him back to the dock. Sonny worked the rest of the afternoon to fix the leaks, the repairman had made. Still, our oven is not working. But, thankfully, we are back to where we were, before the repairman came. I know, "We are not in Kansas, anymore".
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Then, we saw a small
submarine coming into the harbor. I noticed it went inside the stern
on this unlevel, strange shaped ship at the dock. They closed
the garage door behind it and let the water out of the ship until it was
level again. It was so interesting!
7/18
We went to the local dentist today to have Sonny's crown re-glued. It came out when we were in Baru. No appointment, just show up at his office and $50,000 later (~$25 US) we are on our way.
We hopped a bus with Boca Grande marked on the front, and rode it a while. We were not getting any closer to our destination, but....further and further away. Later, there were only two other locals on the bus....then they got off. We were the only ones on board. We were sitting in the front seat, enjoying the ride and the beautiful countryside when the driver's assistant ask us where we were going. We told him, "Boca Grande". He told us this bus was not going to Boca Grande and stopped along the side of the road out in the middle of the country. They told us we would need to get a different bus back. So, we did. Another day, another adventure.
Happy Birthday today to our son-in-law
Billy Dixon
Enjoy the day and another good year.
We are provisioning today as we plan to leave tomorrow for the islands for a while. You can contact us at our Winlink email address while we are out.
Today is the peace march for the Colombian hostages rescued recently.
Happy Birthday to our son, Garrett.
May this year be your best yet.
7/22
There are three other boats here in Baru. S/V PIP, S/V Morgan, and S/V Eventyr
We all met up at Roberto and Carmen's home for a sunset view. It started raining and lightning, but our boats were safe and sound on anchor.
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Some more boats arrived in the anchorage today, S/V Wind Dancer, M/V Tothill, S/V Blue Marine, and S/V Mikai. We all went up to Roberto and Carmen's for a potluck dinner together. |
| Beautiful sunrise with S/V Blue Marine |
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It is about a 3 mile trip to the village in Baru by dinghy, wandering through the mangroves and along the shoreline. There are a few small stores to buy supplies, but, mainly a very poor community. |
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We finally caught up with S/V Morgan. We have had so many people ask us if we have met them, and....finally, we have. And, what a joy! Dave, from Oregon, met and married beautiful Sharda in Trinidad and have been cruising on S/V Morgan the past five years together. What a fun couple. |
Today, when we were returning to our boat, a Colombian lady (Marta) and her two nieces were swimming out to meet us. They have a house on the shore near where we are anchored. They came aboard and it was so good to visit with them and show them our boat. They are having a family reunion this week and invited us to come to their home.
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This morning, Marta invited us to join them for breakfast. We talked with them yesterday and her husband is a neurosurgeon in Cartagena. I told him I had seen neurosurgeons in the US and in Guatemala City for my neck and he asked to see my MRI's, if I had them on board. So, we took them in for him to review. It is comforting to know good physicians are nearby, wherever you go. |
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Sonny hit it off with Marta's father and uncle, who speak only Spanish. Her father just kept saying, "I envy you" in Spanish.....He is a retired architect and lives in Panama City. We plan to go see him on our next trip to Panama City.
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| The Colombian families are | |||
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and very full of life. | ||
| We have sure enjoyed them! | |||
Two more boats arrived, S/V Second Wind and S/V Knotts Gypsy, so we gave them the dinghy tour to Baru.
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And, S/V Brick House arrived this afternoon. We have talked to Rebecca and Patrick on the SSB radio, but finally get to meet them. They are from Rhode Island and left 10 months ago. They are on the fast track, already in Colombia. They plan to go through the canal and do a circumnavigation.
I did some sewing while they were out fishing. I put patches on the seats we use in the cockpit.
We went over to S/V Morgan tonight, along with Doug and Linda on S/V Que Linda! to play Mexican train. The guys beat the girls tonight.
This local comes by your boat in his canoe selling beads.
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"A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work"
Author Unknown