Sitting and Waiting - for a window

A weather window to be precise. This next leg of our journey east to Trinidad is about 450 miles along the Columbian coast to Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire (off Venezuela). We would love to go direct from here to Bonaire, taking about 3 days (and nights). But it is unlikely the weather will hold long enough for us to do this. The prevailing currents and winds are against us and this is a notoriusly windy and stormy area. Squalls and thunderstorm are predicted pretty continuosly. So it's a little nerve wracking waiting.
Meanwhile we've had workers swarming over the boat. Scott and they have fixed the generator, the air conditioning, the ice maker, and the shore power relay. He's been searching out boat parts to accomplish that. We hired a young man to clean and polish the stainless steel and fiberglass. He's on his third day ($25 a day).
I've been cleaning the inside of the boat; washing down all the inside surfaces to get rid of mold and dirt. And then there is shopping at the supermarket and the public market, followed by repackaging, pre cooking, stowing and inventorying.
Every morning we walk for an hour or more around the old city. There had been a happy hour evening and pot luck here at the marina with the whole cruising community showing up. We've met a lot of new friends and seen many old ones.
So waiting around isn't boring - or scary, but we're still hoping to take off soon and get this section of our trip over and done with!

Cruising is a study in Contrasts

Actually our life is split into two very different lifestyles; home in the US with our family, friends and now our new community of Shrewsbury, Vermont and our cruising life aboard "Scott Free" with a different group of friends and community. This later existence provides a much wider scale of certain experiences - in particular recently is frantic activity/pain/fear vs boredom/pleasure/comfort. Our first two weeks back to the boat, "on the hard" at Shelter Bay Marina,
Colon, Panama we had both ends of the scale. When the boat is up on stilts in the boatyard the plumbing doesn't work - think back to chamber pots! It's the rainy season and the boat is covered with canvas so there's little light below and WOW, is it hot! Plus of course the boat is filthy. Frantic activity and pain are the dominent feelings for several days. Once in the water however the cover comes off, the breezes blow and the toilet is usable - heaven, comparatively. The manager of the marina, Bruce and his wife April, live with their children and their pet sloth (see here) on their boat "Chewbacca". They really helped us out with boat projects and in two weeks we were ready to head east. We took off in with thunder storms on all sides to motor towards the San Blas islands: the next day and twenty miles from our destination the engine stopped. There was very little wind and we were not far from the coast so immediately the pit of my stomach tightened up. There had been storms with thunder and lightning off in the distance for two days and one was
approaching. Scott started working in the engine room and I watched the wind indicator start moving up. Soon we were in 20+ knots of wind and pouring rain. Happily Scott changed a fuel filter and got the engine working but it stopped twice more. Changing fuel tanks (we have 2) seemed to help but we didn't know why. The "bad" tank had more fuel than the good one and we didn't fill up in Panama as it was cheaper in Cartageña. So now I'm also worried about running out of fuel before we reach there (Scott doesn't worry; he gets frustrated). We managed to get into Porvenir, an administrative location for the Kuna, and get our paper work done just before it closed for the day.

We are on a "schedule" unfortunately. We need to be in Trinidad by Nov. 18 and that is 1,000 miles away from Colon, Panama. We stupidly bought round trip plane tickets from there. As we go 6 miles/per hour at the best, that is a lot of traveling. And then, of course, we got a later start from the marina than hoped. Everyone thinks we are crazy as this is a notoriously difficult passage, against prevailing winds and currents (and of course along the coasts of Columbia and Venezuela).
The next day the engine stopped several more times. Now, except for the squalls, there is little to no wind right now. This makes it possible for us to make this trip - but you have to have an engine! Scott got it started each time but only for a while. We managed to get into the Coco Bandares islands (through a narrow reef entrance - I was holding my breath) and they are as close to paradise as you can get out - think Bali Hai. This is the pleasure/comfort end of the experience and it IS definitely heightened by the anxiety experienced earlier. If you enlarge the picture of me after a lovely swim you'll still see the worried look.

The next day we swam, snorkeled etc. and Scott spent time cleaning, tightening and changing oil filters. So we set to out sea the next morning early for Columbia - two full days and a night away. Twenty five miles out and three stops later we turned around and returned back to our anchorage. Fifty miles with no gain and a lot of anxiety (me) and annoyance (Scott).
The next day he spent hours going over the entire fuel/air system, found a broken hose clamp and declared the problem solved. Happily for us, not long after that a Kuna man in a dugout brought over some crabs for sale. They are huge and we bought just one as we had a lot of fresh fish on board. Scott caught two more earlier out to sea. We cooked it and picked off quite a bit of meat which I combined with some heavy cream and green onions to put over the fish. Wow! That made us forget the engine for awhile.

