Falling in love...

...This is what I did.

Instantly.

Falling in love with a city.

Cartagena is a place where I know I want to go back and live for a while : three months, six months...I know I'll do it some day.

It is not the first colonial city I visit : Oaxaca, San Cristobal de las Casas, Antigua, Granada, Suchitoto...Some are better known thant the others, some are more touristy....I loved all of them but I felt something different here : the atmosphere is different.

An atmosphere that blends the Latino, the Caribbean and, yes, the European influences... A fortunate thing in my mind as sometimes, I had the feeling in Panama to be in some kind of  extension of the US...

I love the city, I love the people, I love the feel,

Exuberant, vibrant, refined Cartagena.

A place where the heat is so heavy that visions can condense from thin air and become as thick as reality...I begin to better understand Latino american literature...

Unfortunately, no pictures : my camera decided it wasn't waterproof anymore somewhere in the San Blas (when it was under water; it could not have happened anywhere else)

A good reason enough to come back....

 

Smooth sailing...not so ;)

Smooth sailing?

At first, it looked like it : Iron had been told to bring me at an island nearby el Porvenir by 8 AM on Sunday, and he did bring me there by 8 am, and even in advance...For those who know these parts, you will admit that it is no little feast to manage to have two boats who don't have direct means of communication with each others, who don't know each other and who don't come at all from the same place meet on the shore of a tiny island among thousands of tiny islands, at the given time...It boded well...

Then, the Esmeralda looked so pretty to me with its dark green coque, it sails still wrapped...

And it was breakfast time on the deck, and a good opportunity to meet the crew :  Olivier (well "Olliver" as much as I am "Cecilia" when travelling : neither the Spanish nor the English-speaking ones seem to be able to pick up on French names), and my fellow-passengers : Karen , Jeff and Rose and Benjamin; a small boat, a small number of passengers, a confortable place inside, sun, and good coffee...

The first 2 days where spent in the San Blas, snorkelling, doing nothing (again), sunbathing, reading (I took advantage of the French-speaking small stock of books to read some old but interesting stuff from Joel de Ronay : made me think; cybernetics complex systems studies might prove fecund in ideas that could be translated in coaching and change management)....

Then, we sailed on the open see in order to reach Cartagena (Colombia).

Smooth sailing?

Well, reader, be ready for a very shocking truth : I might prove a good sailor with time (I truly enjoyed being on the boat, even the motion, and I would have jumped and walked around much faster if Ollivier wouldn't have kept  reminding me : "hold on to something", "don't walk too fast", ...in a way, I was not enough fearful)...Yes I might prove a good sailor with time...but for my stomach.

In two day's time, I was able to keep only one very small meal : as soon as I was back inside the boat, heading for my berth (in the prow), the conjonction of motion and dark (pfff, THAT pissed me off : not being able to stand the dark for a caver! But this was moving dark, when I'm used to a nice, steady fixed dark, me) were enough to send me shooting out on the deck and "send a postcard to Neptune" as Olivier puts it, even if it was just with three sips of water...

The "funny" part of the whole thing is that I didn't feel sick at all most of the time (I'm grateful of it, on second thought). It was just the two minutes before throwing away and the few minutes after that weren't that pleasant...But for that, I felt really well.

And I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

I read, thought, began to write on the first day (oh yes, I have now the beginning of my two last short stories : NAC is at 10 pages or so of completion)...

And then I experienced a wonderful feeling with the loss of all fixed point on which to focus, my mind slowing down, becoming very quiet, existing in the moment...The feeling of leaving an old me, old worries behind me in the wake of the water, of a page being turned, leaving central America to enter a new continent...And the sheer pleasure that could arise by the simple unexpected sight of a group of dolphins frolicking beside us, and swimming for a while with the Esmeralda. And the beauty of the moon, of the stars of the clouds on my watch the second night..

And we finally arrived on the 22nd, the late morning : my flight was at 3PM...

Smooth sailing?

Yes, Victor, I would have theoretically had had the time to jump in a taxi...but for one thing : customs and immigration. And arriving by boat make things more complicated than on a flight : Olivier had to call his agent and have him deal with the all set of passports and the boat's papers in one pack...which was returned at only 6PM...

Therefore, warning for all those who want to do the same trip : you need to make allowances for these...

And me, I spent a few hours in a cybercafe, trying to

1. change my flight for another with the same airlines;
2. redeem miles when this failed, and
3. finally buy a full price ticket for the next day, while dealing with a heart that was running fast ....grrrr,

And I would add that Olivier was really concerned and attentive, booking for me a room at the same hotel as the others when seeing I'd have to spend the night in Cartagena, staying in the background waiting to be sure that I was ok and able to continue my trip, taking care of my bigger backpack (well not that big but the bigger of the 2), fetching me a taxi while I was buying some stuff to eat and try and do away with the fainting fit.

Yes, truly attentive, may he be thanked for his support.

