The last few weeks of my stay in South America I spent in the Cartagena Marina. My original plan, that inspired and fueled this entire trip was to catch a sailboat from the Cartagena port to somewhere in the Carribean, the Grenadines or San Blas islands. But unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Surely there are boats leaving every week from Cartagena to Panama, but they charge money, $450 to be exact. And even though that's not that much comparatively speaking, I didn't want to be merely a passenger on a sailing boat, I wanted actual sailing experience, tiller time and adventure, i wanted to work as deck hands on a sailboat, but not get paid, i was willing to work for free just for the fun of sailing. Unfortunately, that's nowadays very, very hard to find. I tried, I tried my best, but all my attempts seemed futile or fell through, as if fate itself was preventing me to go sailing in the Carribean.
This was up until, I got lucky to meet german guy, owner of a 30 footer sailing vessel that needed crew to sail to Cancun. Needless to say that I was extremely excited to have randomly come upon this spark of luck, just when I lost all hope... The boat needed some work, among which were a main sail needing repair of reefing points, dingie outboard repair, and replacement of the windows, which were cracking and leaking due to the sun and age. So I moved to the boat and we started repairing all these issues. We were working from morning till sunset, and in the evening barbecuing on the boat's grill. Sleeping on the bench outside with a veiw of the Carribean southern sky, on a boat rocking in the waves - a really special experience, at least for me - a sailing heart. This is also when i got in direct contact with the caribbean working culture. I praise the Caribbean, and to that effect the south american way of life, they are extremely patient, chill, and in general happy people, enjoying life at a slow pace, that allows them to taste every moment, every second of their existence. This is something, the western culture has long lost, in its avarice and pursuit of money, capital and worldly possessions. We're running through our lives after imaginary goals, after perceived states in this society, being possessed by our work and incapable to stop and appreciate the time we have devoted in this life. It's a vicious circle and unfortunately our understanding of success and happiness is based on this foundation that work fulfills our lives and it actually does up until it actually becomes our lives... The south americans seem to not live by this life philosophy, it is part of their culture to fully enjoy their free time and work at their own, relatively slow, pace :) You don't immediately feel this attitude when you travel, since you don't interact with most of their working class, but once you do, it's really apparent. It mostly comes up when you need some work done quickly, because your further work depends on it, for example, and you're constantly being misled by their promises of a quick turnaround time that never comes true. This exact example came up when we were waiting for windows for the sailing boat to be cut to shape from acrylic by a small shop. The windows were supposed to be delivered on Monday evening, a good time to install them, since over night the cool temperature would allow the sealing caulk to properly solidify. They were delivered 2 days later. I'm not a fan of the "live to work" way of life which is seen more and more in the western world, but I like to get things done well and timely, and this is what's missing in the state of mind of the caribbeans. But then again, i don't know if there is a place/country that has this perfect balance between work productivity and a tranquil pace of life, allowing its enjoyment, simply because every person has its own balance and the scales are tipped on a personal level for each of us.
Over this week of living and working on the sailboat I've met tons of great people, captains from all over the world that have tens of years of sailing experience, have been all over the world, have built, lived and sailed boats...amazing people with an equally interesting way of life. It's not everyone this way of life, but it surely is an adventure. The marina in Cartagena, called Club Nautica, overlooks Bocagrande, the new part of Cartagena, resulting in one of the most breathtaking sunsets I've seen. I know i say that about every sunset, but the presence of sailing boats made these so much more special for me :)))
But in the end, fate won. A few things changed in the german captain's plans that prevented him from sailing to Cancun, and later on, even to Panama. I decided not to go against fate, since the last time i did that it resulted in me getting into a small car fender bender, and return home on a plane. Thus, unfortunately, the original reason for doing the entire trip wasn't fulfilled, but then again maybe this wasn't really a reason at all. How many times do we get involved into something for a wrong reason, or for a reason that later turns out to be completely out of place or irrelevant? What I got out of the trip was completely different from sailing the caribbean but therefore much more important because it was unknown, it taught me new things...
Besides, there's always a next winter to go sailing in the carribean...maybe next time as a captain ;)
только хотела сказать - зато будет повод вернуться ;)
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