We were off again the next morning. This time, after more problems, I suggested we head towards the nearest mechanic. Much to Scott's frustration this was going back towards Colon. But the engine continued to quit and he aknowledged it was the best decision. We managed again to anchor near the "Swimming Pool" in the Eastern Holandes islands and he made a VHF call out for help. Several people called to talk and make suggestions. One of them really sounded promising, cleaning out the fuel hoses with compressed air from our air tank. After accomplishing this difficult task, he declared victory again. We would be running some tests tomorrow. The anxiety in the pit of my stomach continued however, although the pot luck on BBQ island that night temporarily shut it down!)


But this time it worked! It took 100 miles before I really relaxed - it didn't last long! Our first day the weather was perfect - flat seas, a gentle breeze and sunny skies. There were a lot of tall clouds way off in the distance. Well at 10PM that night we entered them - all night long we traveled through a series of squalls and the seas built and built. Think of being in a washing machine, in the dark, in the pouring rain with wind in the 20's, gusting to the 30's. One of us is glued to the radar trying to see little dots that indicate other boats out there as there's no visability outside and the other is in the cockpit hanging on for dear life.
Meanwhile we found out just how poorly we had stowed things away! Bottles, dishes etc. crashed into each other in the shelves and a lot of things hit the floor. Scott saw the computer sliding off the table and managed to slide underneath it - saved! We were however extremely lucky that none of the exciting lightning bolts came near us. Other people have not been so lucky out here - several have been hit and have every piece of hardware fried on the boat. This is not only expensive and time consuming but makes it hard to find shore!

It was a long and sleepless night for both of us and as dawn approached, the storm abated and eventually the seas started to calm down. By noon the sun came out and we could start to put the boat back together. We had several "hitchhikers" during the night - two tiny birds, one shown here, huddled below decks at times and found respite from the storm. The last despite finding a moth to eat and some fresh water to drink succombed to exhaustion and we found him lifeless on the bunkroom floor.

Our engine was fabulous thank goodness and we made very good time on the crossing. By early afternoon we realized that we could make it all the way to Cartagena. The grand entrance to the harbor, guarded by twin Colonial forts with the Columbian flag waving proudly over them, looked wonderful to us. And then to make our joy complete, our old friend John, manager of the Club Nautico marina, was able to find a berth for us (that evidently had been promised to others we heard later).


Now this is the other side of the contrast - the opposite of activity/fear/pain and it is bliss. At 5:30PM we were tied up tight to the dock, in the cockpit drinking gin & tonics, followed quickly by great leftovers and then into the flat, soft, dry (I managed to drum up the energy to change the sheets) bed in the quiet boat. We slept for 11 hours straight!

Still Alive in Peru

Our entire trip to Peru has now been reorganized so that it flows from the beginning to the end! This first entry is a general intro, the rest follow chronologically. Only the first 10 entries appear when you check into the blog, but if you click on the month of June, you'll get the entire trip.





What was I thinking? I knew that we were spending 16 days trekking in the Andes. I knew we'd be hiking 6 - 8 hours a day from 10k to 16k feet. Our friends Walt and Honoree had emailed us that they were running 6 miles a day and were at their optimum weight. "How were we doing?", they asked. NOT GOOD! was the answer. We had walked 3 - 5 miles a day in Cartagena, but the last month we spent in the islands off Columbia and Panama swimming and kyacking - and that's it, and at sea level.

Well I paid for this ommission in spades. Scott has never had any problem walking up mountains. His lung capacity is amazing - mine is horrible. I'm as slow as molasses at home walking up 6,000 ft. mountains. Basically for many hours each day I felt like I was in hard birthing labor - the breathing is the same for me. Breathe in, step; breathe out, step - legs exhausted and wobbley. Only will power and too many stops for rest kept me going. But we all made it in the end.


It was one of the hardest things I've ever done and one of the most memorable. We look forward to coming back and trekking again with Peruvian Andes Adventures! I can't say enough good things about this organization. See for yourself...go! (www.peruvianandes.com) Eli, our guide, and the rest of our crew were amazing, as you'll see if you read the details of our trip which follow.

Our reservations for this trip were made last fall, along with those for the Inca Trail (with SAS) and the train to Huancayo (with Incas de Peru). Other than that we winged it.
We flew to Lima on May 1 and met Honoree and Walt on the next day. On the 3rd we took a 8 hour bus to Huaraz and were met by Esau Morales from Peruvian Andes
Adventures. We stayed at the Morales Family Guesthouse (very comfortable and attractive!) for four nights while we did 3 day hikes to acclimitize.
Our first day we were off early that morning and WOW realization hit. This was an easy day, supposedly. I thought, "They're going to tell me I can't go!"