That was the last stroke to an exhausted credit card and I must owe that the next months will be spent with a tightened belt . :)

But I had a flight booked for the next evening and 24h to spend as I liked in Cartagena (the good news)....

13. A -not so- desert island

Where did I leave you? If I remember well, it was on Monday evening nearly two weeks ago in the heat of Panama City. The staff at Mamallena had tried to arrange for a boat for me but 2 of them had cancelled or delayed their departure...

Then, inopinately, a third one appeared on their radar : the Golden Eagle.

From what I saw on the internet of the sloop and the commendation I heard of the captain afterwards, I will harbour some regrets that he too cancelled at the last minute because of some engine problems. And to me, it was litteraly at the last minute : I was due to leave the next morning at 5AM for the San Blas Islands where they had arranged my stay for a few days at cabana iron...

Another of these perfect places, far from everything; no internet and no cell phone as regards myself (my cell phone did not work in Panama, the unique place where this ever happened).

Some thinking and talking with Victor later, I decided that I would go to the San Blas and that if Victor would hear of a boat leaving in time for my getting my flight in Cartagena, he would call Iron. otherwise, I would go back to Panama city in time and change my flight.

I went to the San Blas. To be completely frank, I was a bit pissed off during the first hour to discover that Iron shared the small island with two others owners of the same type of small hotel/hostel/campsite composed of bamboo walls/tatched roof cabanas. But some observing and counting later, I acknowledged that altogether, the three places being so small and not filled up, there weren't that many people in total (at Iron"s, the biggest number we ever were was 6 and I was even on my own for half a day).

And there, I spent 5 days in oblivion : doing nothing and doing it well.

And a phone call came : Victor, telling me there WAS a boat, leaving Puerto Lindo on the 17th, able to pick me up on the 18th.

I was a bit scared : would I be in time to catch my flight on the 22nd? I asked twice : "no problem,I'd arrive on the 21st in the evening or the 22nd in the morning and I would be able to maket it".

And this is how on the 18, I met the Esmeralda and her captain, Olivier nearby El Porvenir...

By the way, if you ever go to the San Blas, I really recommend Iron's place to those who look for this kind of rustic accomodation : the place was well kept, the food good (I never ate so much fish in my life), the price reasonable (45$/day for a private cabana in single occupancy + 3 meals a day and some tour). But most of all, Iron is extremely serviceable, kind and desirous to help... A really good experience.

Here are more pictures.

Et oui, ça fait longtemps que je n'ai pas compléter ce bolg : plus de deux semaines. Si je me souviens bien, je vous ai laissé à Panama où je suis revenue après les quelques jours passés à Boquete. Retour au Mamallena d'où j'ai essay d'organiser la suite du voyage : le plan étant de passer quelques jours dans les San Blas sur une île déserte coté Caraibes et de là reprendre un bateau faisant le trajet Panama/Cartagene (Colombie) d'où je devais m'envoler le 22 pour New York...

Pas super simple à organiser : "oui, deux bâteaux partaient le 15"....Et finalement, ils ont tous les deux annuler ou reporter. Puis un troisi§me est apparu  le 12 : oui le Golden Eagle partait le 15 et c'est un beau sloop tout confort avec un bon capitaine"....Ok, je saute sur l'occasion, réserve, paye un accompte et dans la foulé réserve mon départ pour le 14 au matin pour les San Blas sur une petite île, l'hotel s'appelant "cabanas iron"du nom du propriétaire avec déart pour celles-ci le 14 à 5h dyu mat.

Et puis, catastrophe, le 13 au soir, contrordre : pas de départ pour le Golden Eagle qui a un probème de moteur. Zut alors! Que faire?

Quelques moments de réflexion et de discussion avec Victor et on décide de maintenir mon départ le lendemain matin : si Victor entend parler d'un bateau partant à temps pour moi, il en avertira Iron, sinon, je reviendrai à temps à Panama City pour changer mon vol...

Et donc; j'ai passé cinq jours hors du temps, complètement déconnectée (je ne savais même pas pour le nuage de poussières volcaniques).

Cinq jours à ne rien faire et à le faire bien...

Et puis, un appel est venu : oui, un bateau partai, le 17 de Puerto Lindo, capable de me prendre le 18 au passage. Questions angoissées à Victor : ce ne serait pas trop tard? Non, non m'assura-t-il...Et c'est comme ça que je fis connaissance de l'Esmeralda et de son capitaine, Olivier ...mais ça c'est pour l'épisode suivant :-)

A propos, si vous allez aux san Blas et que vous cherchez ce genre de "cabana" rustique (c'est pas un 5 étoiles), le recommande Iron's : c'est propre, bien tenu, la nourriture est bonne, le prix raisonnable (45$ par jour pour une cabana en occupation simple, les trois repas, des excurisons, e matériel de snorkelling...) mais surtout Iron est quelqu'un de vraiment gentil et désireux de vous aider....

Pour plus de photos : c'est de nouveau ici.