The next morning I asked Eli Morales, our guide, and his brother how I had done the day before. They laughed and said, "Today is the test!" Shit! It sure was. We hiked up to a hill above Huaraz of 14,500 feet in three hours of very steep rough climbing. Several times I thought I couldn´t go on, but Scott encouraged me. At the top I took Eli aside and asked him, ¨Do you think I can go on the trip?¨ He looked at me like I was crazy. ¨You - you´ll be fine.¨ It turns out that we made it to the top in normal time and down in even better.
The down affects people differently. Three or more hours steeply downhill is exhausting on the legs, especially the knees - but at least I could breathe. Years of skiing has strengthened Scott´s and my knees.

Our last day hike was 7 more hours of way up and way down with, at least for me, a fun breather doing some rock climbing, with ropes to help. That´s Walt here coming up the rope with Eli behind him.

The lake at the top was amazing. We had a father and daughter from the Dolmonite region of Italy with us this day. They didn't speak Italian! Their native language is Ladino and they also spoke English, Spanish and German.
The fourth day was the start of our trek. There were five of us clients, Geoff Spedding from British Columbia joined the four of us. Our team was composed of Eli Morales our guide, Roger, the.

¨sweep¨, Myoume Morales, our cook and Eli's sister, and her assistant, three donkey drivers and around 15 donkeys to start. We had a dining tent, a kitchen tent, three tents for the clients and three tents for the support team. Oh, and a toilet tent of course, which surrounded a deep hole in the ground, dug freshly at each location.

Our trek lasted 13 days and we crossed at least one pass each day, three were close to 16,000 feet and two were in snow. The people we met were equally
important to our enjoyment of the trip, especially the children. We brought candy, pens and notebooks with us to pass out to the children in the high mountains. We were kid magnets!

Walt and Honoree had a wedding anniversery on our trip and we had a terrific celebratory dinner. Myoume (that is her far right above

toasting our happy couple with Roger and Marcello) outdid herself, making a beautiful orange cake, decorated and with a candle! The dining tent was adorned with ballons and the meal was as always outstanding. We had a toast with wine too! Scott and I surprised them with a tapestry we had bought at the market.

After we returned from our hike we felt teary leaving these wonderful friends with whom we had shared such an amazing experiences. Additional entries follow with more details and pictures. But we, after this trek, were off again, back to Lima and then to many other places in Peru. Check out my further entries!

Trekking around the Alpamayo - Part I

After three days of day hiking we really enjoyed our first day of the trek - driving down the valley and up a long narrow dirt road to our first campsite - no hiking! That's Esau Morales with his dog saying goodbye to us. That's Marcello our assistant cook behind him and Roger, our "sweep" on the right. In the group picture from left to right that's Roger, Myoume, me, Ali, Honoree, Walt, Geoff and Scott with Marcello kneeling in front. We made several stops on the way. Our first was the memorial park for the town of Yungay where in May, 1970 14,000 people were buried by a landslide set off by an earthquake. A group of children and their teacher were visiting a mausoleum built on
artificial hill near the town when it happened. They watched while their homes and families were inundated. Now a beautiful park lovingly tended with thousands of flowers covers the remains. The facade of a church was erected with views of the mountains at the end.

Nearby we stopped by the side of the road for lunch. Myoume is a talented chef that can prepare terrific meals anywhere. Despite the continuous nausea I'd been experiencing for days, her lunch tempted me. Fresh trout with carrots, onions and herbs, and brocolli.

Next was a stop at the local market in Sucre where we found some local tapestry to put away for Honoree and Walt's wedding anniversery later in the trip and Honoree found a terrific hat which she wore for the rest of the trek (on her head in the picture, third from left).
Our first campsite was at the end of a very long dirt road and the site of a small village. Every child in the vicinity hung around us until dark. Honoree was the ringleader. She had us and the kids singing songs - no mean achievement!


The next morning we started out early - six hours up an endless series of switchbacks. For the first four hours it was discouraging as we could see our campsite below for what seemed like forever. Up above we saw the waterfall we would cross and then the distant pasture with trees where we would have lunch. Today we had chicken vegetable pasta salad - delicious and healthy. Hot tea is served with every meal, even on the trail.

With two more hours of hiking ahead I settled into plodding along, head down. Joyfully we reached our campsite earlier than expected and the gaily colored tents are a wonderful sight. It was a beautiful spot with endless views of the mountains and it was a lovely sunny day. It was the first and last time we were able to sit outside and read before dinner.
It was always too cold or too late from then on. Dinner was terrific but I was still having problems eating. Eli didn't feel it was altitude sickness so Scott diagnosed side effects from the altitude medecine and my blood pressure pills. So I stopped taking both for 24 hours and I felt much better. Then I resumed my normal blood pressure prescriptions and all was well.

Trekking around the Alpamayo Part II

The next day was a very long one and we were on the trail at 7:30. We had two passes to cross, both close to 16,000 feet and a long distance to walk. We passed two beautiful lakes on the way up to Osoruri Pass, 4860 meters. We were all feeling the altitude and huffing and puffing up the slope for two and a half hours.

There were patches of snow all around us as we crossed and started down the steep slope, another two hours to lunch.
That lunch was as usual excellent but we still had another four to five hours to go, Eli took me aside and suggested I ride the horse for a half hour up the last section of the next uphill to "save my strength".

I was by far the slowest member of the group. I knew he was worried about getting into camp before dark that day and was relieved to not be holding everyone back. Did I mention the horse? Our sweep "Roger" leads him by a rope last in our parade in case of an emergency. It was wonderful to be sitting as we climbed the trail but very scary too. Roger led the horse and Marcello followed.

At the top of Vientunan, 4770 meters, Roger returned back in case anyone else needed a ride and Marcello and I started down the 3,000 feet to the valley. Once there we had another hour only gradually uphill to our campsite. What a relief to see the tents ahead!


After a brief cup of tea, as we would many days to come, we all stumbled into our tents, crawled into our sleeping bags and rested/warmed up until dinner. Two of the five chicken that started the trip with us bit the dust this day and featured in our dinner menu. The others huddled around our feet - for safety or warmth?
A special treat before dinner - hot mulled wine! We request a change in schedule from Eli and he acquiesced quickly. Instead of hiking in the morning and having the afternoon off, we would have a morning off and hike after lunch! And it's only a 3 hour hike. What a relief to sleep in! AND the following day was a rest day! Luxurious! Geoff and I played gin in the mess tent after breakfast (bottom right).

The weather the next day was rather miserable, cold and raining. We had hail on the way down the day before too. Unfortunately it continued the whole rest day but we do get lots of rest and we could have been hiking in it!
The morning of day six we wake up to brilliant sunshine and an incredible view of the Alpamayo peak (that's it's distinctive pyramid shape on the left). It's another long day ahead, but we all feel great. To read more, go on to my next entry.

Trekking around the Alpamayo - Part III

There was another long day ahead of us but we were all pumped up for it. Although it was quite cold, the sun was shining and the mountains glistening. The Alpamayo summit (5947 meters) is a white pyramid from this direction and stunning. We also got a clear view of Quintaraju (6036 meters). Our first task was to cross the river close by, made more difficult by the state of the old wooden bridge.

From our campsite at 4200 meters we climbed to the Gara Gara Pass at 4830, a three hour uphill, the last hour in the snow. I followed Geoff who was following Eli, stepping into his footprints, dug into the snow, one breath in, step, then one breath out, step. The donkeys passed us near the top but they were really struggling.
At the top we could see the Santa Cruz peaks, the highest of which is 6241 meters. Looking back we got our last glimpse of the Alpamayo summit with the lovely lake above our last campsite. We sat in the snow for awhile to rest but not for long. Soon we were heading steeply down the other side for another
hour, for some time again in the snow. The last picture below shows Honoree and Walt far in the distance on the trail.
When finally out of the snow we stopped for a break and snack but it was yet another hour before we saw Myoume waiting for us in a sunny grassy spot with our much
anticipated lunch. That afternoon we had a fairly level going for an hour, then a half hour up followed by another hour steeply down. Our legs were really wobbley for that last bit. One exciting event was seeing a pair of condors gliding over the ridges for some time. We also enjoyed meeting a lovely young young woman and her baby up on the ridge. Down below, our tents were set up in a beautiful valley with a few small stone houses and many horses, cows and sheep.



After tea (Myoume made guacamole!) we retreated to our tents and sleeping bags for a rest before dinner. But before Honoree and I hit the sack we did a few pieces of laundry and spread them out on our tents to dry. For a change it was sunny and there was still two hours before dark. We started really early that morning. That's Scott getting some much needed ZZZs.
I got up an hour later to write in my diary and managed to grab everyone's unfortunately still wet laundry off the tents when it started pouring. Dinner was perfect that night - soup, mashed potatoes and beef stew and baked bananas with caramel sauce. Talk about comfort